This is usually the post where I talk about traveling again, or what I’ve been up to lately. You know, a lot of nothing. There’s only so much I can say about packing up two kids and getting them to the airport.
But this one is different. I actually have a story before we even start the trip. It started about six months ago, before the first time we almost went to Belize. Quinn’s passport was nearly expired, and I figured it would be a good time to get it renewed. We had three months before the trip, after all. So I completed his paperwork, took another adorable photo, and headed down to the Coconino County court house. Everything checked out, but as I was handing the clerk Quinn’s application, I realized that I forgot to check the “Expedite Application” box. Oh well, I figured. We had plenty of time, and I didn’t know when I’d be able to get down to the court with both him and Aimee again soon. So we sent it off and went on with our lives.
A couple of weeks later, then a couple of months later, his application was still in process. As all of you have since seen, the State Department was seeing unprecedented demand for passport applications. Nearly 64,000 every single day, and one of them was for Quinn Stone.
As we entered the last few weeks before we were scheduled to depart, I really started sweating it. So I called the 800 number. After waiting my turn in line, I reached a super helpful agent, even if her hands were relatively tied. She mentioned that despite the demand, they were still hitting their stated processing times.
I asked what the back up options were, since it was going to be down to the wire either way. I knew there was a passport center in Tucson that did in-person applications under special circumstances. She told me that I could call back and try to get an appointment if I hadn’t received the passport within 5 days of departure.
So I waited, and tried to not melt my phone by over-refreshing the website during the next nine days, alternating between being convinced that this trip will either absolutely happen or absolutely will not happen. Finally, five days out, I called the National Passport Center hotline again. I had gotten so good at timing my call to the exact second their call center opened that my hold time was only 30 seconds. I had the process nailed.
But I was actually too fast. The call agent told me her computer was still booting up. Then still booting up. Then, “there must be something going on with the computers.” Then, “I’m so sorry, you’ll have to call back.”
“No! Please! I can’t.” … “I mean, no, it’s not for work. It’s not an emergency. Nobody’s lives are at stake. But I really could use a vacation.”
The agent kindly let me stay on hold for a few minutes while she restarted her computer and I restarted my heart. Eventually she was able to connect. “Let’s see. In person appointments…Hmm. Arizona? Nope. None available in Arizona. Let’s try the bordering states. Nope. Nothing in California. Nothing in Denver. Are you willing to travel?”
I told her that I was while I internally tried to figure out how to get an extra day’s work shift covered for an early start to our vacation. Woo! Maryland! I hear the area between the airport and passport agency is lovely this time of year. But it was a moot point.
“Nope nothing available in the rest of the country. Not a single in-person appointment available anywhere in the US right now.”
*Breathes into paper bag.*
I thanked her for checking, and continued my will-we-or-won’t-we oscillations over the next three days. By that point, we had finally told Aimee’s mom that at least two of us likely won’t be going on her birthday trip. She took it in stride, and said she was going to hold out hope that Quinn would get his passport in time.
My ever-evolving plan at that point was to send Aimee and Mimi to join Helen and Tom in Belize. I told Quinn that he and I might need to come up with a backup plan, and he immediately replied, “The bike park? How about the bike park?” It was a good reminder. He has no concept of whatever this “Belize” place is. He could care less where we go. He just wanted to hang out. Maybe sneak in a bit of trail riding. He’s an inspiration.
Aimee wasn’t in love with the thought of us having separate vacations. And if I’m honest neither was I. But it didn’t seem right to just throw in the towel and all stay home. So I kept brainstorming.
On my lunch break two days before we were scheduled to leave, I had an epiphany. “Travel insurance! We bought travel insurance!” That had become a definitive part of my post-kids travel routine. I mostly get it for any emergency medical issues that might come up, but it also has a trip cancellation provision. I wondered if not receiving a passport counted as a qualifying event to make a claim. So after pouring through 63 pages of legalese, I saw that it was!!
So I came up with a list of a half dozen places we could travel to without a passport that wouldn’t feel like a total letdown after planning on going to Belize for the last 6 months. It wasn’t too hard to narrow it down.
Guam? What would it take to get to Guam? Ah. A 28 hour plane ride? Hard pass. How about Hawaii? Aimee and I had a lovely trip there before we had kids and it would be a ton of fun to bring them back with us. I looked up flights, and there were some incredible last minute deals.
I couldn’t wait to tell Aimee, but this didn’t feel like something you send via text message. So after work, I raced home and told her as we were setting up for dinner, “I have a plan! This is going to be great!”
By that point, Aimee was used to hearing my schemes along the lines of, “You and Mimi go for the first four days, you fly back while I fly out, and I bring Mimi home after a couple days there myself.” So her expectations were tempered, and she suggested we wait until after dinner instead of going through yet another meal in a funk that we weren’t going on vacation together. I played along, but definitely excused the kids from the table way earlier than I normally would have.
“Ok?” I said. “Ok.” She said.
“We have travel insurance! We can go to Hawaii!” She immediately started crying.
“Yes! That’s a wonderful idea!”
So after a few phone calls to the insurance company and a late night on travel reservation websites, we had a trip planned for 36 hours later. It was as delightful as we had hoped, but this isn’t that blog. This post is to make sure I’ve completely chased away any built up sympathy from not getting Quinn’s passport in time. Don’t cry for me. But definitely do get travel insurance before your next trip.
Fast forward five months to us having a second attempt at Belize planned. The dates had actually worked out even better, since Aimee’s brother, Jason, could come this time around. But about 2 weeks before we left, he texted the group, “So…I still haven’t received my passport yet.”
Ah! In all the prep for the trip, I had forgotten that Jason was also waiting for his passport. So after I came down from chest-tightening memories of getting Quinn’s passport (we did eventually get it), I shared with him the lessons we had learned. But since passport demand had slowed quite a bit since our adventures, Jason didn’t have any trouble getting a face to face appointment. He got his passport with a full 48 hours to spare. Plenty of time. We were going to Belize!
