Visas, Czech Rep. & Poland #2of3

We drove to the Polish Consulate in Vienna, found they were closed for the day, the next day was a holiday, so Friday must be the day we apply for a Polish Visa. A very pretty lady was trying to get the same information, and since she was Polish and could speak English, she translated the sign for us.

The sign said we must buy “daily” coupons for $15 per day per person for each day we would be in Poland. I visited Orbis, the Polish Travel Bureau in Vienna, to get the coupons. The manager, who spoke a little English, said the rule had been changed and we now had to buy the “daily” coupons at the border. I told him we had visited the Polish Consulate in Vienna within the hour, and the sign on the gate said we must have the coupons before we can get the Visa. He said, “Never fear, the rule has been changed, the sign has not.”

I stopped at the Austrian Auto Club to see about buying gasoline coupons for Poland, and they said I misunderstood what I had been told at Orbis, because the Austrian Auto Club had just sold some of those “daily” coupons, a few minutes ago.

By that time I was tired and confused, so I went to the American Express office. They assured me that I had misunderstood Orbis, as American Express had also sold some “daily” coupons within the hour. At my request they called Orbis, and soon American Express was convinced that I was correct, the rule was changed, but by now who cared.

A couple of days later the same pretty lady (and she was exceptionally pretty!) whom we had met earlier, was in line at the Polish consulate, and she translated for us when needed. We stood in line, then filled out forms and waited to pay our money. We never did understand all that happened next, but the man upstairs said do this, and the people downstairs said do that, so we went upstairs, and that man went downstairs then came back upstairs, then we went downstairs and somehow we didn’t have to go to the Post Office a few blocks away, for money orders, like everyone else, including some Americans who had a taxi waiting for them, had to do.

The pretty lady, who was born in Poland, didn’t understand either, since she had to go to the Post Office for a money order, but we didn’t. The Visas cost 280 S, then we found we had to pay another 140 S to get them today instead of next week.