That's Not My Passport!

    As I showed my passport to the agent, I joked how it was a better hair day for that photo than the one I was sporting this afternoon. She smiled.

    I've told many strangers about my late-1990's surprise. Recently married, I needed to update my passport. Then in January we won an all-expense trip to Germany to visit two companies we represented. We started our passport application at once for the May departure.

    For some reason the Miami passport office took forever and in late April my hubby's arrived. My envelope showed up days later. The outside correctly addressed. The inside was a passport of a 7 year old cute kid, but not me.

    I found the unusual name and called. I explained to her mother this surprise, did she have my passport? No, she did not. The family was leaving for vacation in a few weeks, could I mail it to her? I quickly took it to the post office that afternoon.

    I called the Miami office number, reported the mix up. The next day I had a message from a woman explaining she received my passport by mistake and agreed to mail it to my home address. Unfortunately, I did not have hers.

    A week later I checked on the actual date it was sent. She said after our conversation she decided to phone the Miami office and told to mail it back to them. They would sort it out.

    Frustrated I yelled, "These are the people that didn’t double check the outside of the envelope with the contents to begin with!" Days passed, nothing showed up. Finally, right before our departure it arrived via US Postal.

    Fast forward two decades and my travel writing buddy told us how a family member did not realize their child's passport expired after 5 years until packing for their trip. Both kids were under 16 years of age.

    Others are surprised to find many countries will deny entry if a visitor's passport has less than six months prior to expiration.

    The good news is my passport photo will continue to have a good hair day and expire in 10 years. For international trips consider a Global Entry Card to save time in long lines when returning to the US. It could make the difference between catching a connecting flight or rescheduling a later one!