I have lived in Sharjah for eleven years, and for about ten of them I have been saying "one day I'll go to Paris". What stopped me was never the money. It was the visa: the forms, the appointment, the fear of being refused and losing the fee.
The visa file
A colleague told me to talk to the visa desk before I booked anything. I sent my passport, Emirates ID, salary certificate and six months of bank statements on WhatsApp. They went through the file line by line and came back with two things to fix: my hotel booking didn't cover the last night, and my travel insurance started a day late. Small things. The kind of small things that get applications refused.
They booked my appointment, told me exactly what to bring, and twelve days later the passport came back with the visa inside. I may have taken a photo of it.
Day 1: Arriving
The flight left Dubai at 2:30 am and I landed in Paris just after 7. By the afternoon I had dropped my bag and was climbing the steps to Montmartre with a croissant in each hand. The view from the top is exactly as good as everyone says.
Day 2: The big sights
I did the Louvre in the morning, which is far too big for one visit. I gave myself three hours and a list of five things to see, and still got lost twice. In the evening I walked the Seine to the Eiffel Tower and waited for it to sparkle on the hour. A grown man should not get emotional about a light show, but here we are.
Day 3: Le Marais
The best day was the one with no plan. I wandered the old streets of Le Marais, found a falafel place with a queue round the corner (worth it), and spent two hours over lunch watching the street.
Day 4: Orsay and home
The Musée d'Orsay is smaller and calmer than the Louvre and, honestly, I liked it more. Then the train to the airport, and back to Sharjah by midnight.
If you are thinking about it
- Get your file checked before you apply. It costs less than a refusal.
- Book your appointment early in the summer; slots go fast.
- Walk everywhere. Paris rewards it.
Ten years of "one day". It took four days to wonder why I waited so long.
