Today was the big day! The last hurdle to jump before departure day, which by the way is in exactly four weeks from today. That’s right…in just one month I’ll be hopping on a plane, saying “Au Revoir,” and beginning what is sure to be an epic adventure.
Anyone staying for more than 90 days in France is required to have a “visa de long sejour,” or a long stay visa. It used to be that you could mail in your application to the French consulate, and they’d mail back your visa and you’d be good to go, however, this past Summer they changed the requirements. You now have to make an appointment and present yourself to the Consulat General de France to obtain your visa. And that day was today!
My Dad was nice enough to volunteer his Friday and take the long drive down to Miami with me. And by the take the long drive, I of course mean drive my hiney all the way down there. We woke up bright and early at 4:30am, made a very large pot of coffee, packed some snacks (duh!), and hit the road just after 5:00am.
We drove, and drove and drove. And then we drove some more.
Of course, there were stops along the way. For some strange reason my Dad thought McDonald’s would be a good place to eat breakfast. Of course, he was wrong. You don’t seriously think I’d eat McDonald’s do you? Food snob alert…Not happening. Luckily I had a back up plan.
While Dad ate his Egg McMuffin,
I made a mess.
Oops, wrong mess. Ahh yes, here we go…
A yogurt mess! Breakfast of champs. Fage 2%, 1/2 a banana, and some Pacific Harvest Gluten Free Cereal mixed with some Kashi Go Lean. I even brought my own agave. Don’t judge…I’ve got issues.
Extreme boredom set in with about an hour to go. After two rounds of DMB Live at Radio City courtesy of the Alachua County Library, I was itching for some entertainment.
The aforementioned extreme boredom (emphasis on the extreme!) resulted in a mildly ridiculous photo shoot. I may regret posting these later, but the 4:30am wake up call is setting in and I’m not in a position to make very good choices 
. So without further ado, a chuckle on my behalf…
Moving on.
We finally arrived in Miami around 10:00am.
I was a little nervous as we got closer and closer to our destination. I double, triple, quadruple checked my forms to make sure my application was complete though, and knew that everything would run smoothly.
Finally, our exit.
Woo-hoo!
Once we got there, a security guard walked us to the visa office, used her special key to unlock the door, and let us in. We had to wait a bit for my turn, but while we waiting we met a girl who was getting her visa to be an au pair in Saint Germaine. Pretty cool, huh?
After a 30 minute wait, they called my name, took my application, scanned my hand to get my fingerprints, took my picture (and mulah!), and sent me on my merry way! Easy peasy lemon squeezey.
Yep. 5 hours in the car for a quick appointment! But well worth it. That was the last step to take before I finally head out! Well, besides packing of course. It seemed like such a daunting task when I first started…very intimidating and entriquit , but where there’s a will, there’s a way!
We high-tailed it out of Miami since the traffic was so bad, and although having lunch there probably would have been fun and delicious, we decided to make our way back home. After getting out of the city, we stopped at a Pei Wei in Weston, Fl. Dad and I shared the Thai Dynamite with shrimp (not-fried and with extra veggies, please!) and some chicken some’-somethin’ fresh rolls.
Happy tummy = Happy Courtney.
After a quick lunch, we hit the road again. I’m currently typing this from the road at about 2:00pm. ETA in Tampa is 4:41pm. We are currently 2 hours into the 5 hour trek back and are enjoying the Once soundtrack. Looooove that movie.
A special thanks to Dad for taking the trip with me. What would I have done without your corny-ness on the drive!? He came up to the title of this post, by the way. When I said “We’re going to Miami!” he responded with “It’s not YOURami. It’s MYami.” Typical.
Au Revoir, mes amis!
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
the fact that your breakfast looks far more appealing to me than your dad’s eggmcmuffin is a true inclination that I am a total bloggie.
oh dad’s.. gotta love them! corny humor and all.
I was rolling over laughing while reading about your travels “It’s not YOURami. It’s MYami”….very funny journey! Very corny dad! But very funny!
Yogurt Mess. France. Happy Tummy. Absolutely fantastic :)
You are sooo fun and silly. I love that about you. You never know what the next picture is going to bring. You have an exciting adventure ahead of you I am so excited to be able to vicariously share the ride with you.
Ahh, long car rides are so boring but DMB makes anything better!! I can’t wait to see photos of Paris, I’m so so excited for you!!! :-)
Glad you got that taken care of! Now you can relax and wait for the excitement!
That’s so great that your dad volunteered to go with you. Now, all you have to do is pack! Hope you’ll be blogging from France, I’d love to have you do a guest post for my other blog which concentrates on Europe (with a big emphasis on France) http://www.bistrochic.net.
Totes loving the fact you packed b-fast! And I love corny comments too – parents never fail!
Corny dads are the best! I’m thinking I would have booked a flight, that is one long down and back drive. Are finals finished? Is it just smooth sailing until France. What a wonderful adventure, please keep blogging your updates as you travel.
So I’m thinking it’s probably a total vegan faux-pas on my part to say that your dad’s breakfast looks delicious. Disgusting, yes, but disgustingly good. (In my mind I was thinking: Whoa, is that a double egg McMuffin? Seriously, there’s definitely like 2 eggs on that bad boy!!)
Anyways. I’m not even an egg person.