London Gone Wrong

Those who travel with me on a regular basis know that it's best to buy travel insurance. It's not that things go wrong. They go spectacularly wrong! But they always make for very interesting stories to tell my friends. One of my most interesting adventures happened on my honeymoon.

I found a deal online for London that was too good to pass up. It included airfare and hotel for 7 nights, in London, for only $299 a person. Since I got married while I was still in college and couldn't afford to take a honeymoon at the time, I decided that it was about time I get my honeymoon- five years later. We booked the tickets and started getting our passports in order, since neither of us had been out of the country before.

I didn't have a current driver's license because I didn't drive. It wasn't a problem for me, except when I was looking at the passport rules. I knew we'd need it expidited, since our trip was in a couple of weeks. It said I would need a current photo ID with my birthdate listed. I planned ahead and brought another ID that should work according to the rules. When I got to the window, which was located inside the post office, I told them the situation and they told me that my expired license was all they could take. I mentioned that I had read that it had to be a current ID and they repeated that my expired license was good enough. I figured that they did this all the time and knew what they were talking about, so it should be fine. I paid the fee and they sent off my paperwork. Big mistake!!

A week later, my husband got his passport, and the next day I got a letter saying they couldn't do mine because of the expired license. Worse yet- it was right before Memorial Day and we flew out that Wednesday, and were leaving from Chicago, which was a full day's drive. Which meant I had exactly one day to fix this once you subtracted weekends, holidays, and driving time. I panicked and did the only thing I could think to do. I knew it would take an act of Congress to get me my passport on time, so by god- that's exactly what I did! I called my Senator and asked for Constituent Services. I explained what was going on, and they had a nice woman contact me on Memorial Day to see what she could do. She got ahold of someone at the passport office and got them to agree to send it immediately. Yes, a Senator vouched for me so that I could leave the country! And she put me in contact with a representative there. After some curiosity over why my passport was sent to them in the first place, since there were much closer processing locations- she argued with me over sending it same day air. I told her that I needed it by midnight that night, since I was going to be driving all night just to get to my flight in time. She finally agreed, told me it would cost $164 dollars for FedEx to deliver it same day, and told me that it would be there by 8pm that night.

My husband agreed to stop by the airport on his way home from work and pick up my passport from the FedEx office there. About 10pm, he got home and told me that the passport got on the plane in Seattle, but was routed through Dallas and hadn't made it's connecting flight. So, my passport was stuck in Dallas and I needed it right then so I could head to Chicago. I called and yelled at FedEx and got them to agree to send it to Chicago immediately. And then I took a big leap of faith... I drove all night to get to Chicago, hoping that my passport would be waiting for me. I gave them a contact number where they could reach me, and set off.

When I got there, I checked in with my contact and found that FedEx had called her, but the passport wasn't there and they didn't know where it was. I decided that I was beyond the help of my Senator and did the only thing I knew to do at that point- I got a same day passport since I was supposed to leave at five that evening. I told them that I was leaving that day, paid an additional fee, and waited. I knew if I didn't have it in hand at the airport by three, I could kiss my honeymoon goodbye. Sure enough- 3 o'clock is when they called my name and said it was ready. But having your passport ready and having it at the airport are two different things.

I got to the airport at 4:30 and decided that I couldn't run with all the luggage, so I left everything sitting in the trunk of the car while I ran for the Virgin ticket counter. It was like a scene out of a movie. But of course, they told me I was too late to board. I was upset and asked if there was any way I could make the next flight, and the woman at the ticket counter said that she couldn't. That's when I lost it. I started crying and the poor woman at the ticket counter must have thought I was having a nervous breakdown. Of course, I probably was!! I blubbered something about I couldn't get my passport and the Senator helped me and I wanted to go to London for my honeymoon and my favorite band was playing... And she had pity on me. She calmly told me to calm down and while she was talking very softly and gently to me, she put us on the next flight. When I calmed down, she told me what she had done, handed me a $25 gift certificate to their onboard store, and told me to have a lovely honeymoon. By the way, I used the gift certificate to buy a bottle of perfume and it's still my favorite scent. And Virgin is still my favorite airline.

I missed the concert with my favorite band because I had to take the flight the next day, but I did make it over to London, and I even got to bring my suitcase, rather than leaving it in the trunk. I made it to Stonehenge and Bath, and did a Jack the Ripper tour. And I had a lot of fun. But I really needed a vacation from my vacation.