Author Topic: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!  (Read 4546 times)

B-Walnut

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Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« on: February 02, 2023, 07:16:41 AM »
Well, I screwed something up that I've never screwed up before. I showed up at the airport with my wife to head out on our two week trip to Mexico and got rejected by the airlines. Turns out that I should have looked at the expiration date on my passport BEFORE you show up at the airport and find out that it expired! Just devastating. I'll also note that we learned that even if you have 6 months left on your passport, they still won't let you fly, so if you haven't been thinking about travel since covid, check your documents!

However... we've had terrible weather in Oregon for a while now. I skip the gorge in the winter but love surfing the coast when the sun pops out. It wasn't 2 weeks in Mexico but we were finally blessed with some phenomenal long period surf in the 4-8' range and sunny days. I went absolutely nuts out there and even had a day where I pulled down 60 chest to head high waves in a three hour session.

I've definitely got to get wife to some warm water for snorkeling, but surf cup is quite full after the last few weeks!

surfercook

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2023, 08:58:45 AM »
Dude! I can't believe you didn't check your passport first thing! Always always always make sure it's valid and not within the 6 month expiration window. But you already know all that now. Live and learn!
I recently renewed my fourth passport. Forth one in 30 years. Completed the renewal process online with a photo I did myself off my old Canon sx50! Nice not havin' the hassle of mailing everything.
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Bean

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #2 on: February 02, 2023, 10:18:47 AM »
That's a great cautionary tale BW, thanks!  (I should be close to the end of my current passport and heading to Lofoten in a few months.)

What's the consensus on adding the passport card?  In NJ (as with some other states), access to Real Id compliant licenses is a struggle to say the least.

And Marc, that picture is suitable for framing ;D

Fishman

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #3 on: February 02, 2023, 11:10:31 AM »
I did the same thing and felt like a idiot.
I was on my way to Haiti after the Earthquake to help with orphanage, school and church stuff.
The group went ahead and I flew to Miami to get a expedited passport. Spent the night and a lot of the day Monday standing in lines. Got to Haiti a different way which included public bus ride to the final destination. The trip turned into quite a adventure. It was a reminder how life more about the adventure getting there, than the destination itself. I got to see a close up of impact that the others did not.
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surfercook

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2023, 11:32:05 AM »
I flew to Miami to get a expedited passport

What's that run ya, Fishman? I renewed my son's passport in 2019 and it was $100 for mail-in. No online option that year. When I renewed December 2022 for me and my wife it was $130 ea online. Sh#t! ain't cheap!

Easy enough to do your own photos in Photoshop. Made a template.

One could go into a mall in Kansas and ask a teenager "What is a surfer looking for?, and the answer will always be, "The perfect wave"
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Fishman

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2023, 12:47:12 PM »
I flew to Miami to get a expedited passport

What's that run ya, Fishman? I renewed my son's passport in 2019 and it was $100 for mail-in. No online option that year. When I renewed December 2022 for me and my wife it was $130 ea online. Sh#t! ain't cheap!

Easy enough to do your own photos in Photoshop. Made a template.
I don't remember. It wasn't much more than normal dollar wise. Just time wise standing In line with with a bunch of others who had similar passport issues.

I actually got to visit my cousin in Miami while I was there. Lemon into lemonade every chance we get.
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B-Walnut

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #6 on: February 02, 2023, 10:03:37 PM »
The emergency passport wasn't much more, maybe an extra $100. The catch for me was that I lost numerous other elements of my reservation that were critical. Surf truck, airbnb, alaska airlines was amazing and gave me a credit but I didn't want to go bonkers chasing down the expedited passport with all the other problems it created. Lesson learned!

As far as the passport card goes, I almost never use mine. I have the real ID too but if you're flying, gotta have the standard passport.

Dusk Patrol

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #7 on: February 03, 2023, 06:54:19 AM »
Were you counting down waves 58, 59...  : )

The value I get from a passport card really only comes from living next to a border.  Using the passport card to drive into Canada means I don't have to carry, keep track of and risk losing my regular passport, with all the headache around replacing it.   So I tell myself...   
« Last Edit: February 03, 2023, 07:06:24 AM by Dusk Patrol »
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Caribsurf

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #8 on: February 03, 2023, 12:01:15 PM »
all my flights are international on American, and when I book the ticket I have to submit my Passport # and expiration etc.  Then again when I check in online I have to submit the passport info...funny you didn't have to do that when booking your trip.

You are right about some countries not allowing you to enter if your passport close to expiring. I was in Trinidad and had 10 months left on my passport, and immigration took me into a private room and gave me the once over.  They let me stay, but it was eye opening.

Lesson learned...
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B-Walnut

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #9 on: February 03, 2023, 10:25:13 PM »
Were you counting down waves 58, 59...  : )

Not quite! I'm in a local facebook group thats name jokes about getting 50 waves in a day. I just went out and started charging towards 50 and when I got there, I felt like I had to go to 60, just because  ;D

supthecreek

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #10 on: February 04, 2023, 08:07:50 AM »
B-Nut, that must have been a punch in the gut when they turned you back.... tough thing to happen on a trip that means so much!
Passports are valid for so long that it's easy to forget that you might need to renew.



B-Walnut

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #11 on: February 04, 2023, 10:44:17 AM »
B-Nut, that must have been a punch in the gut when they turned you back.... tough thing to happen on a trip that means so much!
Passports are valid for so long that it's easy to forget that you might need to renew.

You know, we travel out of the country several times a year, every year, so I wasn't thinking about it. Covid hit and suddenly we stopped traveling so I stopped looking at my passport. Brutal! Maybe we should have redirected to your side of the country and snatched some sun up out there! You're in Florida right?

supthecreek

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Re: Travel blunder, but some great recovery!
« Reply #12 on: February 05, 2023, 04:48:43 AM »
Yes, I just bought a house south of Melbourne, Florida! Not a ton of surf where I am, but it's warm, sunny and really nice!

May through October I am on Cape Cod, where I think you would love the waves... most of the vids on my channel are taken there, during summer, also a bunch of Florida vids as well. (link below)


 


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