We didn’t have much hope as we headed towards the Chinese consulate at 9AM this morning. We discussed some likely failure states we imagined we’d run into: not possible to get visas as US citizens, lines too long, etc. The one we actually hit was not one of our predictions. We were at the wrong building! The security guard clocked us right away and asked if we needed visas. When we said yes he pointed to the flyer that was taped on the gate. A problem so common that they have it on the gate.

We called an Uber and the one that had dropped us off came right back to us to drive us to the completely opposite side of town. Silver lining? The new-to-us visa office is open Monday-Friday.

We didn’t have to wait for long before getting to the window. I imagine I sounded crazy. “Hi, we tried to apply online but we were denied. We just arrived in South Africa, have no plans, and are interested in going to China. Help.” The lady was very kind and explained to me what was needed. The bad news, for us, is that we need to have a pretty solid itinerary with booked flights between now and then. Dear reader, that is not our style.

We came back to the apartment, cracked our knuckles, and booted up the laptop. We did a lot of talking in circles and discussing different options. Do we figure out how to book refundable flights? Do we book a dummy flight just for the sake of keeping things simple for the visa? If we were to book all flights between now and then, what are they?

We opted for the latter and have now booked everything through mid-October. I’ve resubmitted my application and am hoping for the best. It feels a bit like “wac-a-mole” – submit, get a rejection reason, modify, rejection, modify, etc.

Millie worked on her book and watched some TV. Once our plan felt more solid we ventured out to take the tramway to the top of Table Mountain. Quintessential “tourist in Cape Town” activity.

The line was long but the little artist stayed busy. She shuffled along the wall with her pad of paper.

After about an hour of waiting we finally got squeezed like sardines into the tram. I thought about a video I saw recently online where a tourist is annoyed at all the other tourists at the tourist attraction. That is me 80% of the time. The journey up was quick.

As we reached the top of the mountain we entered a thick fog that blocked most of the view. There were occasional breaks in it but mostly the view was bright white sky.

It was cold but we had a nice time running around. We stopped in the cafe for a treat we had promised Millie earlier. Then we rode back down again and Ubered back to our apartment. We stopped in at the local grocery store for some food for dinner.

Little Van Gogh didn’t eat much because she was too busy drawing the meal. Broccoli and chicken leg.

I stayed up late making google docs and pdfs and re-sending off our visa applications. This travel thing is a full time job.