(Finally) picking up NIE cards. Plus, on sending overseas packages

A. and I were recently able to pick up our tarjetas de estudiante without any problems. Based on some advice from other people in my program, we went to the police station on General Pardiñas not as early as we could as we had previously done, but at 12:30 p.m. Like magic, there was almost no line, and we were brusquely whisked inside and attended to within less than an hour. Amazing. Seems they turn people away and weed through the line in the late morning/early afternoon. That, and they may actually make headway on the line for just picking up cards (takes about 60 seconds face time for each applicant). I still think things would be vastly improved if they were to have an efficient appointment setting mechanism, perhaps similar to the USCIS's InfoPass.

Now we possess the card that will allow to attest to our being here legally for a year and we can now travel worry-free. Interestingly, at the police station they didn't take from us the receipts proving we'd paid the card fee, which we had paid months earlier. Also, they didn't care at all that it had been more than 45 days since we had our appointment, which technically is the time frame during which you must retrieve your card.

In another overseas living adventure, I tried to mail a package to New York this past Friday. I chose UPS because I needed to be sure it would arrive and not get bogged down in Spain's domestic mail system. UPS only gives you the options of fast and faster, or Express and Express Plus (everything's by plane, and I kind of think they are losing out of a market for slightly slower but more affordable guaranteed shipping). I chose Express, which costs about half what Express Plus costs--still pricey at around 40 euros. The documents wouldn't have to pass customs and were supposed to arrive Monday by 10:30 a.m.

The package arrived today, two days late. That was due at first to an "exception" beyond UPS control (what it was attributed to I have no idea) and then later to a misrouting (which I believe falls within their control). In all, the package went from Madrid to Cologne, Germany, to Newark, NJ to Philadelphia, PA to Buffalo, NY. I'm planning to request a refund.