Why is it that things to do with getting jobs with Disney take such a long time? Now I appreciate that for ICP 2010 and my CRP I didn't have to wait long after the interview before they contacted me and I was lucky enough to get dates straight away and not get wait listed which is awful.... But this time I'm going insane. I was interviewed on 6th February I think and got told I had the job the very next day... But that was the only quick step!
That was over 6 weeks ago and I still don't have a date... I have done all the paperwork they require of me and maybe there's a reason behind the delay which I just don't know about but there's a distinct lack of news :-( also, it doesn't help that I have no job and nothing distracting me!!
I'm really hoping to be able to get out there in April... Maybe may at the latest. I have my shoes ready (the black ones anyway... The pair of white trainers with no colour or logos is more tricky to say the least) and I have a new wheely bag for luggage... But still no date!!
Keep your fingers crossed for me it will be this week!
Saturday 23 March 2013
Sunday 17 March 2013
The Medical
So you thought that one long boring day in London was enough?! Nope! Time for another one!
Actually this one was substantially better. I had to get up at the crack of dawn again as I had to get the public bus to the centre of Bristol at 6.15am. I got down there and got a "Mochalat" which was basically a hot chocolate with a shot of expresso and marshmallows on top. Nom. Then I got the 7.30am megabus to London which I was so pleasantly surprised by. It only cost me £7.50 (trying to offset the daylight robbery train fares from the day before) and it was on time, a double decker coach which was very comfortable and even had free Wifi!! So I spent the 3 hour journey there playing on the internet and watching YouTube, it was great.
Arrived in freezing London again and got the tube to Liverpool St Station. The 'Rood Lane' Medical Centre is just around the corner from the station and I got there in perfect timing. They handed me a questionnaire I had to fill out which was a basic medical history and list of any allergies or medications. After about 10 minutes I was called in by a nurse who did a sight test (thanks to my recent LASIK surgery I was now 20:20!!!!) and a really difficult hearing test. Basically, you sit in a booth with headphones on and every time you hear a beep you press a button. Not hard. Except the beeps get soooo quiet that you start imagining them! Anyway, she deemed my sight and hearing good enough. Then she gave me a plastic pot and directed me to the bathrooms to provide a urine sample. Then I had to go to back to the waiting room.
I waited another 5-10 minutes before being called in by the doctor. He was great - very funny and made you feel at ease which was good because I was a little nervous. We went through the questionnaire and then I had to get undressed except my underwear and wear a robe. He did my height and weight, checked my breathing and heart before I sat on the bed and he did my blood pressure. Then he felt my stomach and down the back of my spine. Then he took blood and shone a light in my eyes and ears to check them. All good. That was it!
I got dressed again and he told me that I should receive the results of my tests in the middle of next week whilst he'll send a copy to Disney.
Then I was free to go! It was about 12.30pm by this point so I only had 2 hours before the coach back this time. I got a bit lost on the tube but made it to Earl of Sandwich by St Pauls Cathedral so ate it on the steps. Then I went to Victoria Coach Station and got the National Express (not as good as Megabus....) back to Bristol and then the public bus back to my house. It started raining and I was glad to get home.
Along with the CRB form that I received on Tuesday and sent off on Wednesday... this means all the paperwork is done now as far as I know. The CRB takes 2-3 weeks so hopefully it won't be too long and I should get my passport and medical results this week some time.
Now I just need a date!!!!
Actually this one was substantially better. I had to get up at the crack of dawn again as I had to get the public bus to the centre of Bristol at 6.15am. I got down there and got a "Mochalat" which was basically a hot chocolate with a shot of expresso and marshmallows on top. Nom. Then I got the 7.30am megabus to London which I was so pleasantly surprised by. It only cost me £7.50 (trying to offset the daylight robbery train fares from the day before) and it was on time, a double decker coach which was very comfortable and even had free Wifi!! So I spent the 3 hour journey there playing on the internet and watching YouTube, it was great.
Arrived in freezing London again and got the tube to Liverpool St Station. The 'Rood Lane' Medical Centre is just around the corner from the station and I got there in perfect timing. They handed me a questionnaire I had to fill out which was a basic medical history and list of any allergies or medications. After about 10 minutes I was called in by a nurse who did a sight test (thanks to my recent LASIK surgery I was now 20:20!!!!) and a really difficult hearing test. Basically, you sit in a booth with headphones on and every time you hear a beep you press a button. Not hard. Except the beeps get soooo quiet that you start imagining them! Anyway, she deemed my sight and hearing good enough. Then she gave me a plastic pot and directed me to the bathrooms to provide a urine sample. Then I had to go to back to the waiting room.
I waited another 5-10 minutes before being called in by the doctor. He was great - very funny and made you feel at ease which was good because I was a little nervous. We went through the questionnaire and then I had to get undressed except my underwear and wear a robe. He did my height and weight, checked my breathing and heart before I sat on the bed and he did my blood pressure. Then he felt my stomach and down the back of my spine. Then he took blood and shone a light in my eyes and ears to check them. All good. That was it!
I got dressed again and he told me that I should receive the results of my tests in the middle of next week whilst he'll send a copy to Disney.
Then I was free to go! It was about 12.30pm by this point so I only had 2 hours before the coach back this time. I got a bit lost on the tube but made it to Earl of Sandwich by St Pauls Cathedral so ate it on the steps. Then I went to Victoria Coach Station and got the National Express (not as good as Megabus....) back to Bristol and then the public bus back to my house. It started raining and I was glad to get home.
Along with the CRB form that I received on Tuesday and sent off on Wednesday... this means all the paperwork is done now as far as I know. The CRB takes 2-3 weeks so hopefully it won't be too long and I should get my passport and medical results this week some time.
Now I just need a date!!!!
Acquiring a C1/D visa
Well, on Thursday it was off to the US Embassy for the 4th time in my life. Now, as I mentioned, I just went on a cheeky holiday to the States for 10 days so I couldn't go and get my visa any earlier really as I needed my passport. So I returned from Orlando on Tuesday morning, spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday feeling rather jetlagged and then was up at 5am on Thursday to go to London to get my visa.
My Dad travels to London every day for work so we went to the station together and I paid through the nose to be on the 6.01am train (£50 for a single!) so that I got into London at 7.30am. All the other trains were even more expensive in order to be at the Embassy for 9.30am! Anyway, I said goodbye to my Dad and then got myself a hot chocolate and bacon roll at McDonalds to warm myself up - it was bloody freezing despite being mid-March (we've just had snow... again). Then I headed to the Embassy where it was discovered that I'd forgotten to print my appointment letter which had been emailed to me when I booked the appointment... as I mentioned, I've suffered from jet lag this week which mostly means I keep forgetting things. So, just down the street from the Embassy is a pharmacy which must make an absolute mint from people having visa appointments because they charged me £6 for 30 minutes internet access (of which I needed about 1 minute) and to print off my appropriate letter. However, it is very useful for them to be there - they also have locker facilities for electronics if you need to take your phone etc to London. I just went without electronics (which made for very boring journeys!) but frustratingly ended up spending this £6 for a piece of paper but hey ho. I walked back to the Embassy and now with all the correct paperwork got let in through the security scanner and entered the building at about 9.40am.
Now, in previous years it's taken a shorter and shorter amount of time to get processed but I still steadied myself for a good hour or so in there at least. After sitting for about 2 minutes, my number was called for the first window where you just hand over your documents and they take your fingerprints. Then I sat back down for the long wait.... about 10 minutes later they called my number for the second window! It was a pleasant lady at the window and the conversation literally went like this:
Lady: "What cruise line are you joining?"
Me: "Disney Cruise Line"
Lady: "What are you doing on there?"
Me: "Merchandise cast member"
Lady: "How did you get the job?"
Me: "I heard about it when I was working in Florida and I applied when I got home and was successful."
Lady: "Okay, visa approved".
Literally so easy, I was in and out in 20 minutes!! Unbelievable! I paid the extortionate £16 to get my passport returned by courier next week and then I was done. And I had a good 4 1/2 hours before my train home with no phone and hardly any money - joy!
Seen as my holiday back to America has just cleaned me out money-wise (my own fault, I know) I didn't want to spend any money really... so I headed to the Apple Store. LOL. Nah, really I just needed a charger for my new iPad Mini as I only had an American plug. Then I went on a nice long walk from Oxford Circus via Regents Park to Baker Street. Then I got on the tube and went to South Kensington to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum. It was one I hadn't been to before so I thought I'd check it out... yeahhhh I found it pretty boring and a bit pretentious. Also, I was super tired and hungry by this point.
So I went to Paddington and got myself a baguette for lunch and then still had over an hour to wait for my train so I went to the waiting room which was vaguely warmer than the main station and read my magazine until my platform was called and I got the train home... ready for the next day to do it all again...!
My Dad travels to London every day for work so we went to the station together and I paid through the nose to be on the 6.01am train (£50 for a single!) so that I got into London at 7.30am. All the other trains were even more expensive in order to be at the Embassy for 9.30am! Anyway, I said goodbye to my Dad and then got myself a hot chocolate and bacon roll at McDonalds to warm myself up - it was bloody freezing despite being mid-March (we've just had snow... again). Then I headed to the Embassy where it was discovered that I'd forgotten to print my appointment letter which had been emailed to me when I booked the appointment... as I mentioned, I've suffered from jet lag this week which mostly means I keep forgetting things. So, just down the street from the Embassy is a pharmacy which must make an absolute mint from people having visa appointments because they charged me £6 for 30 minutes internet access (of which I needed about 1 minute) and to print off my appropriate letter. However, it is very useful for them to be there - they also have locker facilities for electronics if you need to take your phone etc to London. I just went without electronics (which made for very boring journeys!) but frustratingly ended up spending this £6 for a piece of paper but hey ho. I walked back to the Embassy and now with all the correct paperwork got let in through the security scanner and entered the building at about 9.40am.
Now, in previous years it's taken a shorter and shorter amount of time to get processed but I still steadied myself for a good hour or so in there at least. After sitting for about 2 minutes, my number was called for the first window where you just hand over your documents and they take your fingerprints. Then I sat back down for the long wait.... about 10 minutes later they called my number for the second window! It was a pleasant lady at the window and the conversation literally went like this:
Lady: "What cruise line are you joining?"
Me: "Disney Cruise Line"
Lady: "What are you doing on there?"
Me: "Merchandise cast member"
Lady: "How did you get the job?"
Me: "I heard about it when I was working in Florida and I applied when I got home and was successful."
Lady: "Okay, visa approved".
Literally so easy, I was in and out in 20 minutes!! Unbelievable! I paid the extortionate £16 to get my passport returned by courier next week and then I was done. And I had a good 4 1/2 hours before my train home with no phone and hardly any money - joy!
Seen as my holiday back to America has just cleaned me out money-wise (my own fault, I know) I didn't want to spend any money really... so I headed to the Apple Store. LOL. Nah, really I just needed a charger for my new iPad Mini as I only had an American plug. Then I went on a nice long walk from Oxford Circus via Regents Park to Baker Street. Then I got on the tube and went to South Kensington to visit the Victoria & Albert Museum. It was one I hadn't been to before so I thought I'd check it out... yeahhhh I found it pretty boring and a bit pretentious. Also, I was super tired and hungry by this point.
So I went to Paddington and got myself a baguette for lunch and then still had over an hour to wait for my train so I went to the waiting room which was vaguely warmer than the main station and read my magazine until my platform was called and I got the train home... ready for the next day to do it all again...!
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