The Travel Chica

Live Simple. Consume Less. Experience More.

Oh, The Places I’ll Go

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On the way to Colonia for my first border run, my friend Jeff and I started talking about our passport stamps.  He mentioned the need to get some more pages sewn into his passport.  Then I realized that with the number of countries I have left in my Latin America adventure, I would run out of pages soon too.

How awesome is that?!!

The excitement outweighed the fact that I would have to spend $82 (note this service was free a year ago) and half of my day at the US Embassy to get more pages.

Preparation

We wanted to make sure we knew the hours this specific department would be open, as well as the methods of payment accepted.  Since it is so expensive to take money out of the ATMs in Buenos Aires, we both wanted to pay with a credit card.

Since Jeff’s Spanish is much better than mine, I nominated him to call the Embassy.  He was told that this specific department does not take phone calls.  Hmmm… that is odd.  How are you supposed to get information?

So Jeff sent an email that they answered three days later….the day after we went to the Embassy. 

Apparently, the US Embassy has adopted the customer service standards of Argentina.

Trip to the Embassy

We decided it would be best to go in the morning and bring both cash and credit cards.  When we arrived at 10:20am, we saw a line of over 100 people wrapped around the building.  Oh crap!

Lucky for us, that was the line for non-US citizens.  Not so lucky for the Argentinos.

We went right in to the security desk.  We had to leave our cell phones, cameras, and anything that could possibly be used as a weapon at the security station.  I found it odd that we had to leave our water bottles there too.

Apparently, the US Embassy has the same ridiculous fear of liquids as TSA.

We told them what business we had at the US Embassy.  We were given a ticket with the number A707 and told we would be called to Window 15.  We entered the room, and it was filled with people.  There were multiple lines, and multiple waiting areas with people filling nearly every seat.

It sounded just like you expect a government office to sound like:  crying babies, the constant dings signifying the next number has been called, and shuffling papers.

Window 15

I pointed at Window 15, and the current number was A607.  Should we be concerned that our number is 10o higher?

So we sat down, content that we did not have to stand in the lines surrounding us.

Then Window 15 jumped to A706.  Argentine math I guess.

Woohoo!  We’re next!

After a wait of 20 minutes, we were called up to Window 15.  The woman looked at our passports and handed us forms to fill out.  She said to come back up to the window when we were finished.

Really?  They couldn’t have given us these forms at the front desk when we told them why we were there?

Window 15 Again

So we filled out our forms and went back up to Window 15.  She verified our forms and then told us we would be called to Window 12 to pay.  And they would take a credit card.  Yea!

Window 12

We sat back down and waited until we were called to Window 12.  The woman at Window 12 processed our credit cards, handed us receipts, and then told us to take the receipts back to Window 15.

We thought this may be a good process because they were working on our passports while we paid.

Window 15 – The Third Time

Window 15 Lady then handed us a slip of paper and told us to come back at 2:30pm to pick up our passports.  So basically, we waited in multiple queues for something that could have been handled all at once in about 3 minutes.  Efficient.

However, I was still happy that this had only taken 1 1/2 hours.  I had heard stories about it being a much longer wait.

US Embassy Again

Jeff went back at 2:30 to pick up both of our passports, since I had a Spanish class.  I found it slightly disturbing that they would let someone not related to me pick up my passport, but it was convenient for me, and I was fairly certain Jeff was not going to sell it on the black market.

Jeff assumed he would show up, hand them the receipts, and they would give him the passports.  After all, they had a 3-hour time period to work on them.  When he got to the window, he was told to wait until they called his number again.  He had to wait another 40 minutes. 

As I said before… efficient.

Oh, The Places I’ll Go

I survived my first trip to the US Embassy in a foreign country.  It was fairly painless.  And now that I had my new passport pages (24 more!), I got a little bit giddy thinking about how many more places I could go.  I felt a little of that same excitement I had when I first started planning my year-long Latin American travels.

Photo of new passport pages
I hope these fancy page designs are not the reason I had to spend $80

Photo of my passport

Chile, Bolivia, and Peru are on my current itinerary.  But I have a lot more pages to fill up  :-)

 

Comments

  1. Whoo-hoo! Passport stamps are so exciting! (And I can’t BELIEVE the size of the horns on those cattle on your new pages!)
    Embassies of all countries have to be a study in inefficiency. How I have complained about Vietnamese bureaucracy, only to be embarrassed by Australian bureaucracy… all part of learning about the world, though.

  3. That is so exciting! I’ve never had to get more pages yet. But I’ve got two more years on this one so maybe I’ll get to experience that, too. Happy travels in Bolivia, Chile and Peru!

  5. When entering Bolivia i counted my stamps and stickers in my pasport. Something like 122 stamps. Filled up 35 pages. still 29 pages left. I have a business passport. When are you going to Peru ? Its awesome here.

    • Nice! I didn’t realize they even made “business” passports with more pages. Peru will be at the end, and I’m trying to time it for hiking Machu Picchu. I am looking forward to Peru. You’ll have to give me some good tips :-)

  7. I’m sure it won’t take you long to fill some of those pages. The process is a royal pain in the ass, I had to sit for 3 hours in a bleak government building in Glasgow before I eventually received my passport.

  8. Bureaucracy expansion if the part of government that works efficiently. After that, it is all down hill. If one bureaucrat can create a reason for three more jobs, he becomes a manager. After that, exponential factors take over and they all retire at the top of their game with the big bucks.

  9. Well, congratulations on the fancy new pages. The world is your oyster. As far as dealing with US embassies is concerned, I have a few stories to tell too, none of them too good. I needed to get a 10 year visa for the US, at the consulate in Istanbul. Like you, no phone call was answered but no email either. Suffice it to say, that I got it in the end.

  10. Hey, I came across your blog tonight and I’ve been reading all your BA posts to help weather a bout of evening nap induced insomnia. Great stuff! Especially enjoyed the crazy Cruella saga, in a cringing way. I’ve only been here about a month, and I’m still getting oriented, so your reports on attractions and classes and the like are useful as well. Keep writing!

    P.S. Want to head out for a run sometime? I just moved to Palermo, partly for proximity to runner-friendly parks like you.

    -Dane (from ny, usa)

    • Hi, Dane. Glad you came across my site and that you are finding it helpful. I am hoping to put together a page of resources for Buenos Aires soon.

      I haven’t been running outside due to the cold. I cannot wait for it to warm up.

      • Really? The typical 50s (f) and sunny here seems perfect to me running-wise… if I could get motivated.

        A resources page would be excellent. You seem to have it well under control, but let me know if you could use a hand–I do web dev for a living.

  11. Up here, when all pages are filled, we get new passports. Do you have very few pages to begin in USA passports? And how are the pages attached? Just stapled in?

    • Buenos Aires was pretty easy. You should definitely check the city you are in to find out the process. I have heard that sometimes you have to leave your passport with them for a day and then pick it up the next day…. maybe even longer for some embassies.

  13. Bureaucracy!!!! I think it’s terrible at every embassy! I grew up in Spain and had a spanish and german passport! It was always a pain in the ass to go to the german embassy for new passports etc. It always took hours and hundreds of signatures of my divorced parents… terrible!

    • I have learned a bit of patience, since I have been traveling. However, in Buenos Aires I have less patience because things should be able to run more efficiently here.

      The trick is to expect things to be really bad, and then you are pleasantly surprised when it’s not too much of a cluster :-)

  15. My first and last trip to a US embassy overseas was in Melbourne and I had to leave all my stuff as well. I also got a nifty barcode sticker that I had to wear. They had scanners like at a checkout in a department store that they scanned me in with at various checkpoints. It made me laugh because we all joke about being numbers in the system, but wearing an actual barcode when it wasn’t even busy took the cake!

  17. How exciting! I’m not even close to needing extra pages yet, so apparently I need to get traveling. :)

    And your description of the process reminded me a lot of the recent visit I made to the DMV… except in that situation, the 100 number difference meant I really did have to sit there through 100 people. So. freaking. awful.

    • The DMV is awful! Definitely worse than the US Embassy in my experience.

      In one trip from Ecuador to Nicaragua and back, I got about 12 stamps because of the numbers of countries I actually stopped in on the way. So that inflated the numbers a bit, but I’m still proud.

  18. “Apparently, the US Embassy has adopted the customer service standards of Argentina.””
    Every Embassy/consulate EVERYWHERE has departments that only respond to EMAILS, not phone calls, and take an average of 3 to more days to answer.

    I like your blog, but I think you take assumptions toooooo fast for such an unexperienced traveller. It took me at least 2 years (and I AM OPINIONATED! so that was a hell of an exercise!) in respect of the place I was to start taking assumptions.

    That prevented me of having the wrong ones.

    • I don’t consider myself an unexperienced traveler, but I do recognize that many people have more experience than me.

      I just write about my experiences as they happen. We all have expectations based on previous experiences and our attitude.

  19. “I pointed at Window 15, and the current number was A607. Should we be concerned that our number is 10o higher?

    So we sat down, content that we did not have to stand in the lines surrounding us.

    Then Window 15 jumped to A706. Argentine math I guess.””
    So when it goes WRONG it is all argentine. Even inside YOUR embassy? C’mon. This is ridiculous. Haven’t you ever been to a government office, or even a bank in your country, where these systems are RAN BY COMPUTERS with their own logic and create these strange numbers and sequences?

  20. What is it about embassies?? Whay do you always, no matter what it is you want, have to leave and go back again at 2.30???

  22. My state birth certificate is forever but every 9.5 years I have to prove to the USA that I am also a citizen. This is ridiculous. If the states can make you a citizen forever of the USA then why can’t the federal government make you a citizen forever. They chase you anywhere in the world for taxes and will come after you. You can’t renounce USA citizenship but the same government makes you reapply every 9.5 years to get proof that you are a citizen. Crazy system!!! Go figure!!!

  23. Ah yes, various embassies around the world have tried my patience like this! I forget what I needed once, but the LA one was so bad I paid extra money to have another agency do it for me. Cool about the extra stamps.

  24. I had to get page additions in my last passport, and I’ve had my current one for just two years and already have to send it off for more! Of course, I blame the bus ride from Brunei to Malaysian Borneo, where we crossed the border NINE times and they kept making us get out to go through customs and get stamped!

    • That is ridiculous! I cannot believe you crossed a border nine times in one trip.

      Jeff told me that now you can get extra pages at no additional charge when you get your passport. When mine expires I’m definitely doing that.

  25. Love the pages for your passport. That aside, let’s get to the real issue here – government inefficiency. I will refrain from going into a political rant here but however many hours to get something simple like this done. Thank goodness the government doesn’t operate in a for profit world or they would be bankrupt in a week for incompetence. And here’s another thing – 3 people were paid to handle that passport: window 15, window 12, and the person who actually put in the extra pages!

    • That is a very good point about 3 people being paid to handle the passport. I did actually make a comment to Jeff that I did not understand why the woman at the first window couldn’t have just taken our money. They had electronic scanners for credit cards. It is not like they were doing keypad entries or carbon copies.

  27. That is way too cool. And so quick considering some of the horror stories I’ve heard!

    I’m about to get my first passport stamp in 2 months. So ‘citing!
    Ceri recently posted..The New Job

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