Friday, August 31, 2007

Because most of you don't know!

We have had a crazy week- to say the least.

On Monday, we still didn't have a passport for Warren to go to the Cayman Islands. We had planned on going down for Mary's retreat with my parents. We tried to apply for one in St Pete. We were under the impression that we could submit for a passport and then just get on their website and print off the information to be able to travel. Well, we were wrong! It takes 7-10 days to process the information and then print off the info. The only way to get a passport at that point was to go to Miami. So I tried all night Monday to get an appointment- it was an automated number. To no avail! Tuesday we had an appointment in Waumama, FL to see if they could do anything. They couldn't and didn't have any other numbers to call. We left and I got on the phone. First I spoke with the Passport Agency again. They referred me to Homeland Security. I ended up with the Center for International Travel. They couldn't help me so back to the Passport Agency. Finally I got to a great girl that transferred me to the Special Help Desk. Fortunately, Roman at the Help Desk could get us in. We had an appointment Wednesday at 11 am in Miami. We made arrangements for Ben and ended up leaving after a homeowners meeting around 9pm. We got to Miami at 12:45 am. We left the hotel in the morning and went to the Federal Building in Miami. We had to wait outside for 30 minutes to be let in. Then we went upstairs to wait in another line. Finally we got a number. Once we got this number we were told to leave that room and come back in an hour and a half. We went downstairs to a little snack bar. We waited there until after 1:30pm (which was more than our 1 1/2 hour wait). At that point we were still 40 people away from being called. I went out to the car with Warren to try to put him down for a nap. He wouldn't go down and Tyler called at 2:15 and said we were close. We went back up and waited another 15 minutes to be seen. We finally got the paperwork submitted! Because we were leaving the next day, we had to wait on the actual passport. On average the wait time to make the passport was 4 hours. My parents were coming in that night and it was another 4 hour trip back home. I didn't think we were going to make it so I drove back with Warren and Tyler rented a car to get back home. I got home at 7:30 pm and Tyler got home at 9:50 pm. It was a very long day!!! Then I had to pick up Ben a ta girlfriends house and get the boys to bed. Once everyone was settled I had to go get my parents from the Tampa Airport. Then on Thursday I had to pack and clean up the house and leave for the Cayman Islands. I am so happy to be here and finally take a breath. There are some things I forgot, but nothing that we can't do without! Just thought you might like to know where I have been this week! Thanks for reading.

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