The truth is that...

Ifinished crying. Now I will tell you what really happened that we had to cancel the trip this time.
06 Feb 2008 - Wednesday afternoon, I received a letter from the French embassy, 'advising' me that I cannot go on 12th Feb, because of my Indonesian passport. However, Lan's Chinese passport can immediately be granted a Schengen visa. They required me to ring them immediately.

07 Feb 2008 - Thursday around 15.00 - 16.00 (that's their available time!), I rang them many times, only to be greeted by the answering machine and an automatic 'call-ended' system! *God help them!* After numerous attempts, a lady finally answered me.
The conversation concluded that it takes at least 3 weeks to process my Schengen visa application because for Indonesian passport they have to send everything to Paris for the visa process! So, my appeal was useless...
Finally, we decided to ask them process Lan's visa but don't process mine. Simply because...

  • they do NOT refund our 120 euro application fees if we withdraw both passports.

  • in a month time, we are going to Beijing, and I need to apply a Chinese visa. Learning from this experience, we want to have enough time to apply my visa (in case something might happen), so nothing like this will happen again.

  • Why we prioritize on the trip to Beijing? Because the ticket to go home is more expensive than this trip to Paris.

After telling them the decision, I was emotionally going down the hill.
Disappointed? Yes!
Sad? Very!
Wish can do something to stop this cancellation? I very wished so!

Reality felt so cruel that evening.
Still, I praise God I have Lan.
Yes, I cried so much and so hard, but I was leaning on Lan's shoulder.
I said to The Lord, 'I accept it! I accept it! But, Father, just for a while, just for this evening, let me mourn, let me pour out my sadness. After that, I will praise You for a better plan You have for our honeymoon, for a greater blessing awaiting for us.'
And I did exactly what I said.
I won't blame anything or anyone. It is just meant to be.

Do we lose money? Of course!
Thank God, some of them we can get refund after paying a small fine.
However, we lose our flight tickets, non-refundable they are.
Praise God, we bought travel insurance, so we are working on making a claim. We hope to get some of our lost money back.

What now?
  1. A big THANK YOU for all YOUR supports for us! You helped us to stay strong and have faith in our God. :)

  2. Lan & I learnt our lesson. We grow closer than ever before. We continually praising The Lord for the people that love and support us; our parents and dear friends.

  3. A second attempt is being planned! Hahaha... This time it is in a better time: SUMMER! *I offered Lan some other destinations, but he still want to go to France for our honeymoon.* So, help in prayers, things will go in a better way and we will get good bargains again hehehe...

OK friends, that is all for now. Jesus bless you!

Comments

  1. God knows what is best for you, hopefully the summer time would work out fine for both of you to have honeymoon in Paris. Sending you big hugssssss oooooo:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hope everything is going well for you, dear. Let's just keep in mind that something that you don't get now might be the best for you later. That it will come to you as fortunate events in its time.

    I pray the best for you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. pengalaman adalah guru yg terbaik, so laen kali applynya jauh2x hari

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dear Sherly,
    Everything is beautiful in His time. Mungkin ini bukan jalan Tuhan Sher...who knows "something bad" would happen in Paris that God would not want you & Lan to be there around that time. Just keep trusting the Lord, ok dear.. I know it's tough especially when we want something so bad & it didnt happen. I'll keep you in my prayers. Semoga honeymoon di China nya terlaksana dengan sukses :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Aduh... Sempat ikut sedih dan kesal, tapi kemudian berpikir bahwa setidaknya ada dukungan suamimu di sisimu, seperti 'motto' blogmu: "Inseperable is you & me."

    Ayo, rencana libur musim panasnya dimatangkan mulai dari sekarang. :-D

    ReplyDelete
  6. orang bilang belajar dari pengalaman, itu klise tapi DALEM dan PENTING banget.
    orang bilang, kudu siap2 dari jauh hari... itu juga klise, tapi PENTING BANGET.
    orang bilang kudu punya backup... itu juga klise tapi justru PENTING banget untuk kita semua.

    semua bisa teratasi asalkan serahkan ke Tuhan dan selalu berusaha, sist.

    *mwah*

    salam manis dari Ende :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Setuju sm Dian :)

    Semoga lain kali akan lebih baik ya Sherl :)

    GBU!

    ReplyDelete
  8. waaa, nyebelin yah. berarti kalo ngurus2 gt emang enak jauh2 hari yah, wah....

    yah, setidaknya kan ada pelajaran berharga yg bisa diambil tuw...

    ReplyDelete
  9. emang kenapa sih Sher klu dri Indo hrs gt ? btw, dari postingan ini, aq jd tau kamu...kamu orgnya sistematis, alur berpikir jelas, klu ngelakuin sesuatu jelas step2nya, n ga mo berlama2 di masalah. Ntar makin kamu dewasa (mmm tua maksudnya, kekekek) kamu akan makin ga emotional. Keknya Lan orgnya dewasa ya, bisa ngebimbing...cucok ma kamu, makanya u feel safe with him, n comfortable. Tapi Sher, klu pendapat ini salah, hapus aja ya di comment. hihihi. Gimana, bener ga ? kasi tau ya bener salahnya...

    ReplyDelete
  10. duh.. paspor indonesia dikasih "perlakuan khusus" yak.. :(

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dear sherly...
    don't be sad okey dear, i'm sure that God will give you other time to be more happy, more honeymoon, more and more for you and Lan. He knows what beat for us doesn't he? and this all are the very best way for you both :)
    so keep smiling ya dearrr :D

    ReplyDelete
  12. Learn from the past to build the future. That's the best thing to do no matter what the "reality" is today. Reality is as it is, without intention whatsoever. On the other hand, God does have a good intention for you. You ARE going to Paris. Just not now. And all things considered, that might be the best thing. Summer, might be the perfect time. God will tell. Simply go on living strong and faithful the way you are as you always do. So I pray. GBU.

    ReplyDelete
  13. discrimination,...I hate it!

    ReplyDelete
  14. sis, sabar yach... aku br baca nich ttg batalnya honey moon kamu n Lan... maybe God already has other plan for u n Lan.. be strong yach... gbu

    ReplyDelete
  15. Yah Sher, akhirnya ga dapet ya visa-nya... Don't be sad for too long Sher, moga2 summer nanti dapet ya. Just enjoy your trip to Beijing.

    HUGSSSSSSSS

    ReplyDelete

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