LB to KC and back

So last Tuesday (March 18), I went to Kansas City. Now, mind you, this was a school day. You see, over spring break the week earlier I had been completing my UK visa application. That wonderful piece of paperwork cost me a day's afternoon just filling out the app, finding pictures, and gathering supporting documents (including bank statements!). Goodness. But no, more was to come! I needed one final piece of paper. This last sheet required that I travel to an office containing equipment to take my "biometric data", whatever that meant. Alrighty, I live in Burlington and Kirksville. The nearest locations are Des Moines, St. Louis, and Kansas City. Each is the same distance, so I chose KC since I had never been there by myself-- great reason, huh? After confirming my appointment for 13:00 (not 1:00 PM, 13:00) on Tuesday, March 18, I awaited the day when I could finally send my app to the British consulate in Chicago (good thing I didn't have to go there!).

Monday night after supper, I was going upstairs to my room and suddenly realized, "Hey wait, I'm going to Kansas City tomorrow. Huh. Maybe I should get ready for that." Goodness. It was such a random trip, it hadn't quite hit me yet! I stopped by the library to pick up an audio book, hoping it would take my mind off the six hours of driving. The next morning, I left for KC but only after securing a mocha and cheese danish from Jazzman's and popping my audio CDs into the player. Google directions in hand, off I went!

Three hours later, I arrived at an office for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Oooooh, mildly intmidating. I saw a couple of foreign-looking people go in, so I figured I was in the right place and proceeded to enter the blocky building. I exited twenty minutes later, stamped biometric data form in hand. Now just what did they do to me? Well, a lady scanned each of my fingerprints and took my picture (I could smile but not show my teeth--still don't know why). She stamped my form, wrote down some numbers, confirmed my passport number, and told me I was done. Back out in the parking lot, I jumped in my car and proceeded back to Kirksville, not stopping for the rest of the trip (although the Pier1 store was rather tempting). The weird red pepper hummus wrap I had bought at the SUB before leaving was definitely not working so well, so I munched on kettle corn for lunch.

There you have it. Six hours of driving for a twenty minute appointment. *shakes head* Wow. Honestly, I just laugh. Getting that document had to be done to finish my visa app, it was just funny that obtaining it required a completely random, middle-of-the-week trip to Kansas City. My app should now be in Chicago with the British consulate. Hopefully everything works out!