15 Sep
Who Says You Need A Passport?
Oh wait, everyone. The US requires one to leave. Poland wants one. Italy wants one. The US will ask to see one when we want to come back. (Because Europe is great, but we kind of like Chicago so I think we’ll come back.)
So yeah, we’re going to need one if we want to go. I have mine (the picture in it is awesome, I look like a much less attractive great aunt version of myself). T1 even has one, and he’s only been around for 5 months now. TH is the oldest out of all of us, living in a foreign country. He has his too, so he can return to his motherland, right?
Wrong. Very, very wrong.
So to understand how bad this situation is, you should know that TH’s sister is getting married October 9th*. That is 24days from now, but we were going to go early to spend some time adjusting to the time change and because by now TH has traveled back and forth from Europe enough to know that a trip to the Land of Sausage isn’t worth making unless we go for longer than 7 days.
We’ve known about this trip for many months now, and I haven’t written about it but I’ve spent a lot of time daydreaming. My amazing in-laws offered to babysit T1 for a few days while we were there and told us to head off to some country of our choice to spend a few child-free days. The best part? That SIL is getting married over our anniversary weekend so this was going to be like a second honeymoon for us!
FYI, I took this with my Canon G9, a point-and-shoot!
We decided we were going to go to Italy (I took several semester in college and kind squeak out a few poorly constructed sentences), and since I spent 5 days in Rome with my mom 6 months before we were married (read the blog I created detaining our trip here) I wanted to spend time somewhere else. I picked up an old version of Italy for the Gourmet Traveler and Bologna/Parma stood out as the place with the best food in Italy. That’s what I wanted this vacation to be about: eat, take pictures, sleep in, lots of marriage nuzzling, avoid anything and everything that screams TOURIST LOCATION!!! Repeat for 5 days straight.
At the beginning of July I was going through the steps of securing T1′s passport when TH realized that he couldn’t find his own. A night of depression, a day of panic, and then the realization that not all hope was lost. He would fly out to LA, visit the Polish consulate, apply for a new passport and pay to have it expedited and everything would be fine.
Now keep in mind that he is Polish, and, well…
TH books a flight that weekend to Arizona (as in, books a flight just a few days before he leaves, $$$$), and then drives from there to LA with his best friend (who was road tripping that weekend with his girlfriend). At the Polish consulate he explains his situation and let’s the woman behind the counter know that he has lost his passport and would like to apply for a temporary one which should come within 2-3 weeks.
TH: I would like to apply for a temporary passport.
She: No reason, you’ll get the regular one in 2-3 weeks.
TH: Can I apply for the temporary one just in case?
She: Why would you need to apply for that one if the regular one will come in plenty of time?
TH: Ummmm.
There was no way around it, he submitted the regular application and came home feeling a bit confused about what had just transpired. Of course you have probably guessed that it didn’t come like she said it would.
That Husband called the consulate to check and found that his passport should have arrived, but the consulate hadn’t sent off his application because he was out of the office on vacation. He would put it in the mail ASAP and it should arrive “with plenty of time left.”
Apparently less than 3 weeks feels like plenty of time to that guy?
The twist that makes this story extra delicious. TH found his passport while we were packing up our stuff in Dallas, but when he called the Polish consulate to ask if he could use the old one, he was told it was now invalid AND that he would have to mail it off to the Polish consulate before he could receive his new one.
So we’re waiting. We’ll buy our tickets as soon as TH has his passport in hand. My mom has rearranged her schedule so she can be available to go with me and T1 if That Husband is unable to go, because no matter what happens, we think T1 needs to be in Poland for the wedding to meet some of the older relatives who might not be around much longer. In a land like Poland where one or two kids is the norm, babies are a big deal.
With all of this insanity and waiting, I’ve decided to cancel our trip to Italy. First, I didn’t want to get my hopes up regarding this dreamy second honeymoon and then find out I’d be going with my mom instead. She does like to eat and take lots of pictures, but the aforementioned nuzzling would be off the table and that right there felt like a bit of a deal-breaker. 
Second, I feel fat. I know that so many of you are going to pipe up and say that I look great (thank you in advance) and that I’ve done great work since having the baby (thank you again), but I still hate my flabby belly that currently looks like it is housing a baby, and if we’re going to blow all of our vacation money on a “second honeymoon” in Italy I want to feel sexy (for TH) and confident (for the many, many, pictures we’ll be taking). The benefit of having immediate family in Europe is that we’ll likely be returning within the next three years, so I have some more time to slim down and tone up and feel ready to go all out when we have our next childless vacation through Europe (due to my assumption that our in-laws will fall in love with T1 and want to watch him while we travel the next time we come visit too).
We’re still going to spend a few days away from T1 (because when your in-laws offer you 5 days of vacationing in Europe without your baby it’s stupid to pass such a thing up!)**, but I think we’re going to visit a less expensive city like Prague, or maybe see something interesting farther north in Poland instead. Planning for this will commence when we actually have a plan, i.e. a passport in hand for TH.
*I’m not sure if brides are obsessed with 10-10-10 in Poland like they are in the US.
**This was so long! I’m impressed if anyone made it all the way through. And I apologize for my addiction to parentheses in this post. I’m in the mood for them lately.
Also:
I'm a farm-raised almost-crunchy stroller-pushing picture-taking lifestyle-blog-writing gastronomy-obsessed divine-seeking thrift-store-combing cheese-inhaling pavement-pounding laughter-sprinkling lover of individuality and taking chances.
Oh no! I am so sorry!
I have a lot of experience dealing with foreign consulates, and all I can say as advise is make sure TH calls them every single day, AND have him lie about the date of departure. It might seem wrong to do that, but we had a situation where papers we needed came in THE DAY of our flight and we had anxiety up to our ears.
Best of luck and I hope it all works out!!!
Kristin Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 10:52 am
I agree with this advice 100%. I have had to do this more than once for huge groups trying to get visas/passports for countries all over the world. Unfortunately consulates are sometimes the worst at helping their own citizens with situations like this.
Have him call everyday and make sure they know this should have been taken care of a long time ago (in a nice way of course). Ask where they are in the process and when it will be sent. Also, when they do send it to you, make sure it is sent in a tracked envelope overnight. That is the quickest way (and safest) to get it back. So sorry you guys are going through that, I hope everything works out soon!
How frustrating! Fingers crossed it works out for TH so he can go with you!
I’m a 10.10.10. bride - totally obsessed. 25 days!
Sophia Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 9:07 am
DUDE, Gwen! You’re a freaking rockstar! I saw your Gravatar and popped over to your blog- way to go on the weight loss! Oh, and your wedding dress is *amazing*
Gwen Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Thank you!
Bleck, what a nightmare! Good luck! My passport arrived the day before I left on study abroad to London.
3I can see how you’d be very frustrated by this! I hope it works out. And I completely understand the decision to postpone Italy. I find myself avoiding pictures like the plague these days so that self-confidence makes a huge difference. I bet you’ll have a great time wherever you end up (even if it’s not exactly what you’d wanted at first)!
4Argh! How frustrating. I hope the passport arrives soon. And I feel you on the baby belly… T is several months older than T1 and I still look like late first trimester.
5(And in parentheses — don’t fear them! I love parentheses!)
(and ps I actually thought this post was awesome. I love your pictures, but I think I love your writing even more and it’s fun to just listen to you gripe about life sometimes. :))
Oh no, that’s so frustrating. I hope it all works out in the end. Prague is not a downgrade from Italy at all. It’s just as gorgeous, but a little less (not a lot
) touristy than Italy. With plenty of picture taking opportunities. We are leaving for Andorra and Barcelona tonight. Yay 
You’re always welcome to visit us in Belgium. Only 2,5 hrs from Paris 
Again I hope it all works out!
Cécy Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Is it your first time there?
I’m from France and my mom lives right next to Andorra. I love the Andorran landscape, go somewhere on a hike, it’s so pretty. Avoid the Pas de la Casa it’s just a giant supermarket (at the border of France and Andorra). I love the romanesque churchs such as Sant Joan de Caselles in Canillo.
You’ll see dark small sturdy horses in the mountains, they are Merens (actually from the town where my mom lives (: ).
In Barcelona, you probably already know but don’t miss the Sagrada Familia and the Parc Guell. Be very weary of pick pockets in Barcelona, they are sadly all too comon, keep everything valuable in sight, never have anyone take a picture of you and hand out the camera, you won’t see it again. My brother lived there for a year, and even with his knowledge go thing stolen a few times.
They speak catalan by the way, not so much the castillano (official spanish).
Oh and go up the Ramblas, it’s a really cool themed market (one section with animal, one with produces and one with plants I think, something like that).
Jo(ke) Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Alors tu parles français? Ma grand-mère etait Françaises, de Roubaix. On habite 30 minutes de la frontière avec la France. C’est la première fois qu’on va à Andorra mais nous avons déja visité Barcelona. Merci pour les conseils. C’est vraiment gentil de ta part!
Cécy Reply:
September 16th, 2010 at 6:11 am
Oui, je suis francaise
Je vis aux USA maintenant mais j’ai grandi dans les Pyrenees. Avec plaisir pour les conseils, c’est une region que j’aime.
Oh et en Andorre il y a Caldea pour le thermo-ludisme (Spa).
So ridiculous :(. I hope it all ends well!
Please go to Prague. I’ve heard so many amazing things about it that I want to go there next.
Alisha Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
I second Kelli. My best friend went to Europe in 2006 (England, France, Switzerland, Germany, etc.- a total of 9 countries) and she was expecting Prague to be boring, lol. But with all of those amazing countries, Prague was her favorite!
Alisha Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
And I meant to say amazing cities and countries!
Boo, that’s all covered in googleysauce
Sorry you have to go through such a stressful thing! Getting my passport to go to Japan was a pain as well, and I was super stressed because I had to mail it, along with my *original birth certificate* to the Japanese consulate in Houston so they could give me a work visa. I was so happy when both documents were back safe and sound with me!
Here’s to a quick return of TH’s passport, and good luck!
8I’m sure your husband knows some wonderful places in Poland, but check out Gdansk if you haven’t been yet! My boyfriend (also from Poland!) wanted to take me last time we were there, but we didn’t make it. From Gdansk, it’s about an hour ferry ride over to Sweden, too, if you feel like checking out some of Scandinavia!
Marissa C Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
I went there two years ago…Gdansk is gorgeous. The ferry ride? I’d avoid it, especially if TH wont be with her. It’s basically you and a bunch of truckers, there is NOTHING to do on the ferry, the food is gross and expensive, and I was scared to look too closely at the sheets on the cots.
Unless you are talking about a different ferry? We went from Gdansk to Stockholm and it was an overnight trip. Not sure if there are ferries to other places further south, that might be different.
Holy man frustrating. I hope things work out!
My sister and her best friend went to Prague and had a great time! It is such a beautiful city.
10So sorry to hear that your plans didn’t work out! You can vacation without being slim you know!
Either way, as others have said, you should definitely visit Prague as I have herd that it’s a beautiful interesting place.
Safe future travels!
11It took me about 18 months to start feeling comfortable in my post baby body again. However, the extra skin from your body stretching due to pregnancy does not go away. At least not to my knowledge. Good luck! Hope all works out with the passport.
12I can’t believe it STILL hasn’t come in! How frustrating!! Sending good thoughts to the postal system!
13I’m sorry your plans have taken a detour, but another vote for Prague. We visited years ago. It’s a gorgeous fairytale city. Cobblestone…castles…you’ll love it!
14That sucks! I’ve dealt with A LOT of embassies before and most of them are this way. I swear the Russian one took week long vacations every month. Just incase this ever happens again, which I hope is never, use a passport agency service. It will cost you $100 or so but they will get you the passport in a timely manner. We use them at work for our foreign visas/passports and never had problems in 10 years with over 500 travelers.
Prague is lovely and actually, Croatia is pretty too. The coast is very Italian but much cheaper. We went to Bologna in July and the food was SO GOOD. No tourists there but lots of foreign students. The Baltic coast of Poland is nice but I’ve never been in the fall.
Good Luck!
15YIKES. How infuriating! I hope everything works out and that the passport comes soon.
16Oh, that is so frustrating and heart-breaking! Fingers are crossed for a minor miracle and that the Passport office gets their act together on time!
17Wow what a story! I hope it all works out for the best.
18I studied abroad in Prague! It’s great. A beautiful city and fairly affordable. (Cheap beer, too, if anyone else is interested - about $1 for a pint). You can see operas for like, $40. Also, definitely check out the synagogues. They are amazing! And Cream and Dream…it has great gelato.
Good luck! Sometimes those things end up going faster than expected.
19Aaaahh! Talk about stressful!
I think you should get a Polish massage when you get there. I’m not sure what a Polish massage would be like… I am imagining getting sausage links rolled up and down your back…
20I’m sorry Italy is out of the picture. I know you really wanted to go. But honestly Prague is amazing! I’d love to go back and spend more time.
21So I guess it’s not just working with our government, but sub-sections of others (unless the Polish consulate is part of ‘our’ government) that is extremely frustrating! I’ve learned you never take their word for anything, always get a Plan B, talk to someone above them, get names. I have no real advice because I’ve never had to do stuff like this, but I do feel your pain! Working with organizations that have zero customer service responsibility …cough…the government…cough…makes you learn new tricks for dealing with people.
Good luck BIG TIME! I would be so mad if I were you and a trip to Europe was hanging in the balance (and a SIL’s wedding!)
22Hope this all gets sorted out soon!
& I know it isn’t Italy, but I think you will love Prague
23That is so frustrating. I hope it all works out and the passport suddenly arrives. You’ll love Prague though. I visited when I studied abroad and it’s a beautiful place!
24Ugh, what a pain. and the fact that TH just wants to go to his OWN country!
25I was worried when you said you were canceling Italy that you were shortening your trip.
Nothing wrong with going to Prague, I haven’t been there but I’ve always heard that it’s beautiful.
Oh and as far as eating, remember that you are going to be in Europe, you’ll be walking off everything that you eat anyway.
Well good luck with the passeport, it’s got to be so frustrating especially since he found it.
I’d say threaten the embassy to not sent his passeport and use it if they can’t fastforward the process. Too bad you can’t just cancel the new one.
Alisha Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
We go to Disneyland every year for 4 days. We’re there from opening to closing, often 8am-1:30am. It’s a very long day and we walk constantly. And you’d think we’d burn off what we eat, right? Not so. We eat all of our meals there and I often gain a little from the good food. So you should watch what you eat!
steph Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Just wanted to agree with this comment. My husband and I visited three countries in two weeks and we love to eat. We walked and ate and I actually ended up losing weight.
Husbands and passports. Oh golly.
One year my husband was leaving Virginia Tech and flying to Germany for Christmas. Simple enough. His brother drove him from VaTech to Washington DC… where he realized he left his passport at school. So, the day before the flight they drove back down to get the passport, and drove back to DC… and realized he had grabbed his expired passport! So they had to drive down to Virginia Tech AGAIN to get the valid passport all in the day before his flight!?
Men.
Hope everything works out.
27What a total pain. What can you do but take it as it comes I suppose. Thank goodness you called to check on it otherwise I imagine the application would still be sitting on a desk somewhere!
Bummer about your trip to Italy, but don’t feel like you have to put your life on hold just because you don’t like your body. Waiting for you life to start at some perfect time really isn’t the point of life, no?
I know you lost weight before tracking your food with an online program. I started using mynetdiary.com, which has an integrated iphone app. It has a huge database of all imaginable foods, including user contributions. I love it and have been meaning to tell you about it for a while now since I think having the iphone in the birthing tub with you qualifies you as an iphone-aholic
Check it out, I love it.
I hope everything works out with the passport situation!
28Oh Jenna, forgive me for butting in but if TH gets his passport in time go to Italy!! Life is too short to prolong doing what you’d really rather be doing! Weight or not, you are adored. Allow yourself to have a wonderful time in his company.
Also, a trip to Italy is easy to plan on the fly. Let me know if you need any help, I have good friends who live in Bologna!
29This post was not hard to get through…. I feel for you…. planning this trip and now it being the cause of stress. Listen….. I have not moved yet… but if you wanted to come to Holland instead of Italy, I could see if I could get you a place to stay for free. My mom lives in a great city (right down town, and by the water, you don’t even need a car) and she would probably be happy to camp out at my place, help me pack : ) So let me know if you would want that. Really, you’d be doing me a favor by given us a time to pack.
Jenna Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
You are always so sweet! I think we will probably end up staying in Poland, but I will bring up the idea to TH just in cast.
I am so sorry to hear about this!! It sounds like a miserable waiting game.
I doubt anything will ever beat Italy, but I must say, Prague is beautiful!! You will have a wonderful time if you end up going there.
I hope he gets his passport soon and it all works out for you!
31It’s not “close” but Bavaria would be a really cool place. Munich and Neuschwanstein Castle are just breathtaking. You’d go nuts with your camera there.
32Totally feel you on the issue. Not the same situation, but it’ll be weird to have to get a Visa to go back to motherland, I mean birthland (Russia), now that I’m an American Citizen. Dealing w/the consulates is always frustrating, hopefully TH’s situation works out enough in advance! We have friends in Prague, and I’ve seen alot of videos and pictures, I think you’ll enjoy it.
33I made it all the way through on a blackberry
it didn’t seem so long, especially since I’ve been waiting since I saw it on google buzz last night.
34I’m glad you still have plans to do something more while you’re there, at first I thought you meant you were only going for the wedding. Crossing my fingers for the passport!
Oh wow, so stressful. I hope everything works out okay! I’d be so stressed out. How frustrating about the consulate. (Also, how did TH like the drive from AZ to LA? I just did it, and blogged about it here: )
Funny story: I was in a fiction workshop last year and I’d turned in the beginning of my novel for people to read/comment on. You’re generally supposed to write about 1-2 pages when you read someone else’s work, and you’re supposed to go pretty in-depth about characterization, plot, language, etc. And this one guy handed back my story and the only thing he’d written was:
Parenthesis are never used in real books. Take ‘em out.
(Hahha, I’m still a little annoyed. Can you tell?)
Kelly @ The Startup Wife Reply:
September 15th, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Oops! In my still-seething state, apparently, I forgot to link! Here was our LA to Phoenix trip:
http://startupmarriage.blogspot.com/2010/09/1800-miles-in-4-days-part-2.html
http://startupmarriage.blogspot.com/2010/09/1800-miles-in-4-days-part-1.html
Seriously, I studied abroad in Prague and loved it more than Italy. I’m a longtime reader and know you love Italy but Prague is gorgeous!!!
36Prague was unexpectedly beautiful…like truly breathtaking. Please don’t be sad about that part!
37So frustrating! I am annoyed just reading this. My passport arrived 2 days before we went to the DR - and I ordered it less than 3 weeks in advance. These things have a way of working out, but they are $$ and anxiety provoking in the meantime. Good luck!
38I will be back in 2 weeks. Let me know if you want me to go stand at the consulate until they send his passport!!
I hope you make it to Prague get lots of time to nuzzle!
39Ah, I can finally catch up on your blog.. yay!
I’m so sorry to hear about TH’s problems with passports - honestly, embassies work on their own time frames, which are completely frustrating considering there’s really not much you can do to expedite the process.
I thoroughly recommend Prague! You can see LOADS in a couple of days, it’s absolutely stunning - and I have a soft spot for it, since that’s where Jase proposed!
40Gosh I’m late to the table on this one. Was wondering what all the chit chat about passports was about. Yikes! Don’t know what kind of visa TH is here on, but make sure you get another copy of that thrown into the passport as well.
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