My Mini Heart Attack

I applied for a re-entry visa recently so that I could go home (Nigeria) this summer and not have to apply for a visa when I get home. The kind of person I am, I get mini heart attacks easily. I am very panicky. If I ever for one second lose sight of my wallet and not remember when or where last I saw it, my heart starts to thump. If my bunch of keys is not in in the left pocket of my purse or anywhere else where I can see it easily, my palms start to sweat and I get all jumpy. This very reason is why I like to take care of my business early. 

Anyways, as I was saying, I applied for my reentry visa on the 13 of June only to find out that the people who handle visa processing at Citizenship and Immigration Canada were (and still) taking strike action. This meant that visa processing times would increase and there's a chance that I might not be able to get the visa in time to travel. 

Uh.. excuse me? Not be able to travel to see my family this year?

 OH-MY-GOD. Why in the world did I not apply earlier? That was all I could think about when I saw the strike action notice on the CIC website. In all fairness to myself.. I have a legit reason for not applying earlier. I had a visa already.. but it was going to expire at the end of March.. so I had to wait for it to expire before applying for another one. 

So why didn't you apply for another one immediately the one you had expired?

I am as baffled as you are. I just don't know why! It had crossed my mind a number of times to get all my documents together and send the damn application (heck! Canada Post is just three blocks away from where I live) but I didn't! Now I'm facing the consequences, praying to God almighty that this visa shows up so that I don't lose the money that was used in booking tickets. 

Speaking of tickets.. okay. My journey to Nigeria is going to be three-legged. First, I'd have to take a flight or bus from this city where I live to Toronto. Then from Toronto, I'l take another flight to Germany and fly from Germany to Lagos. Guess what? The ticket for the first leg of the journey was still not booked as of the early hours of today.  I can't even put to words the way I felt when I remembered that I had not made the reservation. Frantically and with shaky hands, I headed to Air Canada's website to try to book a seat. Surprise.. all the seats were taken. Now, I'm starting to panic even more.

What am I going to do? Why did I have to wait until now..

..were the words floating in my head upon realizing that  I might have just killed the dreams of seeing my family this summer. I started trying different dates to see if I could get seat for any day else,  and maybe find a place to stay when I get to Toronto, but when I found out there were no seats available for even those dates,  frustration started setting in. I began to think hard! The thinking paid off. It finally occurred to me that I didn't necessarily have to fly from my city. I could go to a neighboring city and just catch a flight there! I started exploring other cities and  I was able to make a reservation for my intended date of travel! *Sigh*.

But right now, I am faced with another challenge. I'm brainstorming on how I'd get from here to that other city. Right now, my only option is to go by bus.. which I don't want to. 

We'll see how it goes. 

Take home message: Don't wanna have a mini heart attack? Then don't procrastinate like I did. 

Phew!