First week!

Cannot believe I've been here a week already, but at the same time it feels like I've been here for agessss! Will try to keep this short and sweet but anyone who has read my previous entries will know that I like to go on a bit.... 

WednesdayDrink water people. Drink lots of water. Drink so much water that you need the bathroom a lot!! Cos without realising it I was dehydrated from the flight and what followed was not so fun.There was a bit of waiting around for the coach to take us to Vista Way from Chatham for our morning meeting, then more standing about waiting to check in at the desk. By then I was really feeling thirsty. Then got a wee cup of water while standing doing more waiting. Then we are standing in the shade signing forms and I just went funny really suddenly, hands were shaking and I was seeing spots, feeling like I need to puke and was going to faint. Jen looked at me and was like are you ok, and I was like just get the woman I'm going to faint. The woman came back over and as I went to sit down I thought I was about to puke and was looking for the nearest bin and kind of gulped and then it all went away. They kept asking if I wanted to sit down some more but I was back to normal again just as quickly as it came over me. Never felt like that before and don't particularly want to so I now carry water EVERYWHERE!!!!!Drama over, got our housing ID, its actually an alright photo considering "the incident" happened two minutes before hand. Although they re-size it so everyone's face is shorter and fatter, kind of look like cabbage patch kids. Then we walked across to the premium outlets (just across the road from The Commons) and got lunch then went to our next meeting.Which was cheesy. Really cheesy. We've seen some cheese already but nothing like this. They brought us all (like a 100 people from different programmes) into this big lecture hall type room with the lights off, disco lights on, smoke machine filling the room with smoke, big cheesy tvs on with slogans like "Cheer if your excited!!!" while the staff dance to Disney music. This will take some getting used to! It was just a bunch of rules and explaining stuff that's in the program book. Did you know that the legal drinking age is 21? Did you know that they will tell you this fact pretty much every time they speak to you? Can they not see my wrinkles ?We found another UK girl today called Jess! So our group has grown to 5! Met a lot of the Canadian's and people from other countries that I've been talking to through my blogs, facebook and twitter which was pretty cool! We went back to the apartment and got changed then headed to Downtown Disney for a bit of wander and dinner at Planet Hollywood which was yum! :) We had another early start the next day so we headed home after dinner.

ThursdayToday we had the talk from Immigration. This is where they scare the crap out of you with ways that you can be deported. A big man from federal government comes and talks to you about what will happen if you get caught doing something you shouldn't be. Bottom line - just don't do it. Don't put yourself in situations where you have to ask yourself if it's a good idea because more than likely, it's not. We've heard so many stories about people getting termed for really ridiculous stuff (like photo bombing!) and they have been verified as being real... so just behave yourself and especially when you're on Disney property! If you are termed then you have 24-48 hours to leave the country. After this you're looking at being deported by a federal agent who will arrest you, escort you on a plane and when you get to the UK, he's not handing you over to your family but the UK government. If you get in trouble and have to make a court appearance then it won't happen within that 48 hours so you will need to go home and come back every time you are required in court. If you don't go to court then a warrant will be put out for your arrest and if you ever come back to the States again, you be detained at the border. Not worth ruining your life for.Scary stuff over with, we had the next day off and had our UK throw in that night. We are all of drinking age :) so got some drink from Walmart, got dinner and got ready then had some drinks at Harriet's apartment. Eventually met up with more and more people on our way to get the taxi to down town Orlando and go to Cowboys! For those not in the know, Cowboys is a proper American line dancing bar that also plays pop/dance. Was a fun night meeting and seeing people :)



FridayUgh. This was a sucky, sucky day. Didn't get drunk enough on Thursday to be as ill as I was on Friday. I had planned on having a pool day and ended up spending the day between my bed and my bathroom as I was been violently ill from midday right through till late at night. It was 30 degrees outside and I had a hoody on, wrapped in a comforter shivering! Definately had picked up some sort of stomach bug and it lingered for a couple days but Friday was the worst stomach bug I've ever had. So glad for the people I have around me though, they regularly dropped off bottled water and then came round late with a little care package for me :) I was crying and feeling really sorry for myself as Traditions was the next morning and for quite a long time it didn't look like I would make it. 

SaturdayThankfully the bug eased up! I woke up briefly at 3am and could tell right away that I felt better and then woke up a couple hours later to get ready for Traditions! I'm not going to go into great detail about this as there's a couple of fun surprises but it was a good day and the guys taking it were really funny! We got our  ID that we can use for the parks so we rushed home to get changed and come back to Magic Kingdom for our first Wishes! It was mega busy and we got split up at times but we managed to see Wishes and then went to look at the new Fantasy Land, met Ariel and went on the carousel. Got ice cream, went into a few shops and took LOTS of photos!

SundayWe had more training over at Disney University which was e-learning and going through a big thing on food safety/hygiene. Nothing too taxing! There are a lot of early morning starts when you first start and we really tried to not exhaust ourselves any more than necessary so we had a lot more chill time than other groups have done, but each to their own! We also picked up our shoes (F&B have shoes provided as they have to be ones suitable for walking through kitchens but Merch have to provide their own).

MondayEpcot Discovery Day! We went to Epcot and had a quick little class and then went for a trip right through Epcot. We walked from the main entrance and then got to go on Spaceship Earth :) and had a quick look around and headed to World Showcase where a boat took us round so we could see all the different pavilions. Then we had a tour of our own pavilion at the UK and went to costuming to get our costumes sorted out. We are allowed 5 costumes so that's handy! Got a locker and dropped some stuff there then headed back to The Commons. Got our schedules today so we knew pretty much where and when we would be working for the next couple of weeks.

TuesdayCrazy to have been here a week!!! We went back to Epcot and spent the morning doing yet again more e-learning and then went back to the UK pavilion again to meet with our manager. After this we took the chance to walk right around the World Showcase (1.2 miles) and get to properly see the pavilions. Then we went over to go on the Nemo ride and had fun looking at the fish, sharks, dolphins and manatees. Went quickly home and changed and then JUST got back in time to see Illuminations over the World Showcase :) Then we met up with some others and walked over to the Boardwalk area and some of us went to Jellyrolls. This is a bar that has duelling piano players, you write down songs you want to hear and wrap a tip in it then leave it on the piano and they will play pretty much everything and anything. Free popcorn, huge drinks and free entry for cast members :) We also saw a couple get engaged!

And so the adventure begins!

Soooo.... a lot has happened in the last couple of days! I've been sending lengthy regular emails to my mum though so it's a good way of keeping track of what's been going on.

On Tuesday morning I got up at 5am after 2 hours sleep, got ready and my mum took me to the airport. My luggage was about 3kgs overweight but the woman let me away with it thank god! My first flight to Dublin was on a teeny tiny plane but was pretty uneventful. Started feeling pretty sleepy near the end so was glad to get off. 

My mum took photos of my plane as it flew over our house lol

When we arrived in Dublin they told all the people that were going to the States to get onto a seperate bus on the runway that would take us to Terminal 2. It picked up a bunch of people as it went along and then dropped us right at the door to the US Pre-clearance. This is unique, only Dublin has it. Basically it means that you clear immigration at Dublin so you don't have to do it in Orlando. I filled in a little blue form (you will need to know your address in the States, regardless if you enter at Dublin, Orlando or elsewhere. Use the address you put on your visa forms)  and then took my boarding card, passport, blue form and my white I94 card to a desk where the woman stamped the card, filled in the bit she needed to and gave me back the smaller half of the white card. DO NOT LOOSE THIS!!!!!! They might staple it into your passport, they didn't for me but the arrivals team did it for me. Then I stood in line to get questioned by the officer, finger prints and photo taken which didn't take long and then headed through another security gate into the departure area. What is a bit poop about this part is that there's very little in this part of the airport. Its just for flights heading to the States and only has a very small coffee shop/bar and very limited duty free for sale.

Tried to sleep on the second flight but had a lot of mild turbulence that kept me awake, felt like sitting in the back of a hackney cab going over speed bumps. Got pretty bad as we hit New York state so the plane circled for about 20 minutes until it was re-directed onto a different flight path, still got in 15 mins early though.

I thought I would have to go through some sort of passport control again at Orlando, but nope - everyone straight off the plane and off to collect their luggage. The other guys took 40 mins-1hr in the queues so I would recommend it to anyone going out there as I spent about 15 mins in Dublin and they did all the leg work for you. However because I missed passport control I came out at a totally different bit to where everyone normally comes out and where we had all arranged to meet and my battery was dying so I checked the arrivals board and plugged my phone on charge at the first socket I spotted (this seemed to be quite normal so I didn't feel guilty!) Finally managed to find the other Jen (who knew there was 2 Disney stores in the airport!?) and then it took quite a while for Harriet and then Scott to get through immigration and by then me and Jen had been in the airport for hours.

Got the Mears shuttle bus to drop us off and then had a panic because we were dropped off at what we thought was the  "Welcome Point" but there wasn't a soul there, luckily Harriet has a US sim already so phoned the free US toll number and a wee guy came along on a golf cart type thing to pick us and our luggage up cos the taxi dropped us at the wrong place. And then we got Disn-ied. Although the guy was pretty insistent that we all thoroughly washed our hands before we had a cookie because we had been in multiple airports. They sat us down, gave us warm cookies and bottled water and info packs on what we need to do for the next couple of days. And a wee welcome pack with washing detergent and softener lol. Then they loaded up all our luggage and dropped us off at our apartments -  the driver comes with you to help with luggage and also to introduce you, aka bang the door like a crazy man while shouting "NEW ROOMMATE!!!!!" None of our roommates were in though when we arrived. And we aren't sharing with anyone we know, the two other girls are in the same apartment block but different apartments. My apartment is block 1 - right next to the pool/bus stop/clubhouse/etc. Lifesaver!

We quickly dropped off our stuff then me, Harriet and Jen went to Walmart and Scott went to sleep lol! We were pretty sensible, every other person seems to spend about $200, we spent like $70-80 and just got the essentials like bedding, towels and just a little bit of food and snacks. Came back to apartment and there was people in and I unpacked for a bit and then chatted to a couple of my roommates. I'm in a 3 bed/3 bath apartment. I've still to meet one girl and two of them moved out today (Thursday) so I'm looking forward to not being the new girl!

Think I will continue with day 2 in a seperate post as this will get a bit long!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya, tomorrow!

I leave for the airport in 7 hours!!!!!!!!!!!

And it's STILL not sunk in at all, I'm like an emotionless robot. Waiting for the big reality moment but so far it's not happening! 

The last week has been pretty mellow. Pottered about for a week while the family were away and had some much needed lazy down time. Yesterday I had a big Sunday dinner with all the family and took a bunch of photos and then today I went for lunch with my mum, sister and little nephew. Got some dollars and last minute bits and pieces (and good old Cadbury's chocolate) and stuffed it into my serious heavy suitcases.

To say that I'm shitting it about my luggage is an understatement. The other day me and my younger brother weighed them and I was 1kg under my total weight allowance and since then I've stuffed more crap in there. Eeerppp.... they are really friggen heavy! Now they are sitting downstairs waiting for me to pop my make up in there tomorrow after I get ready.

I've got all my paperwork printed, copies given to my mum and in my bag. I've checked in online, printed my boarding pass and set my alarm for 5am (eek). I called up Orange today and suspended my phone contract for 6 months... still quite annoying that I will still need to pay for the rest, and I've arranged for my phone to be unlocked although they say it can take up to 20 days. How utterly ridiculous!! And having to pay £20 for the pleasure! I've made plans to meet up with the rest of my arrival group at the airport in Orlando and printed off the $5 off coupon for the Mears shuttle (its normally $21 per person). Had my shower, done my nails and had my last fake tan session for the year haha! 

The weather is hot, hot, hot in Orlando (with some typical tropical rain) and I can't believe that I'll be there in 24 hours!!!! So this has been my last UK-side blog and from now on it will be less of an advice-type blog and more about my adventures! Everyone says that it's difficult to blog while on the programme but I'm determined to keep it up :)

This time next week...

I'll be landing in Orlando, Florida!!!

Where the hell have the last few weeks gone? 

I finished work on Thursday, was a pretty boring shift to be honest. On Friday I just finally got to chill (and sleep properly without stressing about work) and started the preparations for my leaving party on Saturday :)
Saturday night was fun, lot of people made it, even if it was just briefly and I managed to not get really drunk which was a bonus. Howeverrrr... I totally forgot to take a single photo! Fail!! I was so busy running about talking to everyone that I just forgot. Oops. I got lovely presents from my work though so there's some tangible memories!

Sunday was a lazy day. My friend had stayed the night so we had a pj day and watched crap on tv, well deserved. She left and then I headed off to bed so I was up early the next day. Yesterday I went for a goodbye lunch with my best friend and a few cocktails. Feels so weird saying bye to people... it seems more like a normal "see you later" rather than "see you in a year!". I think it's maybe because this has all taken so long so I still don't believe it in my head. There hasn't been a single tear yet! There's been a few moments of sudden panic but then it goes away again. 

Last night I started packing... it's been hanging over me like a dark cloud so I started the marathon task of ironing and packing clothes. Right now I have one full case and piles of stuff to go in the other one. I want to get all that stuff in, see what allowance (if any) I have left before deciding on what else to pap in there haha, and what I will just need to buy there. I have all my clothes, it's just all my bits and bobs I'm thinking about now.

Tomorrow is a day for sorting insurance and more packing. My family are on holiday until Saturday and we have a family dinner planned for Sunday. Before I know it Tuesday will be here so I'm just trying to do as much as possible. I keep hitting a wall of tiredness in the evenings and then end up ironing till 3am but at least it's getting done! So my last pre-Florida blog post is likely to be next Monday - the day before! 

On a side note, I've recently hit over 5,000 page views. So thank you, random blog readers! :)

It's the final countdown!!!

FEELING ALL OF THE EMOTIONS! 

And yet... I'm a bit numb... it comes and goes in waves! I've had a pretty manic couple of weeks since coming back from my visa trip but tonight I finished my last shift at work after four years there! 

My visa arrived safe and sound, they send you a text to tell you the day before that it will be arriving, and it arrived on the 19th around 8:15am. They do say that you will need to show ID to recieve the parcel but my mum answered the door and they guy didn't ask. Another guy from Glasgow didn't get asked for ID but all the English people did. Maybe our delivery guy was just more trusting/lazy?? Regardless, it's here and I made photocopies as advised of the visa page, passport page and front page of my passport. So much paperwork! 

So the only official thing I have to do now is get my health insurance sorted and I'll be doing that in the next week, I've just been too busy with work to do anything else. I had a new manager starting and have had A LOT of training to do with him and other new staff. My replacement has also been hired.... how weird! I wanted to finish tomorrow (Friday) when it's busy and lots of people to see but couldn't because of conflicting issues with the rota so finished up tonight. Having my leaving party on Saturday at the bar next to my work which a lot of people are looking forward to as it's not often that we all go out en-mass. 

Sooooo.... the next 11 days will be filled with packing, organising insurance (I know what I want, I just need to pay for it so not a huge deal), catching up with friends and seeing my sister and my nephew. Breaks my heart at leaving some of these people but it's not forever. Think the hardest is leaving my nephew as he will almost be 2 when I get home and he's not even 1 yet! 

Just a glimpse of "the bad photo"... 

The visa!! (Part 2)

Starting off from where I left you all last....

I got my train into Glasgow, picked up my train tickets to Euston, grabbed some trashy magazines and settled down for the next few hours. There was a really hot guy sitting facing me and I felt like the world's biggest stalker trying not to stare at him hahaa! I'd found a hotel just near Euston station so headed off to find that and drop my stuff off and then got something to eat. I stayed at the Mabledon Court Hotel and it was really clean, the staff were really friendly but my room was literally the size of a large cupboard! It felt safe and secure though, and its not like I was staying there for long! There is also a huge Premier Inn and a Travelodge just round the corner from Euston, a big youth hostel and loads of smaller independent hotels like the one I stayed at so there's plenty of choice in the area.

I decided to do a test route to find the Embassy that night as well as I didn't want to be lost and rushing about in the morning. It is ridiculously easy to find. From Euston Station I took the Victoria line to Oxford Circus and then the Cental line to Marble Arch. Very quick route. You get out the station and walk up Oxford Street, past Primark and then take a right onto North Audley Street (Zara is on the corner). As you walk down the road towards Grosvenor Square there's a Starbucks and Gould's Pharmacy. This is the magical pharmacy that will hold your phone, Ipod, etc for you while you're at the Embassy (as these things among others aren't allowed!) When you walk into the pharmacy there are guys sitting at little tables and they have pictures of the stuff you can't take into the Embassy and will ask you to check your bag, pockets, etc for any of these things. You are allowed to take a handbag into the Embassy btw. You cannot take phones, Ipod or similar, digital watch, any electricals, car keys, aerosols...  I can't remember the rest but as I said, they will ask you to check the pictures for anything you may have. The Embassy itself is just a teeny bit further down the road. You cannot miss it. Its a HUGE building with high gates round it, two security entrances, lots of flags and during the day will have a queue of people outside as well as gun-carrying police officers!

After my successful little journey I headed back to my hotel and tried to get some sleep and not be so anxious! I also made plans for the next day as Robert had booked the same appointment time as me (he is in the arrival group after mine) and then I planned to meet Harriet from my arrival group for some lunch :)

I checked out at 7:30am, headed to Euston Station and dropped my overnight bag at the luggage storage bit and got some back up photos for the appointment as I hadn't done it yet. Oh bloody hell, even though I have make up on, I have a serious under-eye-bag situation going on, it's definitely an early morning photo!  Did my wee route back to the Embassy, dropped my phone at the pharmacy and went to join the Embassy queue, getting there about 8:10am. There are staff outside that will check that you have your appointment letter, the receipt for paying the MRV fee and your passport. You then wait to go through the little security office and its like airport security in a glass box - you empty your pockets, put your belongings through a scanner and walk through the body scanner. Then you go into the actual Embassy, the receptionist scans the barcode on your forms, gives you a number and tells you to go upstairs and wait for your number to be called. 

Its just a fairly big room filled with chairs and a row of Embassy staff behind a counter, kind of like in a bank. You wait to hear your number and what booth your at, and then go up. The woman there took my forms, scanned the barcode and quickly just went through my application on her screen, never said anything to me other than to ask me for another photo (See! That bad photo will haunt me forever, typical!) then took my finger prints on the little machine. Not as stressful as it gets made out to be! Once that's over (doesn't take long) you get told to sit back down and wait to be called again to a different desk. She will keep your passport and forms and gives you a blue form to fill in for your passport to be delivered back to you. Try and remember a pen but there are pens available in the room so its not a huge deal. You need to pay attention now as the numbers are called in a random order and not in numerical order as before. I arrived before Robert and was about ten places ahead of him in the queue but the second time he got called before me. 

When my number got called again I went to the other desk and had a really friendly, happy American woman. She took my right hand finger prints again, asked me if I'd been to the States before, if it was on a visa, what I was going to do and when I was leaving. Then she told me to take my blue form to the courier desk and have a good time in Florida!!!! YAYYYYY!!!! I took my form to the desk, paid the £14.80 to get  my passport send back and skipped back out the building! £14.80 is the cheapest you can have your passport sent back, it takes 3-5 working days and they say you will need to sign for it and show ID. This gets it delivered before 6pm, its more expensive to have it delivered before midday or by 10am.

I left the Embassy, said bye to Robert as he had to go to work and went to get my phone back. Then I walked up Oxford Street and had a well deserved coffee and spoke to my mum on the phone before going to meet Harriet. I literally couldn't stop smiling, it was such a HUGE relief that it was done! I felt like singing to random strangers haha! Spent a couple hours with Harriet chatting about all things Disney of course and then went back to Euston station, picked up my bag and got the train back to Glasgow. No hot guy this time though!

As happy as I was that it was done, I was EXHAUSTED. I did a fourteen hour busy shift on Sunday, a 9 hour shift on Monday, was in London over Tuesday/Wednesday and back to work for 9 hours on Thursday. Ended up by Friday sobbing on the phone to my boss that I was so tired and wrung out that I felt like I was having a bad anxiety attack. So I took the day off, spent it in my pj's all day and getting some sleep before another 10 hours at work the night day and a really early start and another shift today. Only 9 more shifts to go and I really just want to finish work so I can concentrate on getting everything ready! Just have my health insurance to get, all the big things out the way and have bought pretty much everything that I need to take with me as well. Although I still need suitcases! The next arrival group goes on Tuesday and then my group is next! CANNOT FRICKEN WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

The visa!!! (Part 1)

Ok so last Tuesday I blogged that I was still waiting on my visa petition and the next day it came!!!! My mum came into my room to wake me up and as soon as I saw the envelope I pretty much shot out of bed (unheard of!). As if the contents were not exciting enough, the envelope (from Yummy Jobs) was addressed in "Disney" style writing and had Mickey head shaped confetti inside! 

There was also an email from Yummy Jobs to say that the visa petition was coming that day. They give you a big help sheet with what to do/who to phone for an apppointment/helpful answers for things on the forms that you otherwise wouldn't know the answer to.

At this point you haven't actually received your visa - its basically a big list of names of everyone leaving between certain dates called the I-797 (in my case from the 7th April to 25th May) from all over the world that Disney have stated they are supporting the application for a visa. The next step was to phone the embassy for an appointment. This is an expensive call (I called from work!) expect to pay £1.23 per minute from a BT landline and around £1.75 per minute from a mobile for a good ten minutes on the phone. You need to have everything ready beside you to give them the information they will need which was..... name, DOB, passport number and issue date, your I-797 for the receipt number and the date it's valid from, email address... and a debit or credit card. They don't take visa electron or switch. The fee is $190 and you type your c/c number into the phone when asked and then your security code. Once that has all been processed they will ask you which date you want (they had availability every day when I called) and if you would rather have an 8am or 8:30am appointment, which are they only appointment times for that type of visa. I chose to go a week later as I wanted it all over with ASAP! This phonecall isn't scary at all, the girl I spoke to on the phone was really nice. They also ask you a couple of typical security questions, like if you have been convicted of a crime, etc but its not too demanding!

After this I booked my transport to London and accomodation for the Tuesday night (today) as there's no way I could travel down and make it to the embassy for 8am! (my appointment is at 8:30am but it is highly recommended that you get there half an hour early as there will be a queue). I could have saved money and got the megabus down to London and back for like £24 but I am already EXHAUSTED from working a 14 hour shift on Sunday and a 9 hour shift last night so I booked the train which gets me there in 4 and a half hours instead of around 11hours! The embassy is in Grosvenor Square so all the hotels in that immediate area are pretty damn pricey! Even pulling back from the area the hotels are still expensive and the cheaper ones didn't seem that great (heating is not a facility that should be listed as your only facility! It should be expected!) So I got a hotel near to Euston Station which is where my train gets into and found a variety of reasonably priced independent hotels that were far nicer than others I had seen. For all of this I used Booking.com as I could search hotels by map and by typing in the area and it worked out best for me.

Then I had to get to filling out the visa application stuff.... eeek! Again have everything to hand! Have the help sheet either printed out beside you or open on your computer. Besides normal stuff like your name, DOB, address you will need a wholllleeee bunch of other information. Every persons application is different but you will need your passport, parents names and DOB (if known), your job history, the dates or at least approximate dates of your previous 5 visits to the USA and or/any previous visa for the US that you have had. When you start the form it will give you a code - WRITE IT DOWN! This code will let you save your form and then come back to it later. The system has a history of crashing and times out after 20 minutes so click the "save" button after every page! Once you have done all the filling in, you will then answer another lot of security questions with yes/no answers and then you need to upload a suitable photo. There is lots of help sheets about filling this in but you HAVE to at least try to upload a photo, it will tell you if its not suitable and tell you to bring suitable photos to the embassy appointment. 

To do my photo I took a picture of a spare passport sized photo that I have, emailed it to myself and then saved to my desktop. I then cropped it and resized it and luckily it worked! I will still be taking photos with me though as they can still reject your photo at the embassy and will send you off to get new ones there and then! So for the sake of £5, take an extra set!

Follow Yummy Jobs advice on what you need to take with you to the appointment... I have all my forms printed off and in a folder with my passport to take with me today :) Now I need to run so I can quickly pack and then head off to get the train! Only 28 days to go!!!!!!!!