Get out your hanky or your off-brand tissues. I’m going to tell you the saddest story there ever was. It’s a tactic I like to call “making an impression with depression.”
There once was a couple who went to Mexico. But this story is not about them. It’s about the people the couple met on the bus traveling from the airport in Cozumel to the hotel. It was a family. Well, part of a family. There was a daddy, a little girl (about nine I’d say but I’m really bad with kids’ ages. She could have been six. Or twelve. Definitely not three. She could talk. But not a teenager), and a boy (between ages 4-11).
The kids looked sad. Why so glum? They were in Mexico! I never got to go to an all-inclusive resort when I was their age (whatever age that might be). No, I had to go to Civil War battle fields. There was no pool. There was no “kids' club” with ping pong and Candy Land. And there certainly were no virgin strawberry daiquiris. I was just getting to the part about the “no swim-up bar at the site of the battle of Vicksburg” when the dad said, “They’re sad because their mom isn’t here.” Yikes. Dead mom. Whaddya say to that?
“She’s coming on Monday,” the dad informed me. “We got to the airport, all ready for our trip and they wouldn’t let her on the plane because her driver’s license was expired.”
And the big bummer? This day was Saturday and she couldn’t get to the DPS office until Monday when it opened.
And the biggest bummer of all? They were only staying until Wednesday! So mom would get there on Monday and have to turn around and leave again on Wednesday.
I felt helpless and I wanted to do something. So I’ve made it my cause (second only to my cart crusade) to tell the world (or my dozen or so blog readers) to CHECK YOUR DRIVER’S LICENSE! DOES IT NEED TO BE RENEWED? You better renew it or you could end up like this poor family. You won’t get to go to Mexico. In fact, the only place you’ll get to go is on a tour of Civil War battle fields. And trust me, they don’t know how to make a good mojito there.
5 comments:
wow, my license expires in July, Tami's in August and we are going to Mexico in August, thanks for the heads up!
Just get a passport, it lasts for 10 years. Then if you ever get the opportunity to leave the country you can.
Otherwise you will be spending the 4th at the Vicksbrug Civil War battlefield, and let me tell you it was little warm!!
We do the passport thing too but check out the new rules:
Some countries require that your U.S. passport be valid not only for the duration of your visit, but also for three to six months after your entry or return from their country. This means you have to check your passport expiration date carefully. For example, if your passport expires on March 1, 2007, and you want to travel this coming November, you may need to renew your passport before you go.
Here is a list of some countries that have special passport expiration rules.
Brazil, Ecuador (including the Galapagos Islands), Indonesia, Israel, Malaysia, Paraguay, Romania, Singapore: six months.
Cambodia, Denmark (including Greenland), Fiji, Switzerland: three months (Denmark applies its three-month rule to your stay in any of 15 European countries).
A great public service announcement E!
Here's another one: As of the end of this year, all travel via plane/boat to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda will require a passport. Beat lines and get one now!
I will be packing mine when I head to Mexico in August!
Last October Greg's driver's license was expired so we didn't make our flight to Mexico. He asked the check-in lady if she was kidding and she said it is no joking matter. We grabbed our bags, got on the bus to remote parking and drove to the driver's license office and got it renewed and made the later flight. At the driver's license office the wait was over an hour so we gave the young guy next to us 20 bucks to swap numbers and he was the next one to be called. It all worked out but very stressful and I kept my big mouth shut during the whole ordeal, how I did that I don't know. Once in Mexico it rained the whole 6 days except for 1 afternoon. Bummer...Well, we have passports now and just used them last week when we went to Mexico and not a drop of rain!!
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