Prisoner of a Passport
I am going to be in Davao for the next 3 weeks. “Mega vacation” according to some. “Pain in the ass” if you ask me.
Ok, in bullet points:
To be continued...
Ok, in bullet points:
- It all began when I did not get my passport renewed on time. This machine-readable passport chuvacheness is really annoying.
- My choice was either go back to Sydney earlier (way too early) or apply for my passport in Manila and stay a bit longer (now way too long).
- My sister's friend's mom is dating the undersecretary of the DFA, so he can help us, BUT we had to do the first step which is submit the form to DFA.
- So we went to DFA on Roxas Blvd, where it was absolute PANDEMONIUM.
- I paid P180 for pictures (yes I was scammed)
- Strange men were following me (dad was not with me yet he parked the car)
- We lined up, then dad couldn't get it cause it's not allowed.
- “Sasamahan ko lang anak ko minor pa.” said Dad. “Ilang taon?” asked the guard. “18” “Ay 17 po cut-off” Anobuzz, mali pa!
- I went in, by myself. There were people everywhere. Different signs for different things, each person I asked had a different answer.
- In the end I just couldn't take it anymore so I just left and considered other options
- Then of course everything closed down over the holidays, so that delayed my plans even more. And by the time offices open again, I'll be in Davao already.
- Passports thru travel agents take 7 days IF you are in Manila. But in Davao it takes 15 days.
To be continued...