Passports

Ryan has to travel to China for work and mentioned that it might be fun if I join him.  Since the kids are enjoying new travels, I suggested we all go!  This was last month and you can't book flights without a passport, so I quickly got on the passport situation and had no idea how crazy it was going to be.  I went to the post office to pick up the paperwork and saw the group waiting to get their passports.  I got some really good information and decided to wake up nice and early on Saturday to get in line.  Everyone has to be present, so that seemed like the best day since I didn't want to take them out of school.  It opened at 10 and a nice lady in line said to get there a couple hours early to get a spot, so I got there at 7:45 and the lobby was full.  All 12 spots had already been taken, so I asked the lady in the front of the line what time she got there and she said 4 a.m.!!!!  Are you kidding me?  There are a few post offices and places that make appointments, but they were booked out way far or they never pick up the phone, so I'm not sure how you make an appointment.  There's a place in San Francisco that will allow you to do the whole process quickly, but it has to be within 2 weeks of your travel date and if you don't have a passport, you can't book your travel.  Anyway, who knew it would be so complicated???  So, Ryan bit the bullet the following Saturday and got there at 3:30 and was 3rd in line!!!  They didn't open the doors to the post office until 6 am., so he was out in the cold and I think he was really thankful that's not a regular thing.  The rest of us arrived at 9:30 and were done around 11:15.  I still wasn't sure it would come together because we were planning to go in July and if it took 6-8 to get our passports, then it would be too late to book airfare.  But, our passports came in record time, 2 1/2 weeks, so it seemed our fate was to go.  After many revisions of where we would go and for how long (Ryan has to work in 3 locations in Asia), we booked our airfare last night!  I will be taking the kids to Hawaii on July 11th on the way to Japan for 3 nights while Ryan works in Taiwan.  There was no extra flight expense for us to stop in Oahu and since I don't want to take the kids with us to Maui, this seemed like a great way for them to experience Hawaii!  We will then meet up with Ryan in Japan for 3 days and then fly to Hong Kong for another 3 night to finish the trip.  Should be memorable!!!