It's not that I'm superstitious. It's just that I think I'll jinx trips that haven't happened yet if I talk about them. *Especially* if I talk about them on the internet. Unhatched chickens and all that. Thus, I have remained in character and not told you that I'm supposed to be going to Brazil next week. I have plane tickets and everything.
What I don't have in my possession is a valid passport. I *had* one, a nice burgundy "E-Pass", as the Germans like to call it, E for Europe. It wasn't going to expire until February, and February is *really* far away, right? Except in Brazilian entry requirements, which state minimum six months validity on passport at time of entry. Oops.
I should know better. After all, I have, to date, had *five* passports issued to me by the Federal Republic of Germany. That should indicate that I am fully cognizant of passport-type issues. However, you should also consider that the burgundy E-Pass is good for ten years, and I am not yet closer to 50 than I am 25. Obviously, even considering the "Child's travel document" thingy and the five-year passports before a certain age, clearly, I have screwed up before. There was that one time where I bought a plane ticket, noticed the expiry date on my passport something like five days before I was due to leave, and then had to convince the postmistress to go get the mail on Saturday because the consulate said they sent it so I couldn't pick it up, but they sent it to Bruce Mines and I had to go to Toronto to get on the plane and all that. (I can guarantee that my current postmistress wouldn't do that. I live in southern Ontario. She won't fork over my parcels without government-issued photo ID, even when I brandish the delivery notice.)
This time, I noticed the goof with three whole weeks to go til the plane left. And yet, still no temporary passport (the green one, the same one that the U.S. don't consider eligible for visa waiver.) They tried today, my second trip through rush-hour to deal with this. I'll be making another trip tomorrow. "Technical problems." We'll see how tomorrow goes. Three working days to go, including the day I leave... Boo.
So, now I have neither my five-months-left burgundy passport, nor my good for one year but not for the U.S. temporary, nor my pay us lots of money and wait for months *new* E-Pass.
In three months or so, though... I'll have had seven passports issued to me. Hopefully, I'll also have some pictures from Brazil instead of an unpaid debt on my credit card (one can only get reimbursed for work travel if one, you know, actually *travels*. No boarding pass, no cash back. And the dates can't be changed - at least, not for it to be actually work-related...)
Oh poop.
(It will be fine.)
Posted by Johanna at August 30, 2007 07:38 PM