Why we went to Disney World instead of our normal exotic Caribbean vacation spots:

 

Well, cruising decided to cancel the rest of the year and if we wanted to do our yearly winter vacation then that meant we needed to plan something fast. Our passports expired while we were in St Thomas and despite trying to get them back before November, it wasn't going to happen.

 

My PASSPORT REVIEW HORROR STORY:

 

September 21: I take my passports and renewal papers to the post office, with the lady there telling me "I would send this priority mail to make sure it gets there fast, usually 2-3 days, with delivery confirmation and insurance". Ok...give me that. $12 later I walked out with a receipt stating both of our passports and renewals (2 separate packages) were going to be happily on their way to the passport agency to be thrown in a pile of 179,000+ passports that arrive the same week as ours does. 

 

So, 3 days later I check the status of my newly??? arrived passport at the agency. Hmmm, it's been 3 days and it's still sitting in my home state at the reginal facility. Um, ok. I'll give it another day or two. So much for priority fast 2-3 day delivery. I can see that's not about to happen.

 

So a total of 5 days in and I check the status and get ready for the big clap and happy dance and it pops up Arrived at USPS Regional Facility LOS ANGELES CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER. Wait what????!!!! It's only going 1 state away from me and it's been 5 long drawn out days and it has managed to land itself in CALIFORNIA??? I am totally confused at this point. The hubby tries to reassure me that they probably send all of them there for processing. Um no! I wrote Philadelphia PA on the envelopes, they don't just change up where they send it, the paperwork all said Philadelphia PA is where I needed to send it to so it needs to go to Philadelphia PA!!! I frantically call USPS and they tell me I need to wait another day or two and then they could file for a "lost" mailing. It's not lost! It's half way across the world in the wrong facility...well, at least it felt like that. Can't you call someone and track it down and send it where it needs to go??? Like this is my passport(s)! It's not just some random piece of mail. That's it, I want to use my "phone a friend" for help!

 

Two days later I check again and it tells me  "In Transit to Next Facility" what is this "next facility"??? China perhaps?? This is only the luck of someone like me who has no luck at all. 

 

Of course I headed back to the post office and spoke with the lady who told me to send it this way and how quickly it would get there. I knew she wouldn't be able to do anything about it, but I wanted to express my frustration at this point and try to get answers. She did some checking and came back to inform me "it was thrown in the wrong outgoing box". Outgoing from where I inquired?   She said "here". So, I have never worked at the post office, but I have sent many packages and watched them weigh your package, take payment, put the sticker on and then walk over and put it in certain boxes. I would venture to say she's the person that put it in the wrong box! Unless it's just a generic box and someone else sorts them in the back...but that would be counter productive if you ask me. So, this is the part that I would give less than a positive experience with a vendor if this was a cruise/land review. Just saying...

 

The following day I'm happy to report it's finally in....not PA but Nashville TN. Well, at least my passports are getting a vacation and traveling the US. I'm not, but they are. I hope they are getting stamped along the way for proof of travel. I could use some stamps in my book since I never do that. 

 

Not one but TWO days of sitting in Nashville, seeing the sites, singing a little country music, and it's finally leaving for it's next destination. It's like watching the Bachelor on tv. They stay a few days and the Chris Harrison comes in and announces "pack your bags...you're off to........" And everyone is excited...except for me. I'm pretty sure it's going to leave this destination and head straight over to South East Asia to make sure to bring me back some of that new "Covid" juice. Ugh!

 

So now we are at day 9. I feel like I'm doing a daily review at this point. Only there's no beach and no sand. 😞  I get confirmation that ....drum roll please...   they both have landed in HARRISBURG PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER.   Hey, at least it's in the right state finally. I could have just drove and dropped them off many many many days ago. Just saying...

 

That brings us to day 10: Today!!! I get the notification it has officially arrived at  PHILADELPHIA PA DISTRIBUTION CENTER. Ya know, where it was supposed to be 7-8 days ago. 

 

So, they are happily on their way to where they are supposed to be: The item is currently in transit to the destination. I honestly don't believe it. I think it will sit there for a few days...but we'll see. Or maybe it will come back to Ohio and declare a "redo" to get it right the next time. Who knows. 

 

When looking on the US Gov site for the passports, it's now stating turn around is now 10-12 weeks. That would put me roughly around mid December to the end of December. So, I guess we'll see. I may have to do a Christmas vacation.

 

Fast forward another 5 days and....drum roll... MY passport has arrived and was put into the system. My hubby's is not found yet. 😞   UGH! It's looking like I might have to vacation without the hubby next time at this rate. 😆

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Another 9 days go by and still nothing on my husband's passport yet. I have to say I'm getting really agitated with this passport issue. It's been 13 days since my passport was entered into the system and it's still saying my husbands is not there.

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7 more days and...silly me! My husband is a "Jr" and I guess you need to put that in on the "passport checking site" when it ask for your last name. I wasn't doing that. He called this morning and he's in there! Whew!

 

Just an FYI for anyone that may need a passport...they say around 10 weeks delivery time BUT they are doing expedited services again if you need it quickly. (They resumed the expedited service AFTER I had already sent ours in).

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We knew that at this point, there was absolutely NO CHANCE that we were going to be able to plan a winter vacation to any place other than the US so...we immediately made plans to go somewhere nice and warm and decided we were heading to...DISNEY WORLD!

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I've never thrown together a vacation so quickly before!

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And the update on the passport situation...they arrived at our home a few days before we left for vacation to Disney. Go figure!