Yesterday, I was jumping up and down while packing my bag because I will be spending a weekend in London with my friend Alyssa. I've packed everything and was ready to roll. I left the apartment but I felt that something was missing: Ah, I left my plane tickets. GREAT. So, I headed back to the apartment to get my tickets. NO PASA NADA. After that I took a cab to the bus station because my flight is at another city named Málaga, which is a 2-hour ride. I arrived at Málaga and took another cab to the airport. Euros spent at that time already amounted to 20 just by taking cabs. Again, NO PASA NADA. I went to the airport to get a printed boarding pass but the person at the boarding gate told me that something was wrong. I had no idea what they were talking about because I had my passport, my Spanish visa, my green card, and my Illinois residence card. I also had other forms of documents that verified I am a legal student here in Spain. So, they called the immigration at London-Stansted to verify my entry to UK. Minutes passed... NOPE. Stansted Airport said I cannot fly to UK because I need a visa to enter their country. Well.... RYANAIR did not verify in their website that NON-AMERICAN CITIZENS, even LEGAL RESIDENTS, cannot enter without a visa. THIS SHIT IS NOT A "NO PASA NADA" THING!!! So, what happened to me? I had to go find the immigration, which was also the police here in Spain. Incompetent bastards do not speak in English at all. I apologize for my calling them incompetent bastards BUT they are. I speak Spanish. Yes. But some words when enraged just does not come out in Spanish. I was close to saying JODER (f*ck) but I was at the police station and I did not want things to get worse. However, there was nothing they could do for me. They could not even tell me how and where to get a UK visa! WTF? Seriously. Poor me had to take another cab, which was another 20 euros, by the way, to the Málaga bus station to get my poor little ass back to Granada. I arrive at Granada at 11pm and from there spent another 10 euros to get home by cab. FIFTY F*CKING EUROS JUST FOR CABS IN ADDITION TO THE PLANE TICKETS AND MY AGITATION FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO GO TO F*CKING LONDON. Oh, did I mention that I also had to pay 30 euros to get my money changed to Pounds? ¡JODER! ¡JODER! ¡JODER! ¡JODER! ¡JODER! ¡JODER!!!!!
This is a lesson learned but I wish I could have avoided it. Of course, I am also at fault, but F*UCK that! I guess I will have a quiet weekend here in Granada and just focus on my projects that are not due anytime soon. I'll be out and about in a little bit to meet a friend of mine for coffee so I could rant more. Maybe I'll go see my favorite camarero too. Make my day better... Blah...
Lesson for the day: If you are not an American citizen and you have neither a blue passport nor a visa, you can go VETE A LA MIERDA! Make sure you have either one or more of the above mentioned or else there's no UK, IRELAND, and/or SCOTLAND for you.
I bid y'all a good day. I hope this does not happen to anyone else.
ADIOS.
I was afraid this might happen. Remember our talk about the American passport being the golden ticket anywhere? Yea, sadly it's true.
ReplyDeleteThat is absolutely RIDICULOUS that they Ryanair didn't mention that one tidbit on their site about non-Americans flying into the U.K. That would have saved your butt,for real. I'm glad you're ok, though. When do you plan on getting a UK visa?
Enjoy Spain for now and keep writing wonderfully! :)
TQM <3
It was ridiculous! I had a crying fit at the airport and I felt so lonely... I should have been more careful though. My Spanish visa allows me to travel the whole EU countries and UK/Ireland aren't part of that. They are alliances, I think, but not part of the Schengen countries.
ReplyDeleteI will be getting my visa as soon as I can. I need to speak with my advisers first. It's such a bummer that I couldn't go though... Gah.
TQM tambien!!! <3