Hey guys, we finally left the United States. Whooo hooo! And, not just for Mexico. Whooo hooo! OK, we didn’t leave, leave. But, we left for a whole month to visit Greece. Whooo hooo! A new country for us. Whooo hooo!

But, let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. Why you ask? Well, because my passport was expiring this year. So, like the diligent little rule follower that I am, I promptly submitted it for renewal. And, I paid extra for expedited processing. And, I paid extra for one day delivery. The State Department assured me I would have my passport in 3-5 weeks. Easy peasy.

And then, we waited. And waited. And waited. Three weeks went by. No passport. Four weeks went by. No passport. Five weeks went by. No passport. Six weeks went by. No passport. We were rapidly approaching our departure date so I called the State Department to find out what was going on. They couldn’t tell me, but they could offer me an in person interview within 14 days of my departure. Of course, the only appointment available was in El Paso. And, the State Department couldn’t guarantee that I would actually get my passport at the appointment. You know, the printer might be down. Or I might owe child support (my uterus would beg to differ). Or, the State Department might just be too busy to print the passport that day. UGH!!!! So, I took the appointment and we started looking for ways to get to El Paso. The options were grim. We could have driven for 16 hours each way (with no stops for gas or bathroom breaks or the like). Or, because the only available interview was 3 days after Mardi Gras, I could have flown for a mere $800 and paid for a hotel for at least one night. Yeah, neither of those was a good option. So, scratch El Paso. After multiple calls, the State Department was eventually able to get me an appointment in New Orleans, with all the same caveats, but not until after we were originally scheduled to depart. So, cue the frantic rescheduling of flights, tours, hotels, and dinner reservations. I finally visited the New Orleans office eight weeks after submitting my renewal application and, I have to say, the people working in that office couldn’t have been nicer. (And, at least I wasn’t the poor girl that had been denied boarding the day before because she had less than 3 months left on her passport.)

I am now the proud owner of a brand new passport that doesn’t expire for 10 years. Whooo hooo!

Robert’s passport expires in 2024. OH NO!