The trip that almost was

It all started with my cousin telling me that flights to the Bahamas were half price. All four of them were flying there for $1,400.

We could do that I said.

I started planning. Looking up hotels. Pricing things out.

“We can do it”, I said as I got more and more excited.

We fill out passport forms, we get new pictures (after Jay shaved off the ‘stache).

We’re going to have ourselves a hot tropical holiday this January. We’ll escape the -800 temperatures to sip pina colada’s while the kids frolick in the pool.

Step #1 was to get new passports for all of us.

The passport office is crazy busy right now. You have to wait in line to get on the elevator to even get up to the floor the passport office is on. My cousin told me horror stories of people waiting all day only to not get in. Having to come back the next day to try it all again.

But we had a plan. Jay works right across the street from the office. He gets to work before dawn most mornings. He would go over when it opened and get a number. I would drop Jack off at school, stop by the bank and get the boys birth certificates from the safety deposit box and slide in shortly after 9:30 and we’d hardly have to wait.

Right. Like a bank opens before 9:30. Okay small hinge in plan. We have lots of time surely given the large number of people that were there when Jay got the number. I’ll slide by Java Express grab a latte – decaf, non-fat – and be back to hit the bank (not “hit” it in the criminal sense) grab the certificates and we’d be on our way.

Certificates are not in the safety deposit box. No, they are at home in the same drawer the old passports were in.

Right. Okay, after a quick trip home to find them, we’re on our way. (It may or may not have looked like someone “hit” our house when I was through. The bed held the contents of the drawer in a quite a haphazard manner.)

To the passport office! The first step in our exciting journey to the Caribbean.

Not looking good when we walk into the building as a couple who were behind Jay in the line earlier walk out. Sure enough, we’ve missed our number, it’s already been called. But we ask the nice lady handing out the numbers and she gave us a new on. Phew.

Almost two hours later we have handed in our forms and everything is good. We passed the scrutiny of the crazy passport officer dudes or dudettes, whatever.

I get home and start looking at some options and check out our finances. Right, wow, those windows really set us back, oh and right, I am self employed, there’s the tax man to worry about. I’ve had a good year, that I knew, I keep really good track of that!

I do some quick calculations and guess what? It’s the tax man or the Bahamas.

Guess who wins?

Damn this being responsible crap! But on the other hand, we will have up to date passports next year when we almost go on another trip... stay tuned!

I leave you with this. This is Kamden’s old passport photo. It was taken in August of 2004 when he was a mere month and half old. His Granddaddy nicknamed him Bubba at birth. It’s fitting, no?

Excuse the horrible quality, passports don't scan well, which I am thinking is a really good thing.