My road to Steemfest3 - One hell of a crazy update/ A walk on the wild side
Yesterday was an interesting day and that's quite the understatement.
I have yet to do a LOT of things before I can start packing my bag for Krakow, but what happened yesterday is something I just need to share here. I know I am ahead of things with this post, but I can't keep it to myself!
source: https://dribbble.com/shots/3886728-Take-A-Walk-On-The-Wild-Side
The passport issue
I realised that the day of Steemfest is really coming closer rather quickly and since I still need 3 passports, I needed to set appointments for two Dutch passports with the embassy and one for my youngest son for an Irish one. The Irish one will not be such an issue. I am going to deal with that this week and we should have that covered within the time-frame.
My passport and that of my daughter is another issue. There is a slight chance that they won't issue me a new passport. This because I may have some tax owed in Holland. Now, 5 years ago it was no problem. I had already been here in Ireland for 2 years then, so I don't see why now all of a sudden it would be an issue. BUT, to play it safe, I might just apply for an ID card instead. The thing is, the first appointment possible is the 10th of October! It takes three weeks and if my passport won't be issued, there will be no time to apply for an ID card. So I might as well bite the bullet and do the ID card and then apply for a passport later sometime.
I'll cut my losses. NOTHING will stop me from attending Steemfest this year!
So that's THAT.
This passport issue probably means that I won't be able to get a Steemfest ticket before the price rises, so if I could just win one...that would be GREAT!
All my Steem earnings are still going to pay off my debt with those awesome people who loaned me the money to go to Holland, so the passports will have to be paid in fiat. OUCH, dirty word!
The child minding issue that turned into something CRAZY COOL!
If you've read my other #roadtosteemfest posts, you'll know that my kids will be joining me in Poland, but they will not attend Steemfest. Firstly because I really don't have the money to pay for all of us and secondly because it's the ONE time in the year that I do something for myself. And in the long run also for them...
So I needed to find someone who was willing to either travel with me to Poland or someone who lives there. Where to start?
I decided to post a request on several Facebook pages. The homeschooling pages, the worldschooler pages and the solo worldschoolers...
Within less than 10 minutes I already had 2 people interested and a handful others giving me ideas. Awesome that even on FaKebook this still exists.
One of the women who responded said the following: 'Oh, I've always wanted to visit, together with my six year old daughter.' I told her I'd send her a pm and she replied: 'Yeah, let's DO this!'
WHAT an enthusiasm. At this stage I didn't even know where she lives!
So yesterday I managed to get a hold of her. Turns out she lives near Washington DC in the US!
At this point I wasn't so sure anymore, but she wiped my doubts off the table when she said:
'I work for an airline and can fly pretty much anywhere for free, so my daughter and I travel the world whenever we can.' Well, am I the luckiest person on earth or WHAT to have found her right at this point. If that's not fate, then I don't fucking know what is.
source: www.giphy.com
But this is not where this ends. I ended up pre-booking an apartment for us. Literally 7 minutes walk to the hotel where lots of Steemians will be staying. YAY!
I won't have to pay anything till we actually get there, so it was meant to be...again.
Then, yesterday, Emilie (that's HER) and I were talking quite a bit and then she mentions that she has a holiday now and is thinking of where to go. Then she asked me if I was in Dublin. No, not exactly but I told her that we're 'only' 2.5 hours from Dublin and that she and her daughter are more than welcome welcome to stay with us if she'd like to see rural Ireland too. She jumped at the opportunity and is looking for flights RIGHT NOW!
source: www.giphy.com
We talked about a lot of things, from travel, kids, life to politics. And we got along really well. It's almost like we've known each other for years! So hopefully she'll find a flight here and I'll be meeting her soon. She was happy to mind the kids when we're in Poland, me paying for the apartment and some pocket money for the kids is all she wants. I think I may have found a diamond in the rough. I know, it all sounds crazy to trust my kids with a total stranger, but I got a pretty good vibe off her and she has a child... Sometimes you just have to dive in...
So if I could meet her here before the trip, that would be SO awesome.
The only thing I feel bummed about is that I felt we get along so well, it's almost a shame not to bring her to Steemfest! But hey, I have to make choices. Who knows, this may well be a friend for life. I just love how things can go from a simple thing like a request on Facebook.
Things falling into place...
Oh that's so cool! Sometimes you meet the right people at the right moment.. really happy for you.. As for the passport thing, dont know if you followed my problem posts with the Dutch government. After I made a payment plan (they need one big sum first too) they issued my passport. Didnt know that asking for an ID card would have avoided this. Thought they would also have blocked the application in that case.. but they told us the first payment needs to be about 12 months of the payment plan in our case (not sure if this is linked to the total amount you owe them) I have been able to lower the sum to 750 euro and 100 euro per month . Maybe it helps ;) thought I should mention it just in case.. Hopefully that lady will visit you and the kids, so you can meet.. so cool!
Yes @anouk.nox, as far as I know you can't get a passport once they register you, but it will still be possible to get an ID card. The thing is, that according to the dutch constitution, everyone who holds the Dutch citizenship has the right to a passport, the ONLY exception would be if you're a criminal and they're afraid you'll flee the country. So they are doing this illegally! I've also heard that they can only put an alert on the register if the debt is 5000 euro or more and in my case, I would be just under that, but I don't want to take any chances, since they always add interest so it could well be over that by now. I still have to get together ALL the money to get myself to Steemfest, so there's no way I will have enough funds to pay them a lump sum. The funny thing is that the last time I applied for a passport, I was already not living in Holland for 2 years! You'd think they would have had the alert on my name already then right? But again: I just don't want to take any chances.... And YES!!! She's coming with her daughter!!! They arrive in Dublin tomorrow and want to spend a night there, we're picking them up in Dublin on Saturday! WHOOP!
Good to know, although I never hope to be in that situation again. In my case there was an alert on both our names, but my boyfriend already had a passport so we found out when I applied because my ID was expiring. When we moved to Spain (and they knew our address there) they didn't have the alert on it yet, because one year ago we had to go to Budapest first, and two weeks later we needed to fly to Belgium for three weeks before returning to Budapest for my boyfriends job training. Thinking about what would have happened when they had the alert on back then, makes me sick.. That could have cost him his job (as we wouldn't have had the money yet then) when they had not let us allowed to fly. And we wouldn't be able to go back to Spain as we returned the keys to the apartment lol. Ouch.. So I'm happy it took a while, but in our case it was something like two years also before the alert was on our names.
Funny thing is that I'm now waiting for months already because they have done corrections to taxes (both our names) but somehow the Dutch tax office isn't that fast with paying back, maybe they've corrected it somewhere but the weird thing is, they didn't send a letter like they normally do. I've let them know our address 4 months ago.
That's cool that they're coming, I hope you have loads of fun!!!! Enjoy!