The cruise consultant with an expired passport………..

I decided to book a last minute trip at the end of this month to my favourite part of the world Fethiye in Turkey. I found a bargain flight £169 return so was pretty chuffed with myself on grabbing such a bargain for peak dates. Found a beautiful family run hotel in a great area for just £9 per night per person. Im looking forward to sitting near the Yacht Marina with my Turkish tea and visiting my favourite restaurant at the local fish market for garlic prawns, scallops and sea bass watching the world go by. Then I decided to complete my API (advanced passenger information) and was horrified to see the expiry date……………………………………………………….

As part of my job I am checking with customers on a daily basis to urge them to look at the validity on their passports to ensure they have the required 6 months validity, decided to check my own and ooops just 3 months left! I established  the usual turn around time is 3 weeks for a renewal so hotfooted it for the photos at my local Asda and submitted my application.

Today I got notification from the Passport Office in Newcastle to say my signature was touching the lines on the application form ( thats not allowed )

so my application is on hold!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Having been Travel Agent Branch Manager on the high street for over 20 years and countersigned more applications than Ive had hot dinners, I couldnt believe my bad luck.

So now Im stressing and watching the days pass to my countdown on the 30th of August to see if it will arrive in time.

Have you had a similar experience to mine?  Would love to hear about it. Or have you recently made an application, if so how long did it take?

Fingers crossed I will be able to get on that flight the sunshine!