Suzanne found this travel blog site; I don’t plan on blogging there, but, it’s nice to be able to create maps quickly. Hope to use this to show where we went in each port as well…..
Kevin: A moment of panic on Sunday, when apparently we (that’s really an ‘I’) didn’t check Kevin’s passport closely enough, it expires in August 2012 and there are plenty of stories about making sure your passport doesn’t expire within 3 to 6 months of the trip.
Several calls later on Monday alles gut, as they say. Both US and German officials say it is no problemo, and Herr Floyd also thinks there isn’t an issue.
Wednesday the exchange program gets and email from the German Consulate that says no, it needs to be 3 months past the return date; contrary to everything we’ve heard so far. We had made an appointment with the passport agency on Sunday for Thursday; this last piece of indecision (I don’t call it information, because it is wrong and contradicts everything else we’ve heard) is the tipping point and Suzanne and Kevin spent Thursday driving down to Chicago and getting his passport renewed.
Packing: Sunday was a ‘no sports’ day so the focus is on packing. I think we are 85-90% done; the loose ends now are taking on all the time; new shoes for the boys (hope I find time to rant at Reebok later on this subject), getting clothes or whatever to round out the packing….
