Got An Early Interview Date!

[Markieboy 104]

Congratulations on booking an early interview date!

My only concern would be booking airline tickets before the interview...and visa issuance. Very risky, IMO.

I hope everything works out for you guys! Good luck with your interview! Keep us posted!

[We Are The Art 46]

You will be fine going through customs in Honolulu with 1.5 hrs. Remember you can re-check your bags to the left of the counters after you clear customs.

Thanks Hank, That's a relief to hear. And thanks too for the luggage tip, you always seem to be so helpful to so many on VJ...it is greatly appreciated.

[We Are The Art 46]

Congratulations on booking an early interview date!

My only concern would be booking airline tickets before the interview...and visa issuance. Very risky, IMO.

I hope everything works out for you guys! Good luck with your interview! Keep us posted!

Thanks!

[Fight for Love 98]

aaaawwwwwwwwwwwww so lucky!!!

i really like your positive attitude :thumbs: for booking the flight even your visa is not quarantee yet.....that is awesome!!!! what a fighter!!! ehehhe

[We Are The Art 46]

aaaawwwwwwwwwwwww so lucky!!!

i really like your positive attitude :thumbs: for booking the flight even your visa is not quarantee yet.....that is awesome!!!! what a fighter!!! ehehhe

Thanks for the compliments

[Hank_ 9,174]

How does that song go? Oh ya...

~ fools rush in where wise men never go...

13 days from interview day to "flying" to the States, need to get the CFO sticker before departing, then get to the airport on time.

Now to figure out the odds... let the betting begin!

[We Are The Art 46]

How does that song go? Oh ya...

~ fools rush in where wise men never go...

13 days from interview day to "flying" to the States, need to get the CFO sticker before departing, then get to the airport on time.

Now to figure out the odds... let the betting begin!

Well, as I said before we will request to pick up the visa ourselves rather than wait for it to be delivered to her home in Davao which could take up to 3 weeks, according to the consultant I hired to assist us with our application (which I highly recommend) it should take about 7 working days for it to be completed barring any unforeseen delays. If that general timeframe is accurate that would put us at Nov. 20, with our departure set for the 27th. that still gives us a few days extra if needed. Hopefully CFO won't be too bad as we plan to get in line very early at the soonest possible date. I'm not really an optimist but I think we can probably pull this off as long as there are no last minute snafu's with the interview. If not, I'm prepared (Reluctantly) to pay the flight rescheduling fee's and opt for a later departure date.

Truth be told, I'm prepared to outright loose the money already spent on airfare if I have to as long as we can finally get on with our lives together.

Regarding "the betting"....I'll lay a fifty on it. (IF I have any cash left after this trip!)

[av8or 34]

hang in there mga kababayans.. took me years to finally get where i am today.. but all worth it in the end.. to the OP, congrats to both of you..

[We Are The Art 46]

hang in there mga kababayans.. took me years to finally get where i am today.. but all worth it in the end.. to the OP, congrats to both of you..

Many Thanks!

[We Are The Art 46]

Well, as I said before we will request to pick up the visa ourselves rather than wait for it to be delivered to her home in Davao which could take up to 3 weeks, according to the consultant I hired to assist us with our application (which I highly recommend) it should take about 7 working days for it to be completed barring any unforeseen delays. If that general timeframe is accurate that would put us at Nov. 20, with our departure set for the 27th. that still gives us a few days extra if needed. Hopefully CFO won't be too bad as we plan to get in line very early at the soonest possible date. I'm not really an optimist but I think we can probably pull this off as long as there are no last minute snafu's with the interview. If not, I'm prepared (Reluctantly) to pay the flight rescheduling fee's and opt for a later departure date.

Truth be told, I'm prepared to outright loose the money already spent on airfare if I have to as long as we can finally get on with our lives together.

Regarding "the betting"....I'll lay a fifty on it. (IF I have any cash left after this trip!)

Continued:

As for booking the flights when I did, I really didn't have much choice. If I had waited until after the visa issuance we wouldn't have been able to fly together on the same flight, the flight we booked only had a few seats left (plus we got seats side by side on all 3 legs of the return flight). Additionally, the cost would have been nearly double due to last minute booking and the start of the high season for travel in the Philippines.

Thankfully, recent postings on VJ about the time required to receive an approved visa (especially if you request to pick it up in Manila) indicate it may not even take the 7 days I planned for, we shall see. 20 days in Manila may end up being more than we need, if so we will use the extra time to travel a bit and make a lil' vacation of it.

All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with the arrangements. I may regret it later if things go off-track but I'm fairly optimistic at this point, only time will tell. I'll keep ya'll posted.

Have you determined what the "odds" are yet?

For those interested, here's a link and contact info to the booking agent I used. He (Drake is his name) was excellent and really put in the extra effort to make sure we got a good flight at a good price. I was very impressed with his attention to detail and pleased with everything this agent provided, he even called me after he had gone home for the day to help with additional requirements.

(I very rarely offer such high praise)

Call: Drake

Direct Phone#: 877 443-0135

Main Phone#: 800-677-2943 ext# 22766

E-mail: drake.a@itncorp.com

© 2012 International Travel Network

[Hank_ 9,174]

Well, as I said before we will request to pick up the visa ourselves rather than wait for it to be delivered to her home in Davao which could take up to 3 weeks, according to the consultant I hired to assist us with our application (which I highly recommend) it should take about 7 working days for it to be completed barring any unforeseen delays. If that general timeframe is accurate that would put us at Nov. 20, with our departure set for the 27th. that still gives us a few days extra if needed. Hopefully CFO won't be too bad as we plan to get in line very early at the soonest possible date. I'm not really an optimist but I think we can probably pull this off as long as there are no last minute snafu's with the interview. If not, I'm prepared (Reluctantly) to pay the flight rescheduling fee's and opt for a later departure date.

Truth be told, I'm prepared to outright loose the money already spent on airfare if I have to as long as we can finally get on with our lives together.

Regarding "the betting"....I'll lay a fifty on it. (IF I have any cash left after this trip!)

If it only takes 7 working days that will be the 22nd (Saturday & Sunday don't count).... IF.

I hope it all works....

I bought our ticket to fly home before the interview also, but we stayed for 2 months after.

[We Are The Art 46]

UPDATE:

Despite some rather serious concerns related to the booking of our flight in advance, I am happy to report that we pulled it all off without a hitch! I arrived in Manila on November 6th. as scheduled and we attended the Embassy interview together on Nov. 9th. (A more detailed report related to our interview process is forthcoming in another post) On November 21st we received an email from the US Embassy informing us that our documents were picked up by 2Go courier service. On November 22nd the packet was delivered to her home in Davao (Lots of confusion and mistakes made by 2Go during this part of the process which will be described in the afore mentioned future post) We completed the CFO class the following day Friday, November 23rd and then were finally able to relax a bit at our hotel for a couple of days before catching our flight out of Manila on November 27th! Our flight didn't takeoff until just before midnight so by the time we made it to the immigration counter I literally had less than an hour left on my visa!

All in all, the 20 days I allowed for when booking our flights was handily enough to complete the entire process, I saved a couple of thousand dollars in flight costs and we were able to fly in adjoining seats on all three legs of our journey home! We arrived in Houston, Texas on November 28th. and eventually drove the final 300 miles to our home in Central Texas.

All Is Well and Life is Good! As previously mentioned, I will submit a detailed report about the whole experience sometime soon in another post/category. Thanks to all whom have offered their advice, support and interest! We wish the best of luck to all of those still waiting to be re-united with their loved ones, hang in there your day will come!

[X Factor 1,112]

UPDATE:

All Is Well and Life is Good! As previously mentioned, I will submit a detailed report about the whole experience sometime soon in another post/category. Thanks to all whom have offered their advice, support and interest! We wish the best of luck to all of those still waiting to be re-united with their loved ones, hang in there your day will come!

ConGraTuLaTions