Monday, February 25, 2019; Flight Changes

Maxine forwarded an email from Viking stating there was a change in our flights. Unfortunately, there was no attachment, so I went on the Delta site and downloaded the current flight information and seat selection.

The change from the update we received on February 6 is the flight from Atlanta back to IAH. That trip is now on a different flight and will depart and arrive an hour later than the previous flight. That gives us a 3 hour and 20 minute layover in Atlanta, arriving in IAH at 7:07 pm. They also have changed some of our seats. The seats between DTW and PEK were no longer selected, so I selected the same ones we had previously. Here are the current selections:

IAH to DTW

Originally, we were in seats 2D and 3D on the flight from Detroit to Beijing. Now they are showing us in center seats 5B, 5C.

DTW to PEK

I went on the Delta site and changed the seats back to the original window seats.

DTW to PEK revised on 02/25/2019

They showed no seats selected for the PVG to ATL, so I selected the same seats we had previously.

PVG to ATL

Thinking about it however, I decided to go ahead and change the PVG to ATL seats to port-side window seats as well.

PVG to ATL revised 02/25/2019

ATL to IAH

Wednesday, February 20, 2019: Tibet Entry Permit????

Today, Maxine forwarded two emails to Laura and I from Viking Cruises. One was a copy of our Guest Statement (invoice) and the other was a note stating that, in addition to the Chinese visa, we will also have to have a Tibet Entry Permit. Never heard of that one before!

To obtain the permit, they needed a photo of our passport information page and a photo of the China visa page. With this information, they would obtain the permits and present it to us on the trip. But, they needed the photos no less than 60 days prior to departure, which would mean before the end of March.

The note stated that if we had used Generations Visa to obtain our China visa, that company would submit the necessary photos to obtain the permit if they knew we would be traveling to Tibet and if the proper application forms were used. However, if Generations Visa was not, for any reason, able to provide the needed permit information, the responsibility was on the guest AND Viking would notify them of that situation.

Laura and I did use the Generations Visa service and the application form supplied by Viking for this specific tour along with the itinerary.

I responded back to Maxine that if I am interpreting the email correctly, we should assume that Generations Visa will submit the needed information for the permits OR someone will contact us. Laura has not received her visa back from Generations Visa yet. She submitted on January 28, so it should show up in the next week or so. Mine took just under five weeks from the time I submitted.

I copied Dave and Diane on my note back to Maxine. They booked the trip through a different travel agency. Whether they used Generations Visa to get their visa, I do not know.

Laura and I are speculating whether or not Viking just now found out about the Tibet Entry Permit issue? There is not much time if someone has not started the visa process in order to get the visa back and the entry permit photos submitted more than 60 days before departure.

Friday, February 15, 2019: Visa received

I got my passport back with the Chinese visa pasted to one of the pages. It is good for multiple entries between now and January 29, 2029. That means my passport will expire about six months before the visa expires. I can stay for a maximum of 60 days for each visit. I received it 31 days from the day I mailed it to Generations Visa Services.