Oh, the journey....

Isn't there some saying about it not being the destination but, the journey (or something to that effect)?  In this case, I would have to disagree.  Our flight to Dulles is leaving in oh say, TWO minutes and you may have guessed but, we're not on that flight.  The good news is, my closet is clean which means, I finally packed last night :)  What's in the suitcase you ask? I have no clue. By the time I finished 'cleaning my closet' and procrastinating, I was exhausted and not paying much attention. Ok, so now back to the story about why we're not on the flight to Dulles connecting to Amsterdam...

Flashback to this morning...

We woke up, got ourselves ready, got in a cab and headed for the airport with plenty of time to spare.  We were just relieved to have gotten out of the house and to be on our way! Yippeee!!  Get to the airport, step up to the counter, hand over our passports and wait for our bags to be checked.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.... still waiting.  Suddenly, we hear a timid voice say "Um...Sir?  In order to enter into the Netherlands, your passports needs to be valid for a minimum of three months beyond the period of stay".  Wait a second....WHAAAAA?  Seriously, WHAT IS THIS PERSON SAYING???   Then it suddenly became clear.  Jon's passport conveniently expires mid-July of this year!!!!  The whole trip we had planned just flashed before our eyes!  I'm looking around waiting for that cheesy 'candid camera' jingle to play and someone to tell us this is all a joke so we can laugh and be on our merry way.  Needless to say, the jingle didn't play today and there was definitely no laughing.

The end of this story goes like this---I asked the lady about other flights departing to Amsterdam both direct and connecting.  She tells me that there is a six o'clock direct flight leaving today but, Jon will need to go downtown and get his passport renewed.  Sounds easy enough except that you need an appointment to get in for the renewal!!  He managed to reserve their ONLY open appointment at 11am (which we made with 10 minutes to spare).  Thankfully, it is now in process and he can pick it up in an hour or so. Phew... We're back in business!

Note to self: always check www.travel.state.gov whenever traveling internationally. We just assumed since his passport had not expired he would fine.  Wrong.  Who would have thought that a country where marijuana is sold and consumed legally would be sticklers about passport expirations? Learn something new everyday.

The silver linings are:

• We're now on direct flight to Amsterdam at no additional cost (thanks Maryian ;).  
• It's a weekday and therefore, the passport office was open with that one appointment available.  
• We're still going!! 

Let's just hope this one incident isn't an indication of what's to come on this trip! Next time I write, let's hope it's from Amsterdam :)

xxj

 p.s. sorry--this post kind of read like a Guy Richie movie.