Travel Drama

My goodness what drama. As of December EVERYONE has to have a passport to travel out of the U.S. We are going on a cruise in March so everyone in my family who didn't have one had to apply for one. I HAD one but couldn't find it anywhere so I had to reapply. Eric's was still valid but Cayden and Keenan needed one too (how ridiculous is that?!). So in January we went and applied for the 3 passports. They take 6 weeks to come in but they give you a box to list your travel date so that you can be sure you get it in time for your trip. Well yesterday Cayden's passport comes in the mail! YAY....then I hear from my mom and find out my neice's was denied due to birth certificate stuff - what's crazy is she had a passport for years and just need a renewal! Now they are in a panic trying to get that resolved and issued in time.

So this morning I go online to check the status of mine and Keenan's figuring it'd only be a few days more since Cayden got hers yesterday and ours were filed at the same time. Nope..it said they were expected to arrive APRIL 17TH! Um...that's 10 days AFTER we are suppose to get back from our trip. I had to call and call and call all day to the main passport/goverment number. It kept saying that all agents were busy call back later and hung up. I was getting so angry. FINALLY I got a hold of someone and indeed they were NOT going to make it in time for our trip? WTF??? So I had to pay an expedite fee of $75 EACH for them to make it here on time. I'm so mad. Oh did I mention they were $80+ a person to begin with? We applied in time but because they are now overwhelmed with applications since the law changed. This is such drama. The best part is our airline tickets and cruise fare is nonrefundable so my whole family is panicked!