Left Behind

I was supposed to go to Copenhagen with Clayton, but he didn’t make it past the ticket counter.

Clayton and I booked a trip to visit my little sister Laura the minute she made the decision to study abroad in Denmark. We checked for the best flight deals and coordinated with Laura’s schedule. The tickets were booked, the bags were packed and off we went. I was proud of myself for having updated my passport and actually knew where it was before leaving the house.

Based on our unfortunate travel experiences flying out of COU already this year, we left Thursday night and drove to Chicago from Columbia. With plenty of time to get to the airport for our Friday evening flight, we visited an old friend and ran a few errands before parking in O’Hare’s long-term parking.

Everything was going as planned. Unloading off of the shuttle, the travel excitement was building as we passed through the thousands of travelers from all over the world in the international terminal. Once at the ticket counter we handed over our passports to get our boarding pass. They handed me my boarding pass and informed me that my bag was a few pounds over the allowed limit. (Eye roll for traveling with a roller bag for the first time ever). I was on the floor of the airport re-organizing my items when I heard, “Sir, you won’t be flying with us today”.

Insert over-dramatic panic. Adrenaline pulsed through my body as I saw the seriousness on the agent’s face and the shock on Clayton’s face. Coming to my senses they explained that Clayton’s passport which expires in January 2020 did not meet the EU travel guidelines. In order to travel to an EU country, the entrant’s passport has to have over four months of validity before expiring. We’ve traveled a time or two before and had never come across this issue.

I thought we were being punked.

In retrospect, I can’t believe I didn’t have the gumption to ask Clayton if this moment or booking a flight to the wrong Bali was worse. Haha, everything about this situation is funnier now that it’s over.

We went into immediate solution mode. Can we fly to London? Can we fly on the passport and deal with it on the other end? Why the BEEP wasn’t this explained to us when we booked the plane ticket MONTHS AGO?

The agents explained they absolutely would not let Clayton on the flight and would be fined severely if they did. They said he would be sent right back to the states if he somehow did get on the plane, and would not be able to take any mode of transportation from an alternative European country into Denmark.

So, the only option was for Clayton to get a passport through the same day passport service. One problem. It was 3PM and after a frantic call to the passport office, we learned they stop printing passports at 3PM. The next passport processed would be Monday morning.

TEXTING WITH THE QUICK PASSPORT SERVICE. NOTE: YOU CAN DO ALL OF THIS YOURSELF BY GETTING THE PAPERWORK ONLINE, IT WILL SAVE YOU A LOT OF $$$!

A Monday passport means a Tuesday flight, means a Wednesday arrival in Copenhagen.

Standing at the counter we calculated all of the options and determined I would need to get going to catch the flight. This time solo.

Cool, cool. We’re cool. Except I wasn’t. I hugged Clayton farewell and entered a full-on crying break down. Thirty years young and could not pull myself together. I was worried about leaving Clayton, worried about flying solo, worried about being worried because we’re going on vacation, (perspective was not in the picture).

I was a sight to see. Sobbing uncontrollably through security, TSA was more confused than skeptical. Once through I immediately called my Mom, who was panicked to hear my state of voice and thankfully was able to calm me down. The power of mothers is amazing.

Taking my seat on the plane to set up for the 8-hour flight, I at least knew I’d have an empty seat next to me. Perspective intact, I was still sad Clayton would be missing this trip, but thankfully it was only because his passport wasn’t valid.

I opened my book, got comfy and got excited again knowing Laura would be on the other side of this all!