Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Quite a Pickle...

This post could also be entitled...the beginning of why I've been missing in blogland.


You will never believe what I did....

I booked a trip to Germany and Switzerland, and the next day realized my passport had expired the month before.  I could barely breathe!

Hubby was away for the week, and after two friends talked me from my panic, I went online to the State Dept's website to find out I had 16 days before my trip, and therefore couldn't even book an appointment until I only had 13 days until the trip.  I was told that the nearest office was located 4.5 hours away, and that I wouldn't be able to pick it up until the day after the appointment.  I was also told that getting an appointment was the hardest part.  I set my alarm for 12:01 AM, on the day I could make an appointment and got in 6 days later.

So on Wednesday, a week before our departure, we headed to Atlanta planning to stay one night, picking up the passport on Thursday, and then heading home.  WRONG!  I get to the appointment (at a hidden location with armed federal officers) and find out I can't pick it up until Friday (which is NOT what I was told over the phone)....but I couldn't really argue with the people...especially when a woman came in HYSTERICAL that she and her husband had JUST missed their plane and both needed passports as soon as possible. She was really crying, it made me feel a little less stupid to see others in worse predicaments than my own.  Apparently, the situation is actually very common.  Anyhoo...we stayed until Friday which meant going and buying additional clothes, etc. to last for our stay.  We tried to make the best of the situation, which the service at the Drury Inn and the indoor/outdoor pool helped with quite a bit (I certainly did take advantage of the evening cocktail reception tickets).  Hubby had to work, but Little Man and I went to Barnes and Noble, did some shopping, and saw Kung Fu Panda 2.  And Little Man loved swimming under the partition to go outside or inside while in the pool.




Luckily, though I was told it would be ready anytime between 11 and 3 on Friday, it was there waiting for me when I got there at 11:15 AM...which was good, because it was the Friday of Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta, and we knew the traffic would be madness.  So we hopped in the car and hit the highway...because we had very important guests making their way to our house!!

Next post: A Full House!!

2 comments:

Sinéad said...

OMG Drama! Glad you got sported. So when do you head to Germany & Switzerland? 8sigh* I loved Germany when I was there a couple of years ago. We stayed down south, near the border with Austria. It was just beautiful.

Shanta Hayes said...

I love your blog.
Thanks for your kind words on mine