POE & sundry musings
Dec 18th 2002, 2:34 pm
#1
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2002
Location: uk
Posts: 536
POE & sundry musings
Well, at long long last I am posting from the USA.
Timeline
1st NOA (Nebraska K1) 27 June
2nd Noa 8 November
Interview (London) 5 December
Flew to USA 17 December
I travelled down to London for an overnight stay at a hotel virtually on Paddington Station . The next morning I walked into the station, checked in at the BA desk, got my luggage out of the way, and travelled on to Heathrow on the Heathrow Express. Its certainly a hassle free way to do it if you live a long way from the airport. Whats more, after chatting to the BA desk (she was intrigued by the K1 visa), she gave me an upgrade! (Woo Hoo, I KNEW wearing a boring business suit would pay off.....lol).
Arrived at Heathrow and looked for some Christmas presents................Julie has dropped the odd hint from time to time..........e.g. "There is ONE empty stocking hanging over the fireplace .....and ONE full........I wonder who's is empty?" Who said Americans arent subtle?
The plane left on time and the pilot informed us that we would be at least half an hour earlier than scheduled at Chicago. Naturally. After all, I had only left 4 and a half hours between flights to play it safe! (Talked to a girl sitting mext to me as she noticed I was reading a biography of Billy Connelly. Amazingly she said she had met him in a hotel lift in Glasgow. The lift was going up and down without opening the doors. Billy Connelly passed some comment on it and she (apparently) said......."Its a clone of Willy Wonka's lift." And she said to me............"I couldnt believe it.........I made Billy Connelly LAUGH!)
Decided to find a trash movie on the video (I dont know about you, but I cant concentrate at the best of times on a plane, so dipping in and out of trash is the only answer) Found the latest Austin Powers movie (Goldmember?) was showing and thought that would do the trick. At this point I have to apolgise to any Austin Powers fans reading this. WHAT a bunch of junk!!!!!! Gave that the elbow and watched kids cartoons instead. MUCH better, and, as Julie would say, much more suited to my mental age.
Landed (EARLY) at O'Hare, clutching my passport, I94 and Customs Form. Very short lines at Immigration. Our line was the slowest (isnt there a natural law about that?) and the woman behind me commented on it. Apologetically, I said..."I may be longer than usual too". Called up to the desk, handed over passport and I-94. "Do you have a package for me?" Handed over the Mysterious Sealed Brown Envelope. *Have you opened this?"............"Nope". He opened the package and checked through the forms contained in it, but not the three inches of paperwork that Julie had submitted in support! After stamping various papers, including my I-94 (now affixed to the passport) and Visa, he simply said "Good luck......you have 90 days in which to get married>" And that was it! The queue behind me had melted away in despair, but in fact it took no more than 10 minutes at the most.
It was obviously my lucky day so I went to the United desk to try and get an earlier flight and was in luck! Instead of arriving in Peoria at 9 p.m, I got there at 5.30! Phoned Julie from Peoria and complained bitterly that I was stranded at Peoria airport............lol. More shrieks in my severely abused eardrums, and 20 minutes later we met. "No more goodbyes.......ever again." We arrived back home and Julie covered my eyes and led me to the Christmas tree. She had worked her socks off to get it ready in time and it was absolutely gorgeous. (I also noticed a substantial number of wrapped up parcels around..............how many shopping days to Christmas?) Being of mature years and naturally reticent........I will now draw a veil over subsequent proceedings..............
We both hope that our joy will be replicated for all of you at the earliest possible time. This is, in that famous expression,............only the end of the beginning...........but any future trials and problems will be so much easier for us to deal with TOGETHER. This holds true for us all, so our thoughts are with all of you still waiting to be together.
Timeline
1st NOA (Nebraska K1) 27 June
2nd Noa 8 November
Interview (London) 5 December
Flew to USA 17 December
I travelled down to London for an overnight stay at a hotel virtually on Paddington Station . The next morning I walked into the station, checked in at the BA desk, got my luggage out of the way, and travelled on to Heathrow on the Heathrow Express. Its certainly a hassle free way to do it if you live a long way from the airport. Whats more, after chatting to the BA desk (she was intrigued by the K1 visa), she gave me an upgrade! (Woo Hoo, I KNEW wearing a boring business suit would pay off.....lol).
Arrived at Heathrow and looked for some Christmas presents................Julie has dropped the odd hint from time to time..........e.g. "There is ONE empty stocking hanging over the fireplace .....and ONE full........I wonder who's is empty?" Who said Americans arent subtle?
The plane left on time and the pilot informed us that we would be at least half an hour earlier than scheduled at Chicago. Naturally. After all, I had only left 4 and a half hours between flights to play it safe! (Talked to a girl sitting mext to me as she noticed I was reading a biography of Billy Connelly. Amazingly she said she had met him in a hotel lift in Glasgow. The lift was going up and down without opening the doors. Billy Connelly passed some comment on it and she (apparently) said......."Its a clone of Willy Wonka's lift." And she said to me............"I couldnt believe it.........I made Billy Connelly LAUGH!)
Decided to find a trash movie on the video (I dont know about you, but I cant concentrate at the best of times on a plane, so dipping in and out of trash is the only answer) Found the latest Austin Powers movie (Goldmember?) was showing and thought that would do the trick. At this point I have to apolgise to any Austin Powers fans reading this. WHAT a bunch of junk!!!!!! Gave that the elbow and watched kids cartoons instead. MUCH better, and, as Julie would say, much more suited to my mental age.
Landed (EARLY) at O'Hare, clutching my passport, I94 and Customs Form. Very short lines at Immigration. Our line was the slowest (isnt there a natural law about that?) and the woman behind me commented on it. Apologetically, I said..."I may be longer than usual too". Called up to the desk, handed over passport and I-94. "Do you have a package for me?" Handed over the Mysterious Sealed Brown Envelope. *Have you opened this?"............"Nope". He opened the package and checked through the forms contained in it, but not the three inches of paperwork that Julie had submitted in support! After stamping various papers, including my I-94 (now affixed to the passport) and Visa, he simply said "Good luck......you have 90 days in which to get married>" And that was it! The queue behind me had melted away in despair, but in fact it took no more than 10 minutes at the most.
It was obviously my lucky day so I went to the United desk to try and get an earlier flight and was in luck! Instead of arriving in Peoria at 9 p.m, I got there at 5.30! Phoned Julie from Peoria and complained bitterly that I was stranded at Peoria airport............lol. More shrieks in my severely abused eardrums, and 20 minutes later we met. "No more goodbyes.......ever again." We arrived back home and Julie covered my eyes and led me to the Christmas tree. She had worked her socks off to get it ready in time and it was absolutely gorgeous. (I also noticed a substantial number of wrapped up parcels around..............how many shopping days to Christmas?) Being of mature years and naturally reticent........I will now draw a veil over subsequent proceedings..............
We both hope that our joy will be replicated for all of you at the earliest possible time. This is, in that famous expression,............only the end of the beginning...........but any future trials and problems will be so much easier for us to deal with TOGETHER. This holds true for us all, so our thoughts are with all of you still waiting to be together.
Dec 18th 2002, 3:58 pm
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: POE & sundry musings
Beautiful Simply Beautiful!! Sniff Sniff.. More tissues please!!
Big Hugs Yippie another one made it!
Big Hugs Yippie another one made it!
Dec 18th 2002, 4:02 pm
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: POE & sundry musings
Congratulations!!!!!!
You still have some more work/paperwork ahead but at least your TOGETHER!
Best of luck to both of you & have a wonderful holiday together.
If you haven't already done it... There's a web page tracking timelines and
stories
http://www.marriagebasedvisas.org/
It's good to keep it up to date with success stories.
We are on our 2nd Xmas together & my wife has her (conditional) green card.
Our last step will be to file for removal of conditional status in 1.5yrs.
Jim & Pat www.skidogs.net
"abba48uk" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Well, at long long last I am posting from the USA.
> Timeline
> 1st NOA (Nebraska K1) 27 June
> 2nd Noa 8 November
> Interview (London) 5 December
> Flew to USA 17 December
> I travelled down to London for an overnight stay at a hotel virtually on
> Paddington Station . The next morning I walked into the station,
> checked in at the BA desk, got my luggage out of the way, and travelled
> on to Heathrow on the Heathrow Express. Its certainly a hassle free
> way to do it if you live a long way from the airport. Whats more,
> after chatting to the BA desk (she was intrigued by the K1 visa), she
> gave me an upgrade! (Woo Hoo, I KNEW wearing a boring business suit
> would pay off.....lol).
> Arrived at Heathrow and looked for some Christmas
> presents................Julie has dropped the odd hint from time to
> time..........e.g. "There is ONE empty stocking hanging over the
> fireplace .....and ONE full........I wonder who's is empty?" Who said
> Americans arent subtle?
> The plane left on time and the pilot informed us that we would be at
> least half an hour earlier than scheduled at Chicago. Naturally.
> After all, I had only left 4 and a half hours between flights to play it
> safe! (Talked to a girl sitting mext to me as she noticed I was reading
> a biography of Billy Connelly. Amazingly she said she had met him in
> a hotel lift in Glasgow. The lift was going up and down without
> opening the doors. Billy Connelly passed some comment on it and she
> (apparently) said......."Its a clone of Willy Wonka's lift." And she
> said to me............"I couldnt believe it.........I made Billy
> Connelly LAUGH!)
> Decided to find a trash movie on the video (I dont know about you, but I
> cant concentrate at the best of times on a plane, so dipping in and out
> of trash is the only answer) Found the latest Austin Powers movie
> (Goldmember?) was showing and thought that would do the trick. At
> this point I have to apolgise to any Austin Powers fans reading this.
> WHAT a bunch of junk!!!!!! Gave that the elbow and watched kids
> cartoons instead. MUCH better, and, as Julie would say, much more
> suited to my mental age.
> Landed (EARLY) at O'Hare, clutching my passport, I94 and Customs Form.
> Very short lines at Immigration. Our line was the slowest (isnt there
> a natural law about that?) and the woman behind me commented on it.
> Apologetically, I said..."I may be longer than usual too". Called up
> to the desk, handed over passport and I-94. "Do you have a package for
> me?" Handed over the Mysterious Sealed Brown Envelope. *Have you
> opened this?"............"Nope". He opened the package and checked
> through the forms contained in it, but not the three inches of paperwork
> that Julie had submitted in support! After stamping various papers,
> including my I-94 (now affixed to the passport) and Visa, he simply said
> "Good luck......you have 90 days in which to get married>" And that
> was it! The queue behind me had melted away in despair, but in fact it
> took no more than 10 minutes at the most.
> It was obviously my lucky day so I went to the United desk to try and
> get an earlier flight and was in luck! Instead of arriving in Peoria
> at 9 p.m, I got there at 5.30! Phoned Julie from Peoria and complained
> bitterly that I was stranded at Peoria airport............lol. More
> shrieks in my severely abused eardrums, and 20 minutes later we met.
> "No more goodbyes.......ever again." We arrived back home and Julie
> covered my eyes and led me to the Christmas tree. She had worked her
> socks off to get it ready in time and it was absolutely gorgeous. (I
> also noticed a substantial number of wrapped up parcels
> around..............how many shopping days to Christmas?) Being of
> mature years and naturally reticent........I will now draw a veil over
> subsequent proceedings..............
> We both hope that our joy will be replicated for all of you at the
> earliest possible time. This is, in that famous
> expression,............only the end of the beginning...........but any
> future trials and problems will be so much easier for us to deal with
> TOGETHER. This holds true for us all, so our thoughts are with all of
> you still waiting to be together.
> --
> Posted via http://britishexpats.com
You still have some more work/paperwork ahead but at least your TOGETHER!
Best of luck to both of you & have a wonderful holiday together.
If you haven't already done it... There's a web page tracking timelines and
stories
http://www.marriagebasedvisas.org/
It's good to keep it up to date with success stories.
We are on our 2nd Xmas together & my wife has her (conditional) green card.
Our last step will be to file for removal of conditional status in 1.5yrs.
Jim & Pat www.skidogs.net
"abba48uk" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Well, at long long last I am posting from the USA.
> Timeline
> 1st NOA (Nebraska K1) 27 June
> 2nd Noa 8 November
> Interview (London) 5 December
> Flew to USA 17 December
> I travelled down to London for an overnight stay at a hotel virtually on
> Paddington Station . The next morning I walked into the station,
> checked in at the BA desk, got my luggage out of the way, and travelled
> on to Heathrow on the Heathrow Express. Its certainly a hassle free
> way to do it if you live a long way from the airport. Whats more,
> after chatting to the BA desk (she was intrigued by the K1 visa), she
> gave me an upgrade! (Woo Hoo, I KNEW wearing a boring business suit
> would pay off.....lol).
> Arrived at Heathrow and looked for some Christmas
> presents................Julie has dropped the odd hint from time to
> time..........e.g. "There is ONE empty stocking hanging over the
> fireplace .....and ONE full........I wonder who's is empty?" Who said
> Americans arent subtle?
> The plane left on time and the pilot informed us that we would be at
> least half an hour earlier than scheduled at Chicago. Naturally.
> After all, I had only left 4 and a half hours between flights to play it
> safe! (Talked to a girl sitting mext to me as she noticed I was reading
> a biography of Billy Connelly. Amazingly she said she had met him in
> a hotel lift in Glasgow. The lift was going up and down without
> opening the doors. Billy Connelly passed some comment on it and she
> (apparently) said......."Its a clone of Willy Wonka's lift." And she
> said to me............"I couldnt believe it.........I made Billy
> Connelly LAUGH!)
> Decided to find a trash movie on the video (I dont know about you, but I
> cant concentrate at the best of times on a plane, so dipping in and out
> of trash is the only answer) Found the latest Austin Powers movie
> (Goldmember?) was showing and thought that would do the trick. At
> this point I have to apolgise to any Austin Powers fans reading this.
> WHAT a bunch of junk!!!!!! Gave that the elbow and watched kids
> cartoons instead. MUCH better, and, as Julie would say, much more
> suited to my mental age.
> Landed (EARLY) at O'Hare, clutching my passport, I94 and Customs Form.
> Very short lines at Immigration. Our line was the slowest (isnt there
> a natural law about that?) and the woman behind me commented on it.
> Apologetically, I said..."I may be longer than usual too". Called up
> to the desk, handed over passport and I-94. "Do you have a package for
> me?" Handed over the Mysterious Sealed Brown Envelope. *Have you
> opened this?"............"Nope". He opened the package and checked
> through the forms contained in it, but not the three inches of paperwork
> that Julie had submitted in support! After stamping various papers,
> including my I-94 (now affixed to the passport) and Visa, he simply said
> "Good luck......you have 90 days in which to get married>" And that
> was it! The queue behind me had melted away in despair, but in fact it
> took no more than 10 minutes at the most.
> It was obviously my lucky day so I went to the United desk to try and
> get an earlier flight and was in luck! Instead of arriving in Peoria
> at 9 p.m, I got there at 5.30! Phoned Julie from Peoria and complained
> bitterly that I was stranded at Peoria airport............lol. More
> shrieks in my severely abused eardrums, and 20 minutes later we met.
> "No more goodbyes.......ever again." We arrived back home and Julie
> covered my eyes and led me to the Christmas tree. She had worked her
> socks off to get it ready in time and it was absolutely gorgeous. (I
> also noticed a substantial number of wrapped up parcels
> around..............how many shopping days to Christmas?) Being of
> mature years and naturally reticent........I will now draw a veil over
> subsequent proceedings..............
> We both hope that our joy will be replicated for all of you at the
> earliest possible time. This is, in that famous
> expression,............only the end of the beginning...........but any
> future trials and problems will be so much easier for us to deal with
> TOGETHER. This holds true for us all, so our thoughts are with all of
> you still waiting to be together.
> --
> Posted via http://britishexpats.com
Dec 18th 2002, 4:10 pm
#4
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2002
Location: Hondo Tx
Posts: 264
Ahhhhh thank you.... I really enjoyed reading about your P.O.E no stress, not fuss. It sounds like you had a relaxed time am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be the same for me too..
Can I ask you how the landing was at O'Hare, as all mine have been very bumpy.
Merry christmas kit
Can I ask you how the landing was at O'Hare, as all mine have been very bumpy.
Merry christmas kit
Dec 18th 2002, 4:12 pm
#5
The Missus
Joined: Sep 2002
Location: Northwest of Chicago
Posts: 6,239
Re: POE & sundry musings
Congratulations, Andy and Julie.....this will be a Christmas to remember for you. 
~SecretGarden
~SecretGarden
Dec 18th 2002, 4:28 pm
#6
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2002
Location: uk
Posts: 536
Kitty,
In keeping with the rest of the day........the landing was as smooth as could be......
In keeping with the rest of the day........the landing was as smooth as could be......
Dec 18th 2002, 4:32 pm
#7
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: POE & sundry musings
Wonderful,
Have a lovely Christmas and all the best for the future.
regards JacqW
Have a lovely Christmas and all the best for the future.
regards JacqW
