Pass Card...

So if you caught it in our spending re-cap, on Thursday last week we finally FINALLY remembered that we need to get SCB a pass card for our cruise.

He already spoke to his new work about it and they are willing to give him the time off to go, but he's not eligible for paid vacation so he won't be paid and we are totally okay with that. (Especially considering he didn't have a job to not work when we were planning on going).

So we went down to the library to fill out and drop off the application for a pass card because its so much easier to do it there then to try and do it somewhere else. We technically don't need to get SCB a pass card if we are willing to bring his birth certificate along for the ride... but we'd rather not do that if we don't have to as we would much rather have a pass card then have to worry about loosing an important document like a birth certificate. So we opted to get him a pass card because it was a lot cheaper than a passport (and will work for our cruise). We also have no plans to travel internationally in the time being, and since we have another set of cruise vouchers, it just makes since for us to just a pass card.

After almost leaving the house without proof of citizenship (thankfully I remembered to ask him before we went all the way to the car if he had everything he needed), we finally made it down to a local library during their passport service hours. For an hour until closing it was thankfully pretty empty. Since we didn't come with a photo already, we knew we were going to have to pay for SCB to have his picture taken, and since we kept forgetting to do it, it was worth the $10 fee to the Library to have his photo done on site to make things simpler.

I'd also recommend picking up the application ahead of time because there was information on there that SCB didn't know and we were lucky that his parents were home when we called for their information.

After a very funny conversation:

• SCB: Hey dad, when were you born? 
• Dad: Around 7:30 in the morning... 
• SCB: No, dad... what date were you born?
• SCB's Dad: I think it was a Tuesday... but my memory isn't so good....

I laughed as I wrote down the eventual correct information on the form (SCB's scribble is far legible on a legal form)  and once that was done we had to write out a $30 check for the card... and then pay $35 to the library for the photo and processing services.

He had to attach his old passport to the form so he should get that back with the card if not before then. Amazingly, he got the passport just a few days before 9-11 happened... (For his move to Venezuela)...

Before we left and called it a day, they told us the pass card would arrive before Sept 26.... but our cruise leaves the 19th... The offered to expedite the card for an additional $60 dollars, but we decided to pass because the odds are we will get the card before the 19th since they admitted they were slow in the office (and as a back up we can always take his birth certificate if we need to). Guess that's what we have to gamble with for procrastinating for so long. 

Thankfully our story doesn't look like Meg's from World of Wealth.