For the previous two weeks, I have been refreshing the French Embassy's Visa Appointment page constantly - with no luck!

My plans for a vacation in Paris are being cut short because the French Embassy refuses to speak to people in person, has no one answering the phone regarding visa inquiries and has a website which refuses to make appointments.

I have tried the website during different hours of the day and night; I have asked my husband to go to the Embassy and speak to them and they turned him back saying he had to make an appointment , and we have called the Embassy over and over again, with no luck.

To get a visa to France, you need to book an appointment online. To book an appointment online, you need to access the website. And when you access the website, you are not able to book an appointment online. I wonder if anyone at the French Embassy has ever tried their website to see how infuriating booking an appointment is.

I have tried accessing it on Safari, on Firefox and on Chrome. Do I now have to install Internet Explorer to access it?

Here are their instructions:

To use this procedure, it is recommended that you have the following configuration :

- Internet Explorer 6 (Windows) and higher versions with Service Pack 2
or Firefox 1 and higher versions
or Mozilla 1.7.8 and higher versions
- you should also have Adobe Acrobat Reader 5 or higher to print your appointment receipt.
If not, you can download the software on the Adobe Acrobat Reader website

- you need to enable your computer to open pop-ups by changing your browser settings.

I was under the impression that I was able to follow instructions, since that it how we as Bahrainis are programmed, but apparently the French have managed to teach me a new lesson this month.

What annoys me more than those roadblocks which we face when we Bahrainis attempt to apply for Schengen visas is knowing the ease with with any European just has to flash his passport at our borders for the gates of heaven to open for them.

Last year, during the Icelandic volcano, I was stuck in Berlin. I had a four-day visa, and when it expired, I had to go to the police at the airport every single day to get a paper in my passport stamped - because my visa had run out!