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Hello friends,
I am a 26 year old guy from the Netherlands. In my quarter century alive, I've never left Europe. While I have seen quite a few countries within, I've felt drawn to the United States for years now. With my last relationship ending the end of last year and me moving back to my home country to work as a result, I figured there's no time like the present and booked a 1 week stay in Queens to finally see the Big Apple, and maybe some surrounding areas in New Jersey. If it was as cool as I thought it'd be, this would certainly only be the first trip of many to explore the USA.
However, as I'm writing this while the plane I was supposed to be on is around 2h out from landing in JFK, we can safely state it did not go as planned. I take full accountability for everything that happened and since this is hindsight is 20/20: The sub, enjoy the timeline of my idiocy.
Few months ago
I plan the trip and get time off from work accordingly. With a total sum of around 1350 euroes for the round trip and the Airbnb, I am set and giddy. I inform my parents that I'm gonna go and they're happy for me, what an adventure! My mom, always the rational one, asks me over the phone if I need any other documents to travel to the States. My dumb ass which has never needed them for continental flights says ''No, I don't think so.'' (This is excluding COVID times, of course)
2 weeks ago
I receive an e-mail from my airline for the flight to the States titled ''Your checklist for New York!'' assuming this e-mail would have viable information about practical documents needed. It was only up-sales with them asking if I wanted extra leg space, order food, etc. The other e-mails I received from them did not explicitly mention needing a temporary visa, but they did mention that I should ''check which documents I need'' which led to a general site for checking what's needed when travelling to and from. My incredibly oblivious ass decides to interpret this as me needing nothing else, and all is well.
Today, 8:30 AM, 5h till take-off
I get on the train towards Schiphol, and whipped out my phone to do my online check-in so I would only need to do luggage at the airport. After fiddling with the passport scanner, it gives me an error, but I figured it might be a bug and don't panic. After all, the online passport scanner took several tries to even give me a result that wasn't ''please try again''.
10:15, 3h15m till take-off
Ah, Schiphol, a big airport for a little country. Excitedly finding my way to the relevant check-in desks, I first try to do my personal check-in at one of their self service points, only to get the same error. I figured hey, this is probably just carry-over from it being registered that way in their system after what happened in the train, I'll just talk to one of the nice ladies at the desk and all will be well.
11:25, 2h till take-off
After it being almost my turn to check in, the luggage belt fully broke and made the queue grind to a stand still. However, nervously fiddling with my passport I asked if I could at least get it checked. I mean, surely there was no REAL issue right?
Turns out, there was. I needed an... ''ESTA''? Si, como ESTA to you as well lady, what's that?
To those not in the know, an ESTA is a really nifty digital certification that has you answering questions such as ''Are you a drug addict?'' ''Do you have terrorist intentions?'' ''Are you, perhaps, carrying the bubonic plague on you at this very moment?'' As I am not really in any of those boxes, I hastily filled in the form and submitted my application. However, the ESTA can take up to 72h to process. On recommendation of the lady at the desk, I went to customer support and asked for potential re-bookings. If a flight in a few days meant paying a few 100 bucks for my own lack of research and common sense, as well as shortening my stay, so be it. However, when the lowest price point of just about 1000 euroes was presented to me, I said yeah no thanks, I'll take my chances.
''Sir, the ESTA can take up to 72h to process. Sure, it could be done in 30 minutes but there's no guarantee....'' 30 minutes... done... done in 30....
12:05, 1h20m before take-off
Alas, poor me, 30 minutes had indeed passed. I frantically checked my ESTA app but no dice. Processing. The realization had dawned on me that I was most likely not going to be on time for the flight. After all, when you're running on panicked logic and 30 minutes were mentioned, and 30 minutes have passed, well, clearly you're out of luck right? With sunk shoulders, I speedran the 5 stages of grief and cancelled my AirBNB as I walked back to the train station.
At this point you might be screaming at me through your screen, saying ''Healthy-Network4766, why the hell didn't you just wait until last call? Surely, if there's even a miniscule chance you get the approval done, you take it right?'' To which I say yes, you are absolutely right. Truth be told, I don't know why I gave up when I did. My father informed me there was a speed/emergency ESTA option, which would be guaranteed to process within an hour for an upcharge, but as that website did not offer same day ESTA approval (what's the point of it then?) I guess my brain just went into defeatist mode and got ready to hold the L.
12:25, 1h before take-off
Sat in the train for the most depressing journey home of my life, I had only left the station 10 minutes ago. I was browsing through my Spotify to put on a song for the mood. Getting just about ready to settle on Pain by Three Days Grace, I feel it buzz and see a g-mail notification come in. ''Hello Healthy-Network4766, your ESTA status has updated. Please check your app.''
Lo and behold, not carrying a medieval disease or bomb belts under my jacket was indeed enough to win the hearts of the people at the Department of Homeland Security, and I had been approved for travel to the USA for short stays for the next 2 years. 1 hour of time, while not a great stretch by any means of the imagination, is more than enough to get through security and haul ass to your gate if you inform airport staff you're in a hurry. Considering my train had left 10 minutes ago and wouldn't stop until reaching the next station 30 minutes further, I knew it was over. I would not be back on time to reach my flight.
While the AirBNB gave me a surprisingly generous 75% reimbursement, I know the 900 odd euroes I spent on the tickets are going to be gone for good, I hope the person that I was supposed to sit next to enjoys the extra leg space. Gonna be an awkward conversation at work when I get in on monday.
TL;DR I was too ignorant to research the needed travel documents to travel to the USA from Europe, got a reality check at the airport, hastily applied and left back home prematurely. Got approved to travel on the way home. Had I waited 10 minutes longer, I'd be 2 hours out from New York now and awkwardly sitting on a wooden ass eager to explore a new continent.
Edit: Here is a Nice L of a screenshot that shows the reason you should never act on impulse when there's even a small chance you may make it.
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