I've never forgotten my passport, however a few years ago myself and 8 friends went on an 18-30 holiday to Malia. As you can imagine there was much excitement at the airport and we had all checked and rechecked that we had tickets/passports.
It wasnt until we got to check in that one of the party was told she could not travel as her passport was due to expire in 2 months and we would have to leave her behind
This was our first holiday away without family and my friend was understandably very upset. However we were not giving up that easily and asked a much more helpful colleague (the woman at check-in point blank refused!) if there was anything they could do. After a few phonecalls and a very tense wait they managed to contact greek immigration who agreed that my friend could travel.
Moral of the story- As well as checking your passport, check the expiry date complies with the regulations of the country you are visiting! At least I will never make this mistake now- Hopefully!
My friend and myself were going on holiday to Ibiza many years ago,we arrived at the check in desk and discovered that she thought you could still use husband and wife passport. Manchester airport would not allow her to fly and suggested I fly on my own and she get a flight when she had the correct passport. In the end they aggreed to fax Ibiza to see if they would allow her entry, we had a nervous 3 hour wait before we got confirmation she could travel, we had about 20 minutes to spare to get through check in and onto the plane. She had to complete a disclaimer that if she was refused entry. she would stand the cost of a flight home. When we got to Ibiza, no one even looked at the passport, nor did they on our return to Manchester. I know security has really tightened up now, this all happened about 17 years ago.
M
Irene wrote:Hi
I thought it was only me who checked, double checked etc.
Our taxi driver always asks us before we get into car - Passports, Tickets and Money - other things can be bought if you forget but you need these essential 3 (I always add Insurance to the essential 3).
I even check while on route to the airport - sometimes more than once. Glad it is not just me.
8 weeks on Sunday and I will be checing again.
Irene
Got this from the taxi driver last year, right before we leave have you got everything, think all taxi drivers should do this for airport transfers
Travel wallets now come in very handy
Credit Cards, Sterling, Euro Currency, Passport, insurance cover, flight tickets, tour operator tickets, basicly everthing I need. 5 days before departure I fill up my wallet, and place it in my suit case, as this will be packed the night before
A couple of years ago one of my sons was going to a friend's stag weekend in Prague. He had his passport and thought his friend had all the tickets - NOT!! The others had to go on without hm while he dashed back home to find his ticket and catch a later flight out, after which he had to search round all the bars to find the rest of the party.
I am glad I am not the only one who finds it necessary to check the tickets, money, passport before the taxi arrives (having already done so at least 10 times), then again after locking the front door before getting in the taxi, then again when seated but before leaving the street. Where do we think it will have disappeared to in between these checks?
Hubby wouldn't dare He will never have charge of them again!!
me too....think its a woman thing....I always deal with the important stuff....and this year its made it easier to get hubby on a surprise 50th with out him knowing.....was fine till read all your posts...now have overwhelming urge to check all the paperwork passports ect and pack them where they should be in my flight bag.....they are in there tempory home....my work bag....incase he found them and twigged on....think its time they moved somewhere I wont forget them
That is us lot to a tee - plus the woman with the passport in a bum bag and every time she's doing something she suddenly stops, has a panic, checks her bum bag, pulls out the passport, phew, still there and carries on with what she was doing.
When oh and I first started going on holiday together, he used to hunt for his passport the night before. He never knew where it was so took him ages to turn everything upside down . Hubby used to make me cringe as he used to always leave his passport lying around, on the the cafe table in the airport, kept it in his pocket (half hanging out), and then used to leave it in the seat pocket of the plane . This really used to freak me out as I would never travel alone should he have lost it. As soon as we moved in together, the passports went together in the briefcase, and now I take charge of all the documents including the passports. So far I've not forgotten them!!
We were trying to find our villa when we went to Spain, and the cat sitter set off our house alarm back home (which rings my mobile). I was trying to sort all that out, so I got out of the car. The passport must have been on my lap and in all the confusion I dropped it on the floor.
It wasn't until I was going to bed, and trying to put all the documentation in the safe, that I realised passport was gone.
There were harsh words spoken I can tell you. I wasn't feeling 100% as I was pregnant at the time. Anyway, husband had to go to the police station, who didn't want to know at all, because he couldn't speak Spanish. Whilst he was out, my Father in Law called me to say that someone had found his passport, and handed it in to the local bar, where hubby should go and pick it up.
We duly went around to the bar, and picked it up. I think the person's dog must have been carrying it as there seemed to be teeth marks in the passport, but luckily we had it and it was safe.
I don't think I'll be making that mistake again. As SandC said, I shall be like the woman in the Boots advert checking every 2 minutes that I have all the passports. I'm surprised hubby will let me be in charge of them still!
So, a big thank you to the lady who handed hubby's passport in!
Moral: always put contact details in the back of your passport (and don't put passports on your lap)!
When I saw the Boots advert for the first time I thought of threads in here. Not only the passport but the mountain of clothes and the toe separators (not seen a thread on us all hoovering though)
Me too Glynis, my thoughts came straight here!
I did drop my passport in the Duty Free at Gatwick once after handing it over at the till. Luckilly someone spotted it and chased after me.
I may have to stop reading this thread, because each time I do, it sets off my palpitations!!
sydney I have airport related panic dreams on a regular basis. Once it was one where I was at the airport and I'd brought all my luggage in supermarket carrier bags and I didn't know why or how.
dunno where they got the hoovering part from tho
When you watch these airport programmes and see some people turn up without passports or tickets it's beyond me how it could happen, bearing in mind the ritual that I go through.
saw the boots ad the other night. god i laughed at that one and thought of this thread
Never arrived without my passport, I have a routine where I check my passports and tickets are in my bag before leaving the house, then I check again when I get into the car.
That advert is great - especially the bit where she collapses in bed at silly o'clock and her alarm goes off to get up one minute later - I've done that so many times - rushing round doing the last bits of packing and checking the night before and then getting about 2-3 hours sleep before it's time to get up for the airport And as for the hoovering - anyone remember the Peter Kay stand-up show where he was talking about his mum cleaning the house before the holiday? Well, that's me too!Glynis HT Admin wrote:When I saw the Boots advert for the first time I thought of threads in here. Not only the passport but the mountain of clothes and the toe separators (not seen a thread on us all hoovering though)
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