Visa, What VISA?

Here is the story of a young couple trying to check in for a flight to Australia.

{after waiting in line for quite some time for a larger party to get checked in}

Me: "Hi, we need to check in for an international flight" (can't use the kiosk) [hands over passports and confirmation with a smile]

Airline Lady: "Okay, I'll get started on that" [types wildly]

{Blake and I chat amongst ourselves}

Airline Lady: "I don't see a visa here for Jillian"

Me: [blank stare]

Airline Lady: "I don't see an electronic visa for Jillian"

Me: [continued blank stare while racking my brain for any knowledge about visas]

Airline Lady: "Did you not check the list of required documents to travel to Australia?"

Me: [Continue blank stare and racking of brain to figure out what list of documents is she talking about that I didn't read, and I gave her my passport, is that what she's talking about.. what could have happened to my passport and why should there be a visa in there that doesn't seem to be in there now.]

Airline Lady: "Do you not understand that you need a visa to travel to Australia!?"

Me: "So Blake has one but I don't?" [just trying to put the pieces together and panicking a little]

Airline Lady: "I haven't checked his yet"

Me: [starting to comprehend] "Oh, so we both need one"

Airline Lady: "Correct, he doesn't have one either. Did you not check the list of required documentation before traveling to a foreign country?"

Me: "I checked a lot of lists, but not the right one I guess. So what do we do now?" [Still panicking a little and thinking about how much money we wasted if we can't go to Australia, or how much more money it would cost to fly tomorrow.]

Airline Lady: "Well, we can issue an electronic visa, but it can take awhile because we have to send and transmit it to Australia." [super annoyed tone]

Me: "Okay, do we have enough time?" [we arrived two and a half hours early, because in the past we've missed international flights - ya, we have great luck with flying]

Airline Lady: "Well, It will cost you $25."

Me: "Okay, let's do it. I'm so sorry, I don't know how I didn't know about this."

Airline Lady: "You have to check the list of documents required for going to a foreign country"

{A minute passes while she types wildly again, complains about typing so much and I think back on all the things I read about our trip wondering how I missed this minor detail.}

Airline Lady: "I'll have to go get it from my printer, wait right here, I have to go in the back and get it from the printer back there."

{seconds only}

Me: [thinking out loud] "I'm sure it isn't the airline's responsibility to tell me what I need, I just don't know where I should have looked to find this information."

Airline Lady: "You are right, it isn't the airline's responsibility. I don't know how you'd find out, on (her airline) it prints out on the boarding passes. You probably should have gone to (says some website)." [she softens a little]

{seconds pass again while she gets the second visa from the printer}

Blake: "Thank you so much. I'm sorry we didn't know about this, and now you have to do all this extra work."

Airline Lady: "Well, you are just lucky you're here early enough and that (her airline) can issue visas. We're the only airline that does it." [she says proudly, having lost all condescension that the conversation started with.]

{We chat a little more and have pleasant small talk. I continue to rack my brain for how I missed this detail and how I could have known to look for this detail. The whole process taking maybe five minutes}

Airline Lady: "Here are your visas, your boarding passes and luggage tickets. You are all set to go to Australia for up to a year. You'll have a great time, I'm sure!" [pleasantly, happily and friendly]

Us: "Thank you so much!" [super relieved and glad that she was nice in the end and SO, SO, SO relieved that it all worked out!]

Now we're just waiting at the gate, for the adventure to begin. Whatever we forgot is left behind and what we don't know will have to be worked out (case in point). So thankful that this little story ended the way it did!