I've had enough of embassies and consulates. Yesterday I drove to Edinburgh, running rather late for my visa appointment, and the lorry driver in front of me once I'd hit the city traffic was blasting out Europe's "The Final Countdown" as we crawled through the West End. Very amusing and poignant I thought... until I got to the visa place (nearly on time) and they told me I could pick up the passports in 3 to 5 working days i.e. 1 to 3 working days after we leave the country. You used to be able to get your visa in one day, until they outsourced it.
So now we have to get two visas en route: Indian and Chinese.