TRAVEL
BARCELONA
May 26 - May 29th
When my boss asked me if I was interested in going to Barcelona for a conference, I could not yell “Si!” loud enough.
Spain, Barcelona in particular, was on my travel bucket list and I never knew when I would get the chance to go again, so I jumped at the opportunity, even if I had to do some work while I was there. I couldn’t wait to sit outside on a city street, sipping red sangria while eating all the patatas bravas I could stomach for five days was a dream come true.
The conference we were attending was in a small port city called Sitges, just 20 minutes outside of Barcelona, so my colleague and I decided to spend Friday and Saturday in Barcelona and then take the train to Sitges on Sunday to begin working. I was so excited!
I am not a big fan of flying, even though I fly to Florida almost every other weekend. But flying to Florida is an easy 2 hour flight – it had been years since I traveled overseas to Europe and I knew that I needed to find the shortest flight possible. I was lucky enough to get the last seat on a non-stop, red-eye flight from Newark to Barcelona on Thursday night getting in at noon on Friday, leaving me almost two entire days to explore the city.
Joe was nice enough to drive me from Astoria all the way to Newark for my flight and I arrived at the check-in counter with my bags in tow, 300 Euro, and over 10 hours of downloaded shows on Netflix. When it was my turn at the counter, I handed the agent my passport along with my confirmation number, not ready for what he was about to tell me.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Lane, but your passport expires in August. And Spain requires at least 90 days ahead of an expired Passport to fly. I am not able to let you on this flight.”
I stood there in disbelief. What this guy was telling me made absolutely no sense. I had a valid passport. It expires is August. That should make me free to fly anywhere until the expiration date. THAT’S WHAT EXPIRATION DATES ARE FOR! (This sounds like a good opportunity to plug my other blog, Expiration Dating. Check it out!)
I quickly turned into a privileged white woman from Long Island and asked to speak to the manager. I was sure that there was some type of loop hole that we could figure out.
A few minutes later, she came over, and without even greeting me, she said, “Sir, there is nothing I can do. You need to renew your passport before you can fly.”
I pleaded with her. “I am giving a presentation to thousands of people this weekend. It is imperative that I am in Barcelona.”
She kept her stance firm with me and gave me the address of the passport renewal office in Manhattan and said that I needed to be there early to ensure they can renew my passport in the same day. She also said the earliest flight she could put my on to Barcelona was the red-eye flight on Saturday, getting me into Barcelona at noon the following day, leaving me with no free time to walk around the city, visit the museums and cathedrals, and eat hot potatoes outside. I wanted to cry, right there in Terminal B of the Newark Liberty Airport.
I decided to wait until I was back in Joe’s car, heading home.
It was already 11pm and I needed to wake up at 5am the next morning to make it to Tribeca to get a shot at a passport renewal. I had no idea what types of documents I would need, so I called up my mom and asked her to take a picture of my birth certificate so I could print it out and bring it with me.
Side note: You know what’s worse than being denied travel to Europe and having to drive an hour back to your apartment, sad and disappointed? Trying to teach your mother over the phone how to stand over a piece of paper and properly take a picture. And then email it. It would have been easier for me to drive to Florida and bring back my birth certificate in the same night. (I love you Mom – you did your best!)
The following morning, I left my apartment and headed to the passport offices. They didn’t open until 8am, so I figured that arriving by 7:30 was “early enough.” I was so very wrong. When I turned the corner, I saw that there were hundreds of people in line already, waiting to get inside. It reminded me of the days when you would camp outside a Ticketmaster office to purchase concert tickets. I made my way to the back of the line and just waited.
When I finally got in and got to the counter, I handed the lady all of my documents and my “expired” passport. She thanked me and then said, “Ok, great. I just need your passport photo and we are good to go.”
I told her that I didn’t have a passport photo and she looked at me like that was the most obvious thing that I needed – which, thinking back on it, I guess it was. She sent me around the block to a deli that does passport photos. So, there I was, standing in front of the frozen foods section of a small deli getting my passport photo taken. And you know what? It was the best fucking picture I have ever taken. Thank you, Anil!!!
I will spare you the rest of the story where I had to wait in this building until 3pm to get my renewed passport, because, it all worked out! I got my renewed passport and was able to travel to Spain the following evening.
When I arrived in Barcelona, I needed to take a cab directly from the airport to the hotel in Sitges where the conference was being held. I, having had to take Spanish classes since I was in kindergarten, thought speaking with the locals would be no problem. Boy, I was I wrong. They speak so fast! After he said, “Hola” he completely lost me.
The following three days, I had to work, so that’s no fun. But on the nights, I was able to go out and explore this tiny city on the water. I got to sit outside, sip on sangria, and even eat two plates of patatas bravas.
Maybe it wasn’t the trip I had originally planned for, and there were some hiccups, but I got to go to Spain. For free. And I don't need to renew my passport for 10 years. So…silver lining?
