Have passport, WILL travel

Not that it was really in any doubt anymore, but it does feel good to have the renewed passport in hand.

The US Embassy keeps some very specific hours. They only even answer the phone (for mundane things like passport renewals) from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on weekdays. And you can only go in to actually do it from 8:00 to 11:30 a.m. weekdays.

The renewed passports were supposed to be ready today, and I forgot to call and confirm on Friday, so I didn't go in to pick them up this morning. I did manage to call before leaving work and was told they were there. On the way home, I suddenly remembered that they very generously open the American Citizen Services windows from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Mondays, in addition to their extensive morning schedule. I changed course and got there at 2:55.

I gotta say, you need something done at the Embassy, five minutes before closing time on the only day they have afternoon hours is a pretty good time for it. There were two people waiting and two people being waited on, and my number came up as soon as anyone was free.

Anyway. I guess there's really not a lot of "there" there in this story for the casual reader, but it's a pretty big thing for me, under the circumstances.

Bonus fun fact:
The girls have lined all the current and expired passports up on my desk. Between the three of us, we have nine passports (Julia 2, Robin 3, and me 4) and, if you put the photos in age order, you could almost pass us off as one person.