The time flew by and as I packed my bag on the 22nd my excitement grew! I got a text message from my husband and it said he could not check me in for the flight and I would have to check myself in or call the magic hotline. (personal disclaimer, I usually take care of my own travel details. Control issues...what control issues?) I sat down at my computer, brought my flight up and clicked "check-in". It said I would have to check in at the airport. Hmm. Luckily, due to his many travels, we have access to the "super-special-we-love-you-because-you-are-never-home" line. I called and even they could not check me in. She said I would just have to check in at the airport. Meanwhile, I got an email from the airline with an attachment that said, the country I was visiting required a valid passport (check) and the passport had to be valid for at least 3 months past my travel dates (hmm, let me look). Travel dates Jan. 23-29, passport expiration date April 21, 2020. Missed it by that much! Let the scrambling begin!
All packed and nowhere to go! |
-My "crack of dawn" passport appointment on Tuesday, Jan. 28 went smoothly and expensively.
-Add to the expedited fee the $20 I unwittingly donated the the parking lot "attendant" who I credit with a smooth scam technique that caught me way off guard. I guess he needed it more than I did.
-I was initially told I would only get $28 back from my original Airbnb booking unless he was able to re-book after my last minute cancellation. Thank you to the person/people who enjoyed Berlin last weekend and got me half of my money refunded!
-I booked a new place, near my daughter, with a generous cancellation policy! I am learning!
-Finally getting to visit your daughter and her husband in their new home...priceless.
TJ and I have had more than one laugh that this has been the Christmas gift that keeps on giving.
Today, one week later, I picked up my brand new, shiny passport. I STILL can't check-in for my flight online but am confident they will do it at the airport when they see my valid documentation! If all goes well, I will be on a flight to Berlin tomorrow, the 29th, only one week later than originally scheduled.
My passport expiration date always seemed so far off. I mean it was all the way in 2020! I took a walk down memory lane when I looked back over all of those pages and all of those stamps. I only had 2 clean pages left...life goals! Ten years ago I got that passport in April 2010, right after we moved back to Houston from Toronto. It has been a very active 10 years on the travel front. I am so thankful for all of it! My hope is that I run out of pages to stamp before January 2030! Can someone remind me in September of 2029 I need to get a new passport? I will be a bit more forgetful by then I imagine!
I also realized that I may not have checked my passport before our annual migration to Canada in May and would have been up sh*t's creek with an expired passport if this had not happened. So, thank you for the Christmas gift, honey... and the new passport!
1 comment:
Glad you are getting to visit Kelly and Chris. Stay away from any German Chinatown though!
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