On the last Thursday in December we packed up for an eight day trip to India and left for the airport. We were to board a flight for DFW in about two hours. Then another to London and finally from there to Hyderabad. Alu and Michelle were doing the same thing a day later. The day after they arrived in Hyderabad we were all going to take my dad's ashes to the Krishna river. The box of ashes was in my duffle bag. This was a carefully orchestrated tight trip.
About thirty seconds into the drive Jo scanned my passport and announced that it had expired.
Instead of driving on to the airport I went up Lamar to the express passport agent we had used to renew Vivian's passport a couple of years ago. They gave me a phone number for the State Department's passport offices. I negotiated the automated phone system and got myself the first available appointment - for 11am the next morning in Dallas. Next stop airport.
A very helpful agent at the American desk changed our tickets from DFW to the next day - without charging us anything extra.
The next morning I walked to the passport office at the federal building in downtown Dallas at 10:45am. I was out by 11:15am. We took the kids to the aquarium where they had a blast. Back for my passport at 2:00pm. At 2:10pm I had a new passport in hand. The kids played in the park for an hour and then we drove to DFW and boarded the 6:35pm flight for London. And I finally exhaled.
I was surprised by three things. First, that you can get a passport renewed in three hours with no fuss. Second that the travel arrangements worked out just right enabling us to reach Hyderabad 24 hours later. And third that Jo didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed at any point.
About thirty seconds into the drive Jo scanned my passport and announced that it had expired.
Instead of driving on to the airport I went up Lamar to the express passport agent we had used to renew Vivian's passport a couple of years ago. They gave me a phone number for the State Department's passport offices. I negotiated the automated phone system and got myself the first available appointment - for 11am the next morning in Dallas. Next stop airport.
A very helpful agent at the American desk changed our tickets from DFW to the next day - without charging us anything extra.
The next morning I walked to the passport office at the federal building in downtown Dallas at 10:45am. I was out by 11:15am. We took the kids to the aquarium where they had a blast. Back for my passport at 2:00pm. At 2:10pm I had a new passport in hand. The kids played in the park for an hour and then we drove to DFW and boarded the 6:35pm flight for London. And I finally exhaled.
I was surprised by three things. First, that you can get a passport renewed in three hours with no fuss. Second that the travel arrangements worked out just right enabling us to reach Hyderabad 24 hours later. And third that Jo didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed at any point.
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