A kink in the konk...

  After successfully flying from Reno to LAX and waiting for the Korean Airlines flight gate to open up so that I could check in, I approached the man there to ask if it was too early to do so.  Long story short, I couldn't board the airplane because I need a visa to enter Brazil!  In all the research my mother and I did over four weeks and in all the First-Time Traveler websites we visited (even the ones specific to Brazil), we never even read the word visa.  So I scrambled all over to get my luggage before it got flown to São Paulo, talked to the Korean Air people to straighten it all out, and rented a freakin' minivan to drive to Woodland Hills, California to stay with a friend from Burning Man named Melvin.  By the way, thank you, Mel.  You really saved my bacon.

  In the morning, I got up at 7:00 to go get a money order and passport photo, then drove to Beverly Hills to the Brazilian Consulate in order to obtain a visa.  A nice airport employee told me that this kind of thing happens all the time, so I figured that they could do an emergency visa or something to get me on the Friday flight.  Instead, I waited two hours to be helped, at which time I learned that it takes up to TEN business days, no exceptions, to get a visa.

  Needless to say, I was quite pissed after spending nearly two days and a bunch of money in Los Angeles only to find out that I have to wait at least a week for my damn visa to arrive in the mail before I can go on my vacation.  SO, I'm in Reno, killing time, laying low, with no job until my passport is mailed to me.  My first response was to try to place blame on myself for missing such a major detail of international travel, but at the same time, I did my homework and neither the airlines, the ticket sales company, nor the three websites I visited (including the embassy website with which I'm registered) told me about it.  So, we've decided that it's just a big cosmic joke of which I'm the butt (a two-part joke, ha!) and I should just laugh it off.  I'm bummed to have two fewer weeks on my vacation, but...  what can one do?

  I'm still going down there, I'm still going to have a riot, but not for another 7-14 days.  As the situation develops, I'll write more on it.

  Until my next post, everyone take care of yourselves,

  Brad