We were going on holiday to San Diego USA. We'd booked the holiday online six months earlier and hadn't bothered to check our passports. I'd just assumed everything was OK. So you can imagine my surprise when we were told at the check-in desk that we couldn't fly because our son's passport was out of date. My wife and daughter checked in and off they went. Nick and l rushed home, got his birth certificate and tried to get a new passport. There was a huge queue at the Passport Office, so lpushed to the front and cried, "My family's gone on holiday and my son urgently needs a new passport!" Within an hour we had his passport. We rushed to the airport, but they told us we were too late and the next flight was at 5 am. At this point l lost my temper. We spent the rest of the day wandering around the duty free. We finally arrived at our destination twenty hours later, exhausted but relieved that we could start our holiday. (Nigel Barker)