When Travel Goes Bad

This is a very hard, ‘punch to the face’ post for me to write.  Today I have had to face up to the fact that the holiday I booked and paid for , that my friends are flying from the UK to Indonesia for, the holiday we’ve talked about since we were 14, is not going to happen.

Us at 24

I was hoping to avoid this and I have even written bumbling posts to try and stay positive , but the visa hell that Lee and I have been living for the last few months has finally caused me to raise my arms in defeat. Our visa has not been processed for 7 months now (it is meant to take 40 days) and it means we can’t leave the country until it is finalised.
I realise that in the grand scheme of things not being able to go on a holiday is NOT a problem. Out of all the problems we could have in our lives I’m aware this is a very small one, but it still kind of stings like icy slap to the face. It also probably hurts more because it is the cherry on top of a lot of other issues.

These two ‘sisters’ at 21

I’m not going to bore you with the mundane details but to summarise; Lee and I are on a working holiday visa , which is a year long visa. My company is trying to sponsor us (which is incredible!) and switch us to a 457 Visa so that we can stay in the country for 4 years.This seems to be due to a myriad of issues from a lot of places. We have had times when we thought we had a few days to get out of the country, we’ve had times when we weren’t allowed to work until it was sorted (this was a painful time that had no end date) , we’ve had lost passports, broken souls and a lot of paperwork. Luckily we are at a place now where we can work while we wait for a decision, which is an incredible luxury that we are hugely grateful for. Now we just have to wait for the final result…but we can’t leave the country, even for cocktail fuelled girls holidays. Does the Australian government not understand the importance of cocktails and dancing (!)

My lady and me in the toilets because we are classy. (19 years old)

I am an optimistic person, and I’d love to tell you I booked my holiday and convinced my friends to travel the world hoping it would all be ok…but even I’m not that optimistic. We just so happened to book our holiday 24 hours before we were told there was issues with the visa and it wasn’t plain sailing. Grrrrr fate can be a beautiful yet horribly cruel mistress sometimes.
On the plus side, my two friends still get to have the most incredible time in Indonesia (you can read about the planned trip here) . I know they will see beautiful things, drink far too many cocktails and live on endless cheap massages in paradise. I , on the other hand, will be sat here buying far too much junk food to ruin the bikini body i’ve killed myself to try and get over the last few months…all in all I’m not sad that I have an excuse to eat chinese and be lazy , but the sentiments still there.

Steph , our first Mrs and a lady worth travelling the world for.

#TeamBridesmaid

Things could be so much worse. We could not have even had a chance at getting a visa and would have had to leave this beautiful country a long time ago. We’ve had a lot of troubles back home with family that we are trying our best to sort through and our flat has been fighting against us at every turn. On the bright side, there are a million ways this situation could be worse.
I suppose one of the worst parts of things like this is the uncertainty , we are still waiting every day to find out if this is our home now or if we need to start a new life in a different country. We have friends, jobs  and a home here that we don’t want to leave. I have moved 13 times in 13 years and I was hoping this might be my first two year stint in an apartment …alas it looks like I’m destined to be a wandering nomad. (This isn’t the worst thing , is it!?)

21 year old pouty faces before pouty selfies were a thing.

For me the worst part has to be missing my friends. This post may sound like  I am sad I’m not going on a holiday, but what I’m sad about it not being in the airport when they fly in from the UK , not running at them and hugging them silly and not being able to laugh , drink and chat for 10 days…who knows when I’ll get a chance to see them now. Living abroad is an incredible adventure, but it has its heartache and for me that will always be missing people terribly.Luckily Skype is the greatest invention of all time.

If , by some MIRACLE our companies sponsorship, nomination,  and visa comes through in the next 10 working days then I will kiss the nearest person to me and dance in the streets. If it doesn’t I’ll take comfort in the fact that two of my favourite ladies are in one of my favourite places in the world and that they are almost close enough for me to dance with them….almost.