OH. MY. GOSH.
You know, really, it’s a lesson in prayer. We, and our peeps, have all been praying so hard for our return to the US & our visa renewal, that everyone forgot to pray that we’d get OUT of the dang country!!
So… first of all, in all of our vast and varied conversations with the department of state, customs and border patrol, and USCIS, no one mentioned that The Girls would need passports. So we were turned away at the ticket counter, because they didn’t have them. Then, we had to call our friend John back to the airport, and while he returned, Curtis got directions to the closest postal office, where we could apply for passports for them – having been told that a receipt for said passport would be sufficient. That would be the first $200. Beautiful.
Obviously, we missed our first flight. So Curtis called the airline to rebook, only to be told that because it was so close to the flight time, we would have to go the airport. So we returned to the airport. Only to be told that the airport couldn’t do it, because it wasn’t a “real” Air Canada counter, and we needed to do it over the phone. Beautiful.
So, we went home. And Curtis talked to the airline the whole way home. They said there were NO flights for 4 days, and that our return flights were now invalid, because we had missed the first leg of the trip. After begging and pleading with a supervisor, he got our return flights reinstated, and a later flight for our first leg (Raleigh to Toronto), but was told there were no available “airmiles” flights from Toronto to Edmonton so we would have to find our own flights. That would the second purchase of the morning (needfully & thankfully sponsored by my mother-in-law!) … $1524. Beautiful.
At the post office, we were told that along with our passport receipts, The Girls would need birth certificates. I happened to have them, since I assumed that’s what they would need to cross the border, but they were mailed off with the applications. So at home, I found the duplicate of Meg’s, but not Kyra’s. Of course. So, we requested a duplicate online from the Florida Vital Statistics webpage, with a rush, delivered to our “vacation” address…for the low, low price of $52. Beautiful.
But, with a photocopied birth certificate (that we stopped on the way back to the airport to get notarized, in an effort to make it look less like we forged the damn thing), 2 receipts of passport, 2 expired visa’s stapled to valid passports, and more “e-tinerary” copies than I could possibly describe, here I sit, in the Toronto airport…through customs safely, waiting for our last flight, which will get us in 6 hours late, but get us there none the less.
There was one single, shining moment in my day:
They needed a volunteer to switch seats on our flight out of Raleigh, and they offered a free alcoholic beverage in return. Needless to say, I volunteered.
You know, really, it’s a lesson in prayer. We, and our peeps, have all been praying so hard for our return to the US & our visa renewal, that everyone forgot to pray that we’d get OUT of the dang country!!
So… first of all, in all of our vast and varied conversations with the department of state, customs and border patrol, and USCIS, no one mentioned that The Girls would need passports. So we were turned away at the ticket counter, because they didn’t have them. Then, we had to call our friend John back to the airport, and while he returned, Curtis got directions to the closest postal office, where we could apply for passports for them – having been told that a receipt for said passport would be sufficient. That would be the first $200. Beautiful.
Obviously, we missed our first flight. So Curtis called the airline to rebook, only to be told that because it was so close to the flight time, we would have to go the airport. So we returned to the airport. Only to be told that the airport couldn’t do it, because it wasn’t a “real” Air Canada counter, and we needed to do it over the phone. Beautiful.
So, we went home. And Curtis talked to the airline the whole way home. They said there were NO flights for 4 days, and that our return flights were now invalid, because we had missed the first leg of the trip. After begging and pleading with a supervisor, he got our return flights reinstated, and a later flight for our first leg (Raleigh to Toronto), but was told there were no available “airmiles” flights from Toronto to Edmonton so we would have to find our own flights. That would the second purchase of the morning (needfully & thankfully sponsored by my mother-in-law!) … $1524. Beautiful.
At the post office, we were told that along with our passport receipts, The Girls would need birth certificates. I happened to have them, since I assumed that’s what they would need to cross the border, but they were mailed off with the applications. So at home, I found the duplicate of Meg’s, but not Kyra’s. Of course. So, we requested a duplicate online from the Florida Vital Statistics webpage, with a rush, delivered to our “vacation” address…for the low, low price of $52. Beautiful.
But, with a photocopied birth certificate (that we stopped on the way back to the airport to get notarized, in an effort to make it look less like we forged the damn thing), 2 receipts of passport, 2 expired visa’s stapled to valid passports, and more “e-tinerary” copies than I could possibly describe, here I sit, in the Toronto airport…through customs safely, waiting for our last flight, which will get us in 6 hours late, but get us there none the less.
There was one single, shining moment in my day:
They needed a volunteer to switch seats on our flight out of Raleigh, and they offered a free alcoholic beverage in return. Needless to say, I volunteered.
2 comments:
And if I hadn't been there to witness all of it up close and personal, I'd say you've either been drinking heavily or just made up the greatest tale I've ever heard!!! =) But yeah, I'll vouch for it. Glad you FINALLY got there safe and sound...hope today is a better day for you...then again, how could it not be! =)
HAHA I would have so switched for the alcohol too! Glad you got out of the US!
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