We were going on holiday to San Diego, USA.
We'd booked the holiday online six months
earlier and I hadn't bothered to check our passports. l'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we couldn't fly because our son's passpoft was out of
date. My wife and daughter checked in and off they
went. Nick and I rushed home, got his birth certificate
and tried to get a new passport.
There was a huge queue at the Passporl Office, so I pushed to the front and cried, "My
family's gone on holiday and my son urgently needs a new passporl!" Within an hour
we had his passporl. We rushed to the airporl, but they told us we were too late and
the next flight was at 5 am. At this point I 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