Citizens of United States and Canada tend to pass through each other’s borders with little friction beyond the perfunctory questions. Living here in North America now, I enjoyed this privilege until one time, I couldn’t produce my passport at check-in; I only had a government issued land crossing ID which was insufficient to board a last-minute international return flight. The reasons are not as important as the flurry of activities that took place to get me back to my daughter at home…alone…again.
What would have been a 2-hour flight turned in a 14-hour return trip that literally involved 1 plane, 1 train, 1 subway, 1 rental car, 1 bus and an international taxi. I can get halfway around the world in that time, but all I was thinking was my daughter and her unplanned time at home.
Do I have enough food in the house? Does she need to get anywhere requiring drop off and pick up? Are there appointments that need to be rescheduled? Is the gas turned off? Is the door locked? I quickly called my daughter telling her about my delay and she assured me she has everything and all was fine. Now I need to turn to my own ordeal.
Since I have no diplomatic status, I’m not in a war-torn country and there’s no medical justification, I was just classified as an idiot citizen who should have known better.
Who knew that travelling without a passport was such an ordeal?! Turns out that without it, I can only use my ID at a special checkpoint at the Nation’s Capital. That’s the wrong city for me. I asked Border Security who successfully confirmed my identity and travel history but cannot assist beyond a suggestion to talk to the Consulate. I did and an emergency passport takes 48 hours. How is that an emergency? Ok, fine. There are different levels of emergencies and since I have no diplomatic status, I’m not in a war-torn country and there’s no medical justification, I was just classified as an idiot citizen who should have known better. After two hours of surfing, calling and planning, I eventually rented a car, drove to an airport closest to the border, hired a specialty car service to take me across the border, then boarded commuter rail to Union Station, took a subway and then a bus. I got home at 2:00am, looked in on my daughter, took a shower to wash off my travels and went to bed.
As I laid there thinking before quickly passing out, along the way, I was on the phone with my daughter updating her on my progress. She’s also my only friend on Snapchat and so she can track my location in real time! She wasn’t concerned about her dad being stranded. I wasn’t either. I enjoy listening to Spotify while driving and found myself with a lot of unscheduled me-time. As much as I tell my daughter about life’s curveballs, here’s one that literally threw us a hyperbole.
I also have to be mindful that how I behave, has a huge impact on my daughter’s learning experience. Life isn’t just something that happens while we’re busy making other plans, sang Lennon. Life happens and I have to make new plans.
Throughout my return trip, she knew where I was and we spoke every few hours and even had a video call. I could easily have been in a place where high speed communication wasn’t available, but we both kept our cool, executed a plan and updated at regular intervals. Heck, I even ordered a pizza while enroute for her to pick up for dinner.
Shit happens and we just shifted gears and made contingency plans. Have a backup plan, a phone and a credit card (or payment system). In the twentieth-first century, those are now the tools of survival. And if my daughter traded places with me, I’d also advise her to use the same tools for a safe return trip.
