How many coincidentally difficult things can one person succesfully deal with?

I guess I'll find out in the next few months. Apparently I've been a little too ambitious/greedy with my summer plans. The issues, as they have dawned on me:

1. In order to obtain a Spanish visa, I need (among other things that I CAN acquire in a timely manner) a clean bill of lack of criminal record. This involves going to get finger printed at the local police station (on the agenda for today), and then mailing this, along with a couple other forms, to some FBI Processing office in Virginia. What I didn't know the first time I looked this up (because, of course, I didn't scroll all the way to the bottom of the page) is that this process takes thirteen weeks. So, assuming this is true, the earliest I would possibly have this shiny piece of paper is July 5th.
2. My current plan has me leaving the country with no plans of returning before the winter on June 16th.

3. Once I have obtained the said shiny piece of paper, I then must go, in person , to the Spanish Consulate in Los Angeles, and submit it, along with 10 other documents. Among those documents will also be my passport which will not be returned to me until my visa is processed. Which, according to the website, takes exactly "a very long time".

4. Apparently, the US Government has realized that sometimes bureaucracy is an issue. Therefore, if you need to travel internationally and your passport is being held up by a consulate or embassy for visa processing, you are eligible to apply for a second passport. Woohoo! Problem (partially) solved. I still have to somehow present myself to the Los Angeles Spanish Consulate while being on the other side of the Atlantic, but let's assume, for the purpose of this post, that I have $1300 to spare and can fly back to show them my pretty face.

5. The reason for my departure from the US on June 16th, however, is my other plans - namely, spending a month in Israel and then traveling with Gap Adventures to Turkey, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. Now, assuming I currently have in my possession the 2nd passport that the government issued me (while my other one is being held by the Spanish consulate), I can travel worry free, right? Wrong. Apparently, the government of Syria (and officially, Jordan and Egypt, but apparently its not a problem there) will not issue an entry visa to any person possessing a stamp from the Israeli government in their passport.

6. But wait, the US government also provides for this! They state that if you are traveling from Israel to any of the above listed countries, you can apply for a second passport. Only, wait, I already did that. How about a third, guys? No? Yeah, didn't think so.


My only option seems to be traveling on my second, blank passport, and asking the ever so friendly (oh, and smiley too) immigration officials that welcome you at Passport Control upon landing in Israel to not stamp my passport. Yeah. That'll happen.

Assuming it doesn't, I can then hope that Syria will enforce their policies as "strictly" as Jordan and Egypt, and will let me in anyway. Yeah. Even more likely...Update. Just looked up the visa information on the Gap Adventures Website: 


SYRIA: As part of your tour we are able to organize group entry visas to Syria free of charge. To enable us to organize your visa, you will need to provide Gap Adventures with your passport number, issue date and expiry date a minimum of 15 days prior to departure. Unfortunately , if we do not receive your passport information at least 15 days prior to departure, we are unable to guarantee that we will be able to organize your visa. It is vital that there are no Israeli stamps of any kind in your passports, nor any entrance or exit stamps from neighboring border checkpoints which would indicate a visit to Israel. Your passports must be valid for at least 6 months prior to the departure date. Please note that there is a departure tax of 550 Syrian Pounds.