Don't Leave Home Without It

I've definitely had my share of "Horror Stories" when it comes to dealing with airports. It seems everytime I'm getting ready to travel somewhere, I'm losing luggage, having departures delayed, flights canceled or sitting in a very small seat next to the fattest person on the plane. But in all my years of traveling I've never dealt with a scare like this...

It actually had nothing to do with me, directly, but did involve Holly's mom. Since all of these other parents have been making the venture across seas to visit their children (Greg has been, Angela is coming in two weeks), Holly's mom decided to jump on-board. So she checks her schedule, gets time off, and plans the trip. Only thing is...you need a passport, which she doesn't have yet...not to worry. Some of my friends got a passport two weeks before our Domincan Republic adventure so with a month to go she had nothing to worry about right? WRONG. Although she paid nearly $200 to get it expedited it was suddenly two days before she was set to leave and still didn't have it.

After a phonecall to the Illinois office garnered no results, she was informed that the only way to get her passport in time for her trip was to drive 5 hours to Chicago and pick it up personally. Once she embraced the idea of adding a ten hour drive into her travel plans for the weekend (which included a 10 hour flight and 2 hour train ride) she had no choice but to bite the bullet, take a day off of work (not included with the week she took off to come visit) and drive 250 miles west on I-94 to the Passport office...only to have this conversation ensue...

Federal Agent: Sorry for the trouble ma'am but why didn't you get this handled in our our Michigan office?
Mrs. Smith: Michigan office?
Federal Agent: Actually, I believe it just opened last week and therefore you wouldn't have been able to process your passport there
Mrs. Smith: Oh, what a shame.
Federal Agent: Yeah I think it's it a city right outside of Detroit...Troy or something like that.
Mrs. Smith: Wait what?
Federal Agent: Yeah Troy, Michigan
Mrs. Smith: I live in Troy, you gotta be kidding me!!
Federal Agent: Haha, well this will be one vacation you won't forget, sorry again for the trouble but have a good trip. Where are you going anyway?
Mrs. Smith: Germany, to visit my daughter and her Awesome Boyfriend, he's the coolest guy in the world.

Well maybe she didn't say that last part but you get the idea...back to the NCAA tournament...I'll holla