Of course I knew on a theoretical level I'd have a lot to organise in order to take a trip abroad: accommodation, flights, car hire, travel insurance, money... oh, and the passport. My first passport, to be precise.
How does someone get to 41 without ever holding a passport? Well, I live in the United Kingdom, which is an absolutely beautiful country, and although staycationing may have become the in-thing of late, it's what I've always done.
But now, with friends from my writing group in the United States and Canada to be met, it's time to break away from the tried, the tested, and the family.
So there'll be no emmit-avoiding overnight drive to Cornwall for me this year, or slow meander around York as we break our journey into the North. Nope. After much skype discussion, and one set of fallen-through plans, twelve of us are converging on Niagara Falls for a week in The Crown Jewel of Niagara. Which brings me back to the passport.
Getting the form was easy. And really what better way to spend one of those dull post-Christmas afternoons than by browsing the internet to set much discussed plans in motion. Rediscovering the safe place I'd chosen to store the form once I decided I was ready to complete it and send it off was trickier. I am, apparently, most cunning. A brief moment of wibble commenced when I realised I know neither of my late parents dates of birth, but a quick call to the passport office got me through the form-filling stage. Then came the photographs. I'd already resigned myself to the fact they were going to be hideous, and my expectancy was far from defeated. In this, at least, I'm comforting myself with the thought that everyone looks deranged or like a serial killer in those things.
Now all I need are a few signatures and for the postal service and passport office to work collaboratively to ensure the all important document wends its way back to me by September.
Of course, now that's done I need to check my lists to see what remains to be done...
AccommodationFlightsCar HireTravel InsuranceLuggage- Passport
- Visas
- Travel Money
- Mobile Phone
- ...?
Is this what Santa feels like in November? Thank God for the advice of well-travelled friends.
