Visa application and approval was pretty standard stuff, except...
... getting my passport and visa physically in hand was not.
After the approval on Tuesday they should sent it within the next 2 business days. That would have been Thursday. However, they already sent it on Monday-afternoon and tried to deliver it (it was registered mail), but since my dads shop was closed that didn't work. Normal procedure is to leave a note saying they will try again tomorrow and if that fails at what post office you can pick it up. However, they never left a note and just dropped it at a post office in Geldrop (where my dads shop is). The result was that we didn't know where my passport was on Friday afternoon... with my flight back home leaving on Saturday.
I first started calling the consulate and got nowhere. Only after I put up my American voice and accent and called the embassy did I get to talk to somebody and found out they already sent it. Next step: getting some info at the parcel company (TNT Express). After two failed attempts, they told me it should be at the post office in Geldrop. So I called the Post office and they told me it wasn't there, but at one of the regional distribution centers of the parcel company. Yeah, right...
Getting a little desperate - and with help from my parents from the shop in Geldrop - and after about 3 hours of tracking we finally found that it was at a different post office in Geldrop.
Finally... and no errors so I could leave on schedule. To compensate things the man upstairs blessed me with smooth sailing at Schiphol and Newark and an upgrade to Business Class on the flight to Cleveland.
Thanks to mom and dad for all their help in calling and tracking down the passport... even if it wasn't in their best interest... ;-)
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