Total chaos when trying to renew my passport -which I haven’t yet…

The website of the passport agency in Greece, as well as the Greek embassy in London mentions that 3 days are required to get your passport after you have applied for it, so I though I could do it while back in Greece… I should have known better…

There is an appointment system now which doesn’t favor us staying outside Greece of course. But I had called in a week ago and I was assured (!) that I will have priority and I will not need an appointment. Yeeeeesssss, because it would be that easy…

Eventually I got into the passport office to fill in my application. But: I cannot renew my passport because there is a misspelling of my father’s name in my state ID! Weird thing is, this was not a problem when I got my two previous passports! Furthermore, when I asked how long it will take to get my passport, they said about 15 days (!) in contrast to the 3 day bound mentioned in the web sites.

So now I have to renew my ID which requires an appointment and all are fully booked till the end of January! Story continues… although it seems I will be heading back to London a bit earlier in order to avoid the expiration of my passport…

The bottom line is what I have always known of course, but verified once again: in Greece nothing written or said before counts apart from whatever you’re being told at the moment; no one accepts responsibility for anything; no one cooperates with anyone else; no one ever knows for sure what is going on; everything has to go through a million offices and members of staff before it eventually goes down to Athens for further processing; and no one really gives a damn if they’re causing you a problem or if you have been misinformed. Public services in Greece are totally, TOTALLY unreliable.