Some good news fluttered into my inbox from the USA.
They have kindly decided to give me a visa to go on holiday. The sticking point is they put in bold that I have to send my passport within 30 days. Trouble is I’m going to Thailand so I kinda need my passport.
Will they allow an extension to avoid me reapplying and waiting another 6 months? I hope so, for the first time in my life I have a possibility of entering America’s borders.
No big deal to most of you since you live there or many others who freely go back and forth. But I’ve been barred for most of my adult life waiting for my past to get far enough behind me to show I am no threat to American society. But now I can finally visit and see all the amazing sites I’ve seen in movies experience diverse cultures ok, I’ll just be drinking in different bars as I do when I holiday anywhere.
I’m going to aim for next Autumn Fall to plan a trip, or possibly Christmas. But where do I go?
I take two types of trip:
A city break: I need good food. I need bars with a someone killing a guitar playing in the corner, I need to be able to walk city streets not caring if I get lost and observing the quirks of daily life. For a week I want to imagine what living in that city is like, staying in an apartment, grabbing a coffee from a little place round the corner.
A relaxing break: I need good food, I need to sip lazy cocktails in the sun, I need a swimming pool and a terrace not overlooked where I can scald my white flesh in the stifling heat.
I now need your recommendations to help me plot my trip. There are too many places I want to go but I have to narrow it down to just one for now and I don’t know where to start first.
londonsurvival 
Madame Weebles
/ November 27, 2013Well OBVIOUSLY you’ll be visiting me in NY. RIGHT???????
Doggy's Style
/ November 27, 2013See Joe, 2 comments and 2 of them suggested NYC.
Madame Weebles
/ November 27, 2013Represent, Leo!
joehoover
/ November 27, 2013I’m worried it will be better than London and I’ll be sad
Madame Weebles
/ November 27, 2013It won’t be better than London. I love both cities so much, but they’re very different. Both lovable but in different ways.
joehoover
/ November 27, 2013I can see how this is going to pan out
joehoover
/ November 27, 2013My friends did have great things to say about it when they got back this year, it’s probably the easiest trip to do aswell.
I can bring you a Camden momento! I’m sadly leaving Camden in January having to buy a flat further North 😦
Madame Weebles
/ November 27, 2013Sad! Where are you headed? How far north are you going?
joehoover
/ November 28, 2013Muswell Hill, just beyond Highgate. So not that far really and I will need to change in Camden every day anyway, just won’t be the same not living there. And poor Lily loses her garden
Madame Weebles
/ November 28, 2013I understand completely. That’s Zone 3, right? Muswell Hill is nice from what I remember but yeah, it’s not the same as Camden. Please send my regards and condolences to Lily.
joehoover
/ November 28, 2013That’s the place!
Doggy's Style
/ November 27, 2013I’m glad the always merciful ‘Murica has decided to let you in.
I waited for 3 months for them to give me back my passport, my American passport, just because I traveled to the middle east and crossed the boarder with Mexico way too many times. Am I to blame that Mexican food is better in Mexico than in Texas?
I’d say you go to NYC, you have the city and the wildlife just right across the Hudson in NJ.
joehoover
/ November 27, 2013Two votes for NY!
Mexican food…now I just want to go there
gingerfightback
/ November 27, 2013Just back from Amsterdam…..Try Austin…..been there a couple of times and also San Francisco is ace. NYC obviously too aklthough the fates keep conspiring against us on that one.
joehoover
/ November 27, 2013Oh yes, how was Amsterdam? I expect Oily George knew all the best places.
Austin is on my list, seems like I can get a house with pool in the lakes nearby aswell as doing some time in the city.
gingerfightback
/ November 27, 2013Amsterdam was very very very Amsterdam
joehoover
/ November 28, 2013A long time since I’ve been. My friend went this year and got mugged. Then again he’s been mugged 8 times this year!
gingerfightback
/ November 28, 2013Lucky!
El Guapo
/ November 27, 2013If you come to NYC, it sounds like you want Brooklyn, maybe near Prospect Park.
joehoover
/ November 27, 2013I hadn’t thought of outside the East Village, but I do keep reading about Brooklyn. To hell with it all, I’ll go to the Hamptons and hang out with Ina Garten
Kathryn
/ November 27, 2013For Doggy-3 months to get your passport back? That’s bizarre. What do you mean by back-you had to apply for a new one? I’ve bounced all over the Middle East and Mexico/Central America on a US passport with no problems.
As for London, definitely check at a consulate, as you don’t want to lose your visa opportunity. I have been in this situation before and had to apply for a second passport-can you get a second UK passport, one to send to visa-limbo, and one for Thailand?
I recommend Manhattan for a city trip, and skiing or touring the southwest national parks or Yosemite otherwise. New England in the fall is also nice.
joehoover
/ November 28, 2013Thanks for all the tips, am checking with the embassy,
If the US wasn’t so big…
pouringmyartout
/ November 28, 2013You know where you need to go…
joehoover
/ November 28, 2013I have free accommodation in Palm Springs on that coast which is handy. But I feel NY calling for a first trip.
pouringmyartout
/ November 28, 2013Palm Springs is driving distance from here.
joehoover
/ November 28, 2013I’ll have to hitch! Nah, my other half drives
pouringmyartout
/ November 28, 2013If you get to Palm Springs, I will drive there to meet you, although it would be cool to show you San Diego.
joehoover
/ November 29, 2013Yeah, I wanna go to the zoo
pouringmyartout
/ November 29, 2013yeah you do.
joehoover
/ November 29, 2013I take it they have monkey’s
pouringmyartout
/ November 29, 2013They have monkeys… best zoo in the world… I like monkeys…
joehoover
/ November 29, 2013I wouldn’t have guessed 🙂
pouringmyartout
/ November 29, 2013yes you would have too
Lily
/ November 29, 2013What got you in trouble? Just curious–you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. My friend had the same prob and couldn’t come across the border for a couple years. Always a bummer!
I would say NYC just because it needs to be done once in your life. And it’s a quicker flight compared to LA or something. Unless you want to go to LA (I don’t really like it there) and then feel like going to Hawaii. But HI is expensive. So maybe NYC and Florida. Classic, but they always prove to be good places to visit.
joehoover
/ November 29, 2013Thanks for tips, my other half goes top LA for work, sounds horrible. I think NY will be my kinda place. Not adverse to Florida too since it is cheap to get a house and pool to chill out in.
Still waiting for Canada to tell me if I can go visit there, I don;t need a visa but I need confirmation I am deemed rehabilitated, basically that is if it was more than 10 years ago and I wouldn’t have gone to prison under Canadian law.
I don’t mind divulging, I was caught with drugs when I was a youth. Got a £200 fine as a result but apparently a kid who experimented with drugs growing up is such a threat to national security…
I made a big stink when I first heard it was on my record for 25 years as when I read up on other crimes, I could have beaten and sexually assaulted someone and it would have only lasted for 10 years. They changed it since so everything is recorded for life. Ah well, my fault, just aswell I work in administration as all the application paperwork for visas is plentiful.
Lily
/ November 29, 2013Ahh yeah that’s too bad. I hate that stuff like that is so strict and then it’s lesser for more heinous crimes. So backwards. At least it’s getting all sorted.
Yeah I think NYC and Florida would be good too because the flights aren’t that long for you and flying from NYC to FL isn’t so bad either. Whatever you choose, I hope you have fun!
thehobbler
/ November 30, 2013What would you think about hanging out with my husband and I and our nudist friends in oklahoma for a few days. They have a pool and hot tub there. They also have cabins, or you could set up a tent.
There is tons of drinking (first time I’ve gotten so wasted that I blacked out most of my wild and crazy night).
Some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.
joehoover
/ December 1, 2013Actually that sounds nice, maybe not the nudey part for me, I have my British reserve to contend with 😀
I think it will be NY for my first venture in to he US, then I have to get a new visa for the next year. Then my 3rd application they should grant a 5 year one which will be easier
thehobbler
/ December 4, 2013I don’t get naked. Well, I did for about 5 minutes, just so I could say I did. 😉 the people are so friendly. It is a very cool atmosphere, with or without clothes.
The visa process I a lot more complicated than I would have imagined. NY sounds like a wonderful place to go for your first visit. Are you going to meet EG and Madame Weebles?
joehoover
/ December 4, 2013It’s all in the balance now, they want my visa now but I am going away next week for the rest of December and they insist I get it there for the 2nd January or have to wait another 6 months and reapply all over again. So inflexible America 😉
I’ve booked my passport for collection the next day after I land back home so it will be very tight, so fingers crossed.
I would love to meet up with those guys, insider knowledge is also best when visiting a new place. It would be nervy, like a blind date except I don’t sleep with them at the end of it!
thehobbler
/ December 4, 2013Lol, never say never Joe, they might be up for some blind date action. 😉
joehoover
/ December 5, 2013That behaviour is in my distant past 🙂
thehobbler
/ December 5, 2013It’s a lot safer that way. On a not so distance past note, have you ever blacked out when drunk? Like, totally lost hours in which you were awake and apparently busy, but you can’t remember anything?
joehoover
/ December 6, 2013Nah, I know when to stop
benzeknees
/ December 1, 2013It looks like everyone wants you to go to New York & congrats on finally leaving your sordid past far enough behind you to be able to get a visitor’s visa!
joehoover
/ December 1, 2013Yeah, it is the easiest trip and more likely would have friends willing to come too,
Anonymous
/ December 2, 2013I want you to come HERE but I do not meet any of your request. All I have is the desert 40 minutes away, the top of a snowy mountain, and the green of a national forest”. Now just cause you won’t come to my little corner of the world that does not mean I don’t want to miss out on your trip. POST PICS daily! Please
Anonymous
/ December 2, 2013That post is from me JoeJoe
joehoover
/ December 2, 2013I wonder why you came up as “Someone” 🙂
I recognised it was you. I have to catch up on your posts, I’ll be doing so on holiday next week
Rhiannon
/ December 5, 2013DISNEY WORLD!!!!
joehoover
/ December 6, 2013😀 Why didn’t I think of that!
Sara no "H"
/ December 9, 2013I live in Oklahoma. I would def head to New York!! I love Vegas too. There is just so much to do. I’ve heard fantastic things about Nashville too but I’ve only been to Memphis and I LOVED IT. I get all excited when I talk about travels lol.
joehoover
/ December 16, 2013Me too, you spend all year looking forward to it, I am on day 6 of my holiday right now and write this comment sitting by the pool in stifling heat
appletonavenue
/ January 5, 2014While I live in Los Angeles and it has some unique places (like Olvera Street, Chinatown, Little Tokyo) I’m not sure there are many good bars. So I would recommend two other cities: San Diego’s Gaslamp District is full of nothing but bars, and has some character, though wandering around isn’t very interesting unless you like architecture or drinking.
Another place you could shoot for would be San Francisco. The Wharf area and Haight Ashbury are things everyone should see. And the Victorian houses are really something to see. San Francisco is definitely the place of interesting people and places. I should think there are a lot of bars, but couldn’t tell you, not being much of a bar fly myself.
No matter where you go, it will be new and interesting. Personally, I’d choose San Francisco. I think it’s a spectacular city with lots to do and see. I wouldn’t go in December, though. In December I’d go to San Diego. It’s warmer and has marvelous beaches.
Looking forward to reading about your trip and all the plans. Wishing for good things for you and yours in 2014!
joehoover
/ January 6, 2014Thanks for the great tips. My other half does have a friend n Palm Springs so planned to stay there on one trip and then go to San Diego to drop in on Pouringmyart out. And I have a friend in SF aswell.
appletonavenue
/ January 6, 2014Sounds like you’ve got it all worked out. When will you be visiting?
joehoover
/ January 7, 2014Waiting on my visa, was battling with the embassy as they gave me a deadline to get passport to them but I was on holiday abroad. I made it back with three days to spare so still to see if they will process it and not be beaurocrats about it.
All goes well I need to go this year as it is a year visa, so maybe September/October.
appletonavenue
/ January 8, 2014I think that would be a good time to go to NY. Not too hot, not too cold. Beautiful trees. Sounds like fun.
joehoover
/ January 8, 2014Actually decided on west coast, my other half not interested in New York so will do that next time when i can gather some friends to go. It’s his friend in Palm Springs so can combine it with Las Vegas, San Diego and Los Angeles. His company has offices in LA too, so may try and combine with a visit so they pay for his flights 🙂 I’d love to do a music festival too but expect would have missed them all by then. Would like to do the Comic Con in San Diego but that is in April so another time.
appletonavenue
/ January 9, 2014Sounds like a packed vacation. I can’t wait to hear about it after you go.