Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Trip to London - Part I

In Feb, I was asked to send my abstract to the AO workshop being held in Durham UK. I fervently started googling to find out the visa process in case the abstract was accepted. The UK visa application process (when applying from USA) is submitted online. It's very detailed and at the end of the application, you have to go for a biometric scanning. After the biometric scanning is done, send the documents by courier to the UK embassy. Two grouses: (1) the visa application website does not say the charges for the visa until you finish everything. Perhaps, it would be easy if we know the charges for a 6 month multiple entry vs 1 year multiple entry upfront. (2) the application instructions mention that you should send a confirmation of your travel plans including air ticket. Another paragraph says that tickets should not be bought unless the visa is issued. This is misleading. 


So I sent all my documents without booking an air-ticket. The UK visa was approved and I received my passport in 5 days :)


One thing that I forgot was getting an US to UK adapter plug. I suggest getting that adapter in US before travelling. My itinerary involved trip to London-Durham-London and back. But then the trip turned out to be longer than planned.


To be continued ....