I never imagined that getting a Schengen Visa would be such a challenge. I have plans to travel to Italy in the month of July, all my bookings have been done now only the visa has been remaining. In the past I have taken the Schengen visa and it was so effortless. We made an application 3 weeks before our travel and within 5 days we had our visa in hand. This time the travel agent gave us a heads up that there is a delay in getting visas so we should apply much in advance.
The Schengen Visa is outsourced here to VFS and we have to take an appointment with them for Visa application. I tried getting the appointment and the earliest available date was 15th June, that was crazy because we never expected this much wait period and considering that the visa is taking time it would cut too short to my travel dates in July. We had to make a special request to VFS agency giving a letter from my husband's office and thankfully they gave us a positive response.
In Oman the wait period is still much lesser than in India. In India the earliest available appointments are in August ....pheww that's crazy. The situation is mad. Looks like the whole world wants to travel and why not, it's been a long wait for everyone. Now that the restrictions are being lifted up from almost every country, people are looking at travelling and going for holidays. My hubby works for Airline and he mentioned how the flights are going completely full. These days it is risky for me to use the staff ticket also because there are high chances of getting off loaded. At the same time, I am happy that the world is getting back to normal.
The new game in the market is the Monkey Pox, god knows what kind of hassle it is going to create. I think how people are thinking is that let's make the most while the sun shines. I also planned this trip because you never know again if something comes up and there are restrictions. This holiday was planned for 2020, on the occasion of our 25th Anniversary, but it didn't happen then so without any further delay I want to do it this year.
It is a 18 days holiday with 11 days in Italy and a 7-night cruise to the Greek Isles. I am so excited and looking forward to my holidays, but I am going to keep it low till my visa comes through. Once my visa comes through, I will share more details of my holiday.
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