The aim of this blog is document our move from Tasmania, Australia to Minnesota, USA and record our integration into American life and culture. God willing, my family (wife: Amy, son: Micah (17 mo)) will be travelling to the US later this month, provided we can get our temporary exchange visas sorted in time.
Let me explain. The university of Minnesota sent DS2019 documents for me, my wife and my son. The DS2019s arrived in mid-January 2013 and I mistakenly thought these were our actual visas; Amy wasn't so sure and asked me to re-read them to be certain. I didn't. Instead I booked our (very expensive) flights to America for the 22nd of Feb. Thankfully I went back to look at DS2019 documents again on the 2nd of February; panic seized me as I realised my error and I applied online in a feverish rush. By the time I had finished our three applications, it was nearly midnight and I needed sleep. I went to bed, slept for two hours then got up again because I was so anxious. So at 2 AM on Sunday, I booked our visa interview. Miraculously we were able to get an interview appointment for Friday the 8th of Feb...in Melbourne. There is no US consulate in Tasmania. So I booked our flights at 3 AM on Sunday. After gathering all the documents, we flew over on Thursday night. We made it to the interview and, apart from the hour in the waiting room, it was a relatively pain-free exercise and our visas were approved!
Amy said we should head off quite early to the air port because we were going by bus and train. I didn't think that was necessary. On the train, Micah fell asleep in the back pack for 30 min before entering overtired mode, in which he remained for the rest of the day.
Then we missed our flight home. I misjudged how long it takes to get from the city to Tullamarine. Three tiring hours and $150 later we were on another flight home.
I've learnt three things from this ordeal:
1. Read important documents very carefully.
2. Listen to your wife.
3. Toddlers can go extraordinary amounts of time without sleep.
4. repeat step 2.
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