Day 15 - Mirissa - Colombo
Friday 14th August, 2026
Passed our bags through security ok, went to the check in desk, and they asked to see our entry visa for India, I showed the document our travel agent sent us a couple of days ago - he said that is not an e-Visa, just the arrival card, we said what do you mean ? He said you can't check in with that !
Call to our travel agent (Phil Hoffman), we can't apply online, it needs a 4 day turn around minimum. You better get into Colombo and visit the Indian Embassy and see what you can do. No other option.
Today was Friday, the Embassy is not open over the weekend, we either get a visa today, or we are staying in Colombo for a minimum 4 more nights and missing the start of our next tour on Sunday. Can you imagine our stress levels at this point ? We had no idea where the embassy was even located. We had to reverse our way out of the secure airport area, step outside and look for the taxi rank.
Almost immediately a man approaches and says "need a taxi?", we said yes but how much? We negotiated a deal for 8000LKR. He said he knew where the Indian Embassy was located ... great we were sold - get us there. He told us to wait on the kerb and he would go and get his car. He arrives within minutes and his car is one the smallest cars (private as well) that we had seen, we said we won't fit into it ! We did ! Suitcases in the back boot pushing the back seat forward, Tania on the back seat, Graeme on the front seat.
Off we go. He then says, but I need to stop and get petrol - OMG, we just need to get to the Embassy!! No problem we stopped for petrol. We communicated our drama with another couple from the tour also leaving the airport and told them there may be a chance of abduction and slave trade if we don't make it to Colombo !!
We hit the expressway, and this guy is sitting on 75 kph. Tania says " can you go a bit faster?" -- He says, shaking his head "small car !" Then he says "I know a guy who can help you .. he gets visas for people all the time !" He rings his guy, explains our predicament and hands the phone to Graeme. The guy says come and see him and he will get us a visa that afternoon ! - Well that lightens our spirit - but are we being conned ? This guy says come and see him before we go to the Embassy, we think that we just need to get there and see what is possible at the Embassy.
Stress levels are still rising. This is 12:30 and the Embassy closes for lunch between 1:00 and 2:00 pm. The driver calls his guy a second time .. and hands the phone to Graeme, his guy explains the process again.. don't worry he says .. just meet me and I will organise.
We arrive into Colombo centre just before 1:00 - so no time to go straight to the Emabassy. So we may as well meet with the guy, whose name is Saleem. We park, but where is Saleem ? The driver rings, he is at the mosque praying. OMG !!
Also, I haven't mentioned that we spent all our Sri Lankan cash at the dinner last night, so we have absolutely no cash on us at all. Need to visit an ATM for driver cash and visa cash. Anyway Saleem turns up, explains the process, we need the travel agent whose office is right where we are parked at to prepare the application for us - cost 9,000 LKR for both, we need the application fee each, Saleem estimated it to be 13,000 LKR each, and we need 8,000 LKR for our driver. Our driver also wants to drive us back to the airport because that is where he lives.
Anyway, we get him to drive Graeme to an ATM to withdraw cash - 40,000 LKR just to be safe. The first ATM doesn't work, so went to a second one - it worked. Back to the travel agent office, we took our bags out of the taxi and sent our taxi driver on his way as we had no idea of how long it might take to get a visa. We might even be staying in Colombo overnight ! We paid him 10,000 LKR, he said 15,000 LKR would be better and I said 10,000 is better than 8,000 !
We were now locked in with Saleem and the travel agent as our bags are in their office. If this is a scam we are in trouble ! We gave all the information for the application, had our photos taken, made declarations and signed the application. Paid our 9,000 LKR to the travel agent. But it had been determined that the visa we need to apply for was In fact a tourist 30 day visa - not a transit visa, so instead of the 13,000 each it was now 33,000 each. This meant we still didn't have enough cash to pay with our application. More stress.
Saleem was giving clear instructions us to what we need to tell the visa officer in the Embassy. He walked us to an ATM to withdraw more cash, pointed out the door to enter and gave last minute instructions again. "Be polite, emphasise that we had air flights out tomorrow and must get the visa, and...beg essentially." We entered the Embassy in the security office and explained the purpose of our visit. The guard rang the Visa Officer, and after a discussion which included a few giggles, he said "sorry, not possible" - takes 4 days ! OMG !!!
We begged and said we must get a visa our plane leaves tomorrow and we must be on it, he hands the phone Tania and she explained all again to the visa officer. Once he heard we had already submitted our application online, had all our hard documents, cash and passports in our hands, he agreed to see us ! Screened through security, left all our bags in a locker and headed up to the first floor.
Arrived at counter 1 which said Visa Applications, started to explain again, and he said I just spoke to you on the phone and then repeated the usual 4 day timeframe for processing. He looked at our paper work, looked at our distressed faces and said "Ok, you will fly to India tomorrow" !! We paid up the cash, and within 30 minutes we had our visa !!!
WOW it's not worth thinking about had the response been no. OMG !! - by 3:30 pm we had our visas glued into our passports and we were good to go. Saleem was waiting for us outside and escorted us back to the travel agent office. Outside the office the hard sell negotiations were mentioned by him now that the outcome for us was positive. He wanted some additional US dollars under the table from each of us for his personal directions, escort and the necessary visa. To be honest we probably would not have been able to achieve the outcome without his help. We had no US cash on us, he then asked for Euros, none on us, but we did have some Aussie dollars - 50 of them. Saleem was happy to relieve us of those and we were more than happy to give them to him.
So what started as an absolute chance offer of a taxi ride back to Colombo, culminated in us achieving our visa application in record time. We still can't believe our luck! We then rand our travel agent (PHT) - one option was we could fly out at midnight tonight and land in Delhi at 4:15 am Saturday morning. We took it, the hotel was advised, transport from the airport was advised. We took an Uber straight back to the airport.
The day was long and we waited at the airport from 6:45pm until the flight left at midnight. Believe it or not we arrived in Delhi the next morning in plenty of ttme to commence our tour.
Whoa what an ordeal! I can just imagine your stress levels.
Holy guacamole Batman – that is a serious, unexpected development. I’m with Angela – cannot begin to imagine the stress levels. But, you did it. And, in record time. I’d be having words with your travel agent when you get back.