VeryGoodPoints

Where I’ve been and where I’m going

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Last month I had to get a new passport because mine was set to expire 5 February 2013.  Now, typically getting a new passport isn’t such a big deal.  Fill out some forms, mail off your old passport and a few weeks (or more) later you have a new passport. Or, you could visit a passport center and get a new one if you’re in a rush and a have access to a passport center.

When you travel internationally for business as much as I do, mailing off for a renewal passport isn’t really an option. There’s no passport center where I live (sure, there are passport agencies, but they’re no quicker than the good old mail.)  So I had to figure out how to renew.

I happened to be in New York and was lucky to get an appointment at the NY Passport Center.  Easy enough, or so I thought.  I got my passport, signed it and got ready for my next trip.   Fast forward 2 weeks and I’m packing up for my trip to Hong Kong.

I went through security in Charleston and used my passport as ID. No problem.  I went through LA security, no problem.  It wasn’t until I got to Hong Kong that there was a little snag.  The birthday in my passport didn’t match the birthday I wrote on my customs form – and the agent in Hong Kong noticed.  I laughed and played it off saying, “oh, I’m not used to writing the date in the DD/MM/YY format. In the US we write our birth month first. And smiled”  He looked for a few minutes and then waived me on.  Phew! That was close.

So how the heck did my birthday get printed wrong on my Passport and why didn’t I check it!  The truth is, I’m very used to using the DD/MM/YY format since I work with international offices only.   I guess I’m so used to writing that way, that I filled out my forms wrong when I got the passport.   Now, the bigger question is how did the woman at the passport center miss that?  She noticed, and questioned, why I was only using my middle initial on my new passport and not my full middle name.  She noticed that detail, but not the birthday?  Okay, in fairness, I didn’t even look at my birthday on the passport and she must not have either.

I knew I had to get it fixed, and was worried that if it was wrong when I re-entered the US that the Global Entry Kiosks would reject it.  So, I did the only thing I could do – I made an appointment at the US Consulate in Hong Kong.  I filled out some more forms, explained the situation and paid another fee . Three days later, I had a new passport waiting for me at the Consulate.  This time, the woman at the Consulate checked every single piece of data. I asked if that was standard and she said it was, but that sometimes people don’t pay close attention since they see so many.  Uh, that’s not comforting.

Getting a new passport mid-trip was a bit complex.  The Consulate explained that since my entry stamp was in the old passport – which they cancelled and returned to me – I’d have to show both the old, and the new passport at any borders.  That really threw off some agents at the Macau border!  I got a lot more questions than I ever have before.  But, I’m very happy to have a corrected new passport in hand.

So with a new passport in hand, I’m taking a look back at where I’ve been and where I’m going – call it a bucket list retrospective.

Where I’ve been:

I feel like I’m missing some places off of my list.  But this is what I can recall. 

Where I’m going:

I have trips currently planned to these places I’ve never been:

Where I’d like to go in 2013
  • Norway or Iceland – I want to see the Northern Lights again
  • Tanzania
  • South Africa
So, what’s on your bucket list?
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