Damn! I nearly died of a heart attack earlier! Martin and I are soon going to fly off to Singapore and Australia (Perth) in just a matter of days, so I was reading my Insight Guide Australia book to get more...well, insight of course. It was all good, until I got to this part:
-Visas and Passports-
All visitors require a passport and visa to enter Australia (the only exception to the visa rule is for New Zealanders, who require only a passport).
F#%=!!! I didn't know that!!! Had taken it for granted that Martin and I will NOT need a visa to enter the land Down Under, since 1) Singaporeans travel there so often anyway, 2) Danish passports are also accepted pretty much everywhere, and 3) the main countries whereby we need visas for are mainly (though not exclusively) communist and middle eastern countries.
But a visa to AUSTRALIA?!? Can you imagine my SHOCK at finding that out less than 1 week before we leave Denmark? Do we have to go down to the Australian Embassy? How long time can they process the application? We'll need our passports back within 5 days in order to travel out of Denmark! If we don't manage to get the visa here, then can we do it in Singapore instead? Can that be done within 2 weeks then? If not, do we have to cancel our 12 day trip to Australia...even after pre-paying almost 15,000 DKK (S$4000) already on air tickets, hotels, outback tour and excursion?!?
I was kinda paniking inside...but I didn't scream. Am not the type who buckles easily under pressure, so I was very calm on the outside, even if my heart was beating so hard it could almost pop out of my chest. I went online right away to find the website of the Australian Embassy in Denmark to find out the details of visa requirements / application, found it, read it...heart still pounding and flashes of worse case scenerios kept flashing across my mind.
Martin came into the living room (he was cooking), and I asked him very calmly, "Did you know that we have to apply for visa to enter Australia?" It was actually a rhetorical question, since of course he didn't know so I didn't really need him to answer that. Good thing Martin's a calm person under pressure too, so I didn't get household items flying towards my direction.
Anyway...after reading the visa requirements and procedure on the website, my heart started to slowly go back to it's normal rhythm again. Apparently, the kind of "visa" that is needed is NOT the usual stick on crap that they put on a page in your passport. It's instead a kind of electronic visa, or better known as an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA).
These words on the website were almost like words in a love letter to my eyes (the "love" in bold):
An ETA is equivalent to a visa, but there is no stamp or label in your passport and there is no need for you to visit an Australian diplomatic office to submit an application. Applications for ETAs can be submitted through travel agents or airlines.
Now, you can also submit applications directly through this web site by clicking on the Apply for ETA button and, in most cases, we will be able to approve your ETA in less than 30 seconds. You can also check your ETA status, if you applied through this site, by clicking on the Check your ETA button.
Oh! The RELIEF!!! The ESTACY!!! It was almost like rising back from the dead! Man, we were back in business ;o)! So yeah, applied for it right away...it was "free", but the adminstration fee for doing it ourselves online costed around 100 DKK each (A$20) - oh the irony - but hey, at that point in time, I didn't care if it would cost 5 times that amount each!
Phew! Good thing I read the very insightful guide book today! Imagine if I didn't, and we're at the airport checking in to go to Perth, and they tell us, "Sorry, no visa, no koala!" That, I can tell you, will be WAAAAY worse than ANYTHING we had experienced in our disastrous Rome trip 10 times over! I'd rather have no visa card than no tourist visa approval! Hmm...I'm starting not to like the word "visa" anymore.
Anyway...we can sleep well tonight then... . At least me more than Martin, since I'm the one in charge of our travelling plans. I won't blame Martin if he decides to fire me as his personal travel agent if I had screwed this one up.
Wanna know what else I learnt in my insightful Australian guide book? Some very interesting Australian slang, one of which is this:
"Your blood's good enough to bottle."
If an Aussie says that to you, it means this: "I like you." Don't ask me who came up with that. Probably Count Dracula...but I thought he was Romanian, not Australian... . Oh well, I'm a level 6 Black Widow Vampire on Facebook, so blood doesn't scare me anymore. Am just 1 level away from being the Vampire Goddess...so when I get there, I can say that ALL you people's blood is good enough to bottle...hahaha!!!
Gonna retire into my coffin now before I get too carried away.
