The Best Laid Plans

We had a Doha moment the other night. On Thursday, the very night Ian and I were due to fly out to Carlie's wedding, we were doing some last minute shopping to ensure all the guys had the necessities while we were gone. Everything was organised. The boys knew what was happening, Garrick was taking charge, everyone was happy.

We were buying two sim cards at Carrefour, the local French supermarket - one for Garrick and one for Robbie. Of course there is quite a process to go through in order to buy something as important as a sim card. You have to take along two photocopies of your Resident ID card, one of the front and one of the back of the card, and fill out a form. I scurried around between all the places I had to go to and breathlessly presented my credentials at the phone stall in Carrefour, only to be told that my photocopy could not be accepted because my ID had just expired. Curses! I located Ian and the boys in one of the food aisles of dubious nourishment, borrowed Ian's ID and completed the transaction.

As I left the mall it dawned on me that if my ID was expired, then probably my Qatar visa was as well. We rang Abdul, the public relations officer from Ian's work, who has been helping us all along with government formalities. He told us that if we went home and my visa was also expired in my passport then I wouldn't be able to leave the country. Qatar is one of the places in the world where you not only need an entry visa, but you need an exit visa as well. To get the latter, you need the former.

It was a silent trip home on the way to my passport. How could I not have double checked? I thought about the times I had abandoned my visitors to shop for an outfit to wear to the wedding and wondered if I was going to get to wear it.

My visa had expired. We rang Abdul again.

"You definitely cannot leave the country. All the departments are closed for the weekend. But don't worry, I will be back on Sunday (the first day of the working week here) and will make sure your visa is renewed by the end of the day."

"Where are you, Abdul?"

"I am at Mecca. I am doing the hajj again. If you had rung me half an hour later you would have missed me. But don't worry, I will be back from Saudi Arabia by Sunday. You can still have your holiday OK? Just a little later."

Not OK. Not really. We couldn't get to Carlie and Gillon's wedding. But what could I do?
So we rebooked and rearranged everything. Insha'allah (God willing) the visa will be renewed today. We'll just extend our holiday a couple of days at the end. And we have had a bonus weekend, just us all at home together. So it's not all bad.