Thailand Visa
My experience on getting a Thai visa
November 1st, 2016.
Everything is ready to go. Luggage, itinerary, flight ticket, etc. I'm saying bye to my friends and family because I'm about to leave for a whole month and a week to the beautiful country of Thailand. I'm so excited to jump on the plane and start my adventures, but something unexpected happened to me when I got to the airport.
I'm checking in to get my flight tickets and the lady that's helping asks me for my VISA. That's when everything went nuts in my head because according to the country of Thailand, me, a Mexican citizen with a US resident card traveling to Thailand definitely needs the visa before boarding the plane. I have to admit it's my first time flying out of the country. I'm new to traveling out of the US and there are things you have to learn the hard way, like my experience on getting a Thai visa.
Well, my passport and my US resident card weren't enough to go across the world to my final destination, Bangkok, Thailand. I felt crushed and helpless thinking that my plane would leave in one hour and I didn't meet the requirements to get in it. I felt embarrassed just to think that I created a blog and a Facebook page so my friends and family could see the beautiful places I was going to see. But I wasn't going to cancel my trip. "I've been planning this trip for months, what am I going to do?" I told my wife. And just close to cancelling everything, call it a day, and forget about my trip I told her that I was still going to go. How? I had no idea what to do but I was determined to find every possible way to fly and make my experience come true.
After leaving the airport I started brainstorming because I knew there was going to be a way, and at the end I got LUCKY!!! Well, I'm going to call it luck mixed with complete action from the time I left the airport until now, November 5th, the day that I actually fly to Bangkok, Thailand.
November 2nd, 2016.
It was Wednesday already and I was regretting every second not finding out about the visa. But I was not going to give up. Even though, I had already put in my head that if I didn't get to travel it was going to be for a good reason. At the end, EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON, right? I wasn't really happy about reasons at the moment. Would've you? Giving up your one month scheduled trip with accommodations and everything just to get there and enjoy and all of a sudden you are not allowed. No, I wasn't going to let that happen.
I started researching how could I get my visa immediately, and yes, there it was, the website that would give me the information on getting a Thai visa and fast. The sad part is that this office is located in Chicago, IL. Funny thing is that's where I grew up. So I call this place and they tell me that they can for sure issue me the visa I needed but I would have to send my passport, my ID, my resident card, my NEW flight itinerary and that it would take about 2 weeks to get the visa. And I thought, that's not an immediate service. I had to send my personal things to a place that I don't know if I should trust or not and I discarded that option. Once again I felt devastated. 2 weeks to get my visa meant 3 weeks to get to Thailand, I would be missing important festivals and events going on November. In the first place, November was the month I wanted to be in Thailand, especially the 14th, which I'll be blogging about later on. So I kept on searching.
What happened next was what saved my trip to Thailand.
I found an office in a city 3 hours away from where I live. This office helped me get the visa I needed to travel to Thailand. Sameday Passport-Visa in Arlington, TX. A day after losing my flight for lack of information on visas for being a novice on traveling Internationally I contacted this office and gave me the requirements for me to get a visa and told me that if I brought my documents personally they could issue that visa the very next day. I was blown away with what I was hearing. From almost cancelling everything and giving up to actually buying my new flight ticket and hoping this procedure would work and get my visa so I could flight 4 days after losing my flight.
I got so excited and ready to do it. Drive to Arlington Texas, 3 hours away, and get that done. Was it as simple as I thought? Nop. One requirement is, your passport must not be expiring within 6 months. My passport would expire in 5 months. I blamed myself for not paying attention once again. I just thought it wouldn't matter, why would they require that if I was only going to be there 1 month. But I wasn't going to argue. I immediately, now, looked for a way to get my passport. You have to have in mind I'm a Mexico citizen and I have to go the Mexican consulate to precess my passport. And once again I GOT LUCKY. That same day there was a Mexican mobile consulate in Tulsa, Oklahoma and without hesitations I drove 2 hours to Tulsa and got my passport renewed and the next step was Dallas.
November 3rd, 2016.
After driving to Tulsa and back for a total of 5 hours to get my passport renewed, the next day was driving to Arlington Texas which is 7 hours of drive back and forth. I didn't really care I was willing to drive the whole day if needed but I wasn't going to lose my opportunity of flying to Thailand.
Having my passport and all my documents ready I drove to that office and filled the form for my visa and just like that in 20 minutes I had my visa processing for the next day.
The visa would be ready Friday, November 4th, 2 days after losing my flight. If only I would've known that for every citizen from different countries, requirements to get in other countries are completely different. Now I know!!! Had to learn the hard way.
November 5th, 2016
After cancelling my first flight, 6 accommodations for my trip, and feeling really devastated for not being in Thailand, but everything worked out at the end. I learned, the hard way, but I learned. And now I'm about to board my flight which leaves in 2 hours destined to land in Beijing and from Beijing to Bangkok City, Thailand.
DO NOT let this happen to you. Make sure you meet all the requirements to get to where you want to go.
So, I'm going to give you the link of a website that tells you everything you need to get a visa to most countries. Here's where I found the requirements for a Thai visa for a Mexico citizen living in the United States. visahq.com
You can also use the other website I posted before to get information on visas and more.
I guess everything did happened for a reason. Now you know where to go in case you have any concerns about any type of visa. Don't wait to see if you need a visa or not, make sure you are ready before the airline front desk clerk tells you can't fly. Don't let it happen to you I really don't recommend the feeling.
Facebook page: @hmadventures88
Instagram: hector_adventures
DO NOT let this happen to you. Make sure you meet all the requirements to get to where you want to go.
So, I'm going to give you the link of a website that tells you everything you need to get a visa to most countries. Here's where I found the requirements for a Thai visa for a Mexico citizen living in the United States. visahq.com
You can also use the other website I posted before to get information on visas and more.
I guess everything did happened for a reason. Now you know where to go in case you have any concerns about any type of visa. Don't wait to see if you need a visa or not, make sure you are ready before the airline front desk clerk tells you can't fly. Don't let it happen to you I really don't recommend the feeling.
Facebook page: @hmadventures88
Instagram: hector_adventures
