hey all, I was at the belfast consulate yesterday and thought some others might want to know what happens. I blogged it at http://disney-lins.livejournal.com but here's the rundown of my day Dad and I were in Belfast yesterday to get my visa. Here's how it all went down: Got up at 4am (not that I slept the night before. 4am is when I go to bed normally, plus I didn't want to miss my alarm going off!) and were at the airport before 6am and checked in for the 7am flight. Easyjet went away on time and arrived 20 minutes early. The flight was 25 minutes! Just enough time to get in the air before landing again! Once through bag claim etc (no bags but you always go through there) straight outside the door was the bus to catch. The airport express 300 bus. Because it was coming up on 8am by our arrival it took 45 minutes to get into the city from there. But we had to stop everywhere, there was loads of traffic and a huge section of road works so I think it can be a shorter journey. £9 return or £6 single. This took us to the Europa hotel area where the bus station is. We went to Esquires for coffee and muffins then shortly after 9am we got on the 8a bus across the street which takes you right out to the US Consulate. It's a Stranmillis Road stop just after Richmond park. It's then about 50 yards to Danesfort Park area where they are building a new housing estate. There's a big Ulster Bank office building and right at the end of that is the security gate to the Consulate. That bus only took ten minutes (the embassy print out said it could take 15-45 mins) and so I was there over an hour early for my appointment (10.30am)! They didn't even have my name on the list at the gates, which was weird. The security guys are very nice. You just leave anything you don't need with you at the office and sign things saying what you have with you, so phones and ipods eetc can be taken that far. I just left my entire bag there and took out my forms. Also, there's no way to buy the special delivery envelope there. So much for my checklist saying to take £13.50 with you for it. You need to get it in advance. I didn't. More on that in a bit... So inside there's about 20 seats laid out but no one sits in any order. When the pre-screening person calls 'next' it's a case of trying to see if anyone needs to go before you. If no one ventures up then on you go! I waited until the person who had gone in the gates before me was seen then went up. Piece of cake this bit. They just take everything from you, check it's filled in and tell you what to do about the envelope. You need to go to the post office afterwards then just hand it in at the front gate and everything is fine. You then sit and wait for your name to be called to the interview booth. There were about 10 people in front of me. A few disney folders were being carried about too. I sat and then spoke with someone else going on the same day as me. We talked about travel and things. She hasn't been before so I tried to give some handy advice. Including the address for the wdwip forum! Name was called in about half an hour. Only the index fingers were scanned, then three questions asked. Why are you going? What do you do here? Why were you out before? (asked because I spent my year in California). Then it was just 'okay we're going to approve it today' and all I had to do was get my envelope so I could get my passport back. Went back down to the gates. All this was done by 10.30am, my original appointment time. I asked how far it was to the PO and it's a 20 minutes walk. Easy directions to follow too. Dad came back from where he'd been (a 3mile round trip walk to a coffee shop!) And off we set to the Post Office, which was about a 2 mile walk! It costs £4.75 for the envelope. Cheaper than London, but they use a courier service, Belfast just use regular Post Office stuff so it's cheaper. Dad decided at this point it was shorter for him to walk in the centre while I took the 2 mile walk back to the embassy. Handed it in then got the 8a bus back into town. They come every 15 minutes so is really easy. £1.30 each way. Got back to the Europa. I was feeling crappy so went to boots for paracetemol and stuff then we walked to the/a mall to go to a food court for lunch. Mainly fast food, alas, which I can't take so luckily there was a baked potato place. We sat for a bit while I attempted to feel better and let the meds work then we walked back and got the bus back out to the airport. Going back only took about 20 mins, likely because it was only into the afternoon at this point. Our flight wasn't until after 6pm, and check in not until 4pm, so I thought it might be worth bumping up to an earlier flight. Good job we did. No charge for it and we were able to get on the 3.50pm one back.
and it arrived back this morning. Got to love Royal Mail Special delivery. Guaranteed next day arrival. So the embassy must be damned fast on their end too
