Like an unstoppable freight train, the date of my Canadian escape draws nearer and nearer. I had my Canadian passport done a month ago. Today I submitted my application for a Polish –European Union– passport at the Consulate. Yesterday I purchased my airfare and a week’s worth of accommodation in London. I fly out July 7th. I return November 3rd.
The last item is the scary one. It makes the whole thing tangible. It’s no longer just an idea that I might shake; it is real, paid for, in my hands and with a firm deadline. It’s a realization that I’m still trying to come to terms with but that might be due to the sticker shock. It’s not the price of the airfare — that was pretty much expected — that’s doing it to me, it’s the ridiculous taxes that come with it: a rate of, just about, 70%. Ouch.
The return fare is important for two reasons. It gets me back into Toronto so that I can pick up my Polish Passport (five month processing time?!) and it frees me of any complicated visa entry problems. I contemplated getting a Work-Holiday visa but the process cost money, was annoying and required a little too much personal information. All for something that would be moot when I do get my EU passport. Anyway, I did go through a large portion of the application process and was mostly amused by this page:
Oh, British humour strikes again.
- What war criminal would answer YES to such questions?
- Have you, ever, committed abuse, on commas and other, punctuation?
- All YES or NO radio button questions
must be answered in English.
- The rather vague are you
considered a person of good character?
question.
It wasn’t long after this page that I gave up on the application. I don’t need it anyway. The UK Visa page tells me as much in plain English:
I’m visiting for a short time, have proof of departure (return ticket) and will have proof that I can sustain myself and not use public funds while I’m there (as soon as I get all the pay cheques I’m currently owed). As long as they don’t find out that I publicly mocked their grammar and application questions, I should be fine.
