A Near Miss
Hurricane Ian creeping into Miami
Hilton Miami Downtown
When I decided to go to Greece last year, I realized that I had sent my passport out to be renewed and had not received it back yet, nor had I gotten any confirmation from the passport agency that it was even being processed. Needless to say, I worried that I would not have it back in time to travel overseas.
My passport was set to expire in 8 months and there are many countries that will not allow you to travel if your passport is going to expire in 6 months or less. I had sent my passport out to be renewed, paid an extra $90 to expedite the process (6 weeks instead of 10) and wasn’t planning on traveling during that window of time. Six weeks passed and when I did not have my passport in hand two weeks before my trip to Greece, I panicked and called the passport agency and was advised to make an appointment at the nearest passport office, which happens to be in Miami. They had only one opening and it was on the same day as my flight to New York, where I was set to leave for Greece early the next morning. I could not change my flight because there was a weather situation in south Florida.
I live an hour’s drive north of Miami and my appointment was early in the morning, so my partner and I decided to stay overnight, go to the office first thing in the morning and then leave directly to West Palm to catch my flight. There was a tropical storm heading our way and it was threatening to upgrade to hurricane status quickly. I had no choice. If I wanted to go to Greece, I had to take my chances that I’d make it to New York. I was grateful to have Patrick along on this mission.
I am guessing there were over 500 people in the passport office, waiting on all sorts of lines and sitting around waiting for their number to be called. My number was high, so I hunkered down. I had experience with this kind of waiting at the DMV in NJ, so I took it in stride.
What? Me Worry?
The LAST person to get a passport
In fact, I made up my mind that I was not going to make myself crazy, worrying about missing my plane and all the tangled plans that might ensue.
I made the mistake of not bringing any reading material. Silly me. 7 hours later, my number was the LAST number called and I was the very LAST person to receive a passport that day. I had two hours to make it up to West Palm and the weather was looking grim.
The storm was upgraded to a hurricane at this point. For once, I was hoping that my flight would be delayed but not cancelled. I tried to get a flight out of Miami or a later flight out of Palm Beach, but the storm prohibited me from making any changes.
Patrick was my hero that day. He got me safely to my plane on time. Turns out the flight was delayed only 20 minutes, just enough time to check a bag and get to my gate.
I knew when I saw this skyline from the plane that I was on my way to Greece, just ahead of Hurricane Ian
I did not know what Greece had in store, but I was about to find out.
Please share your email address below so I could send you cool stuff!
