We got our Chinese visas today.
Last time we needed these J and I took a day off to go to DC and do them ourselves. Easy-peasy except for the painful parking situation – but we were in and out in one day for only a small additional fee that was well worth it. This time, due to procedural changes, it would have necessitated a 2 day trip so I decided to use a courier.
Wow – so let me tell you how stressful it was for control freak me to hand over my passports for someone else to handle the process. It went fine and the courier we used was very helpful as far as providing directions on how to complete the visa forms (which have gotten way more complicated since we last filled them out) but the experience overall left me kind of dissatisfied (mainly due to, IMO, less than stellar communication from the courier) so next time we need Chinese visas I will suck it up and make the trip myself again.
But, end result is that they are done and this is one less thing I need to worry about. That makes me happy(ish). Now I just need the NVC to get a move on…
good for you!!!