[Next entry: "TRYING to get Visas 2"]

Only 3 1/2 weeks until we leave, and I'm sweating bullets at the moment, let me share....

I decided that we should apply for all of our visas in advance, even though they can be obtained upon arrival -- our trip is rather tight time-wise, and I didn't want to spend any extra time in the airports.

So, we sent off Tanzania's applications....they came back fine. Then we sent off Uganda's. We received a return receipt that said they had received them on May 27. Supposedly it only takes two days to process, so we should have gotten them back no later than...say...June 8th. At the LATEST. After not receiving them, I finally called them on Friday June 17th. They said that they had been "calling and calling me" because we sent them the wrong return envelope (it wasn't "hard" it was a regular manila envelope). Well, neither Mike nor I had received any calls, so that's a crock. After talking to the consulate, he said he would mail it first thing in the morning on Monday July 20th (the courier had already been that day), but because it was the wrong envelope "they would not be responsible if the passports got lost." Now, I really was not concerned -we used the same envelope for the Tanzania visas, and everything came back fine and very fast. So, I tell him, "Great! Please send it back in the envelope you already have."

Well it is now Monday June 27th, and they were supposedly sent a week ago (haven't called him yet to confirm that though...will do that first thing tomorrow morning), but we still haven't received them. Technically, if he'd sent them Monday, we should have received them by Thursday or Friday at the latest....and here it is Monday.