Friday evening and Saturday morning we excitedly packed for our European adventure.
We dropped off Jackson's company rental car at the Indy airport (to save on parking costs!) and made our way to the Air Canada desk. We checked in with no issues and whirled our way through security thanks to the TSA Precheck that I got Jackson for his birthday. Not once did anyone question Jackson's passport expiration in August. NOT ONCE.
Our flight to Toronto was so easy. We landed with ample time before our flight so we browsed around the duty-free shops and had a nice dinner.
Just as we were being called to board our flight to Zurich an announcement caught my attention: "your passport must not expire within three months or you cannot travel!" Insert panic attack here. Jackson goes to confirm what we just heard and immediately had his boarding pass revoked. They said I could still go (my passport is good until 2018), but he simply would not be allowed into Switzerland and the airline would be fined for not stopping his travel.
Thankfully, I'd just taken a Xanax in preparation for a long flight. (Yes, prescribed by my doctor- nothing illegal here, friends!) This meant I was more calm than normal and just kind of rolled with it. I had a few moments of utter anger at such a wildly unpublicized rule, but in the end there was nothing we could do.
Bless the heart of the Air Canada team, though. They got us on a flight to London leaving two hours later and said we just needed to get to the American consulate to get an emergency passport. I got online then and made an appointment for 7:45am Monday morning in London. The Air Canada team even put us in a row to ourselves with 4 seats so we could spread out and sleep. They got our bags rerouted and just made a very painful issue not as painful. I'll always love them for that. Also, our flight was really easy. Excellent food was served and the movies available (when we weren't sleeping) were new and worth seeing!
We are out some money for non-refundable rooms in Zurich the two nights we are missing there, but we did have free stays available in London. We opted to stay at the Intercontential on Hyde Park which was a great choice. This is a super fancy place and they've been so kind to us. We finally got to the hotel at 10:30 local time after traveling for 17.5 hours and they had an upgraded room ready for us already!!! I was ELATED!
We showered and then passed out. The news of a messed up vacation paired with a 6+ hour flight "across the pond" really takes a toll! We were determined not to let this little snag mess up our trip so we put on our tourist shoes and hit the city!
When we were in London in 2009 we forgot to get my mom her Hard Rock Cafe pin! Ugh! It has haunted us ever since so imagine our delight at seeing the store front was just steps from our hotel. We scurried over to make sure we got a pin this time!
SUCCESS!!!
We strolled around the area looking for a place to dine and just kind of soaked in the neighborhoods. Europeans smoke much more than Americans. There are also a ton more pubs around these parts but the people are friendly so whatever.
I mean honestly. How cute is London?! We met some friendly townies and discussed our tales of passport woes with them. They weren't fond of Switzerland and kept assuring us we weren't missing much. Nice try, townies.
We did get steered towards a super cute pub for dinner. Jackson just had to have a beer and I really wanted some fish!
In the end Jackson got the fish and I had a chicken & mushroom pie that was outstanding.
Seriously this dinner felt like a warm hug from an old friend. I enjoyed it tremendously.
We took a quick break then headed back out to Buckingham Palace. It is a very small place. ;)
Once we felt like our weary legs couldn't take any additional exploring we called it a night. We are hoping for a favorable experience at the U.S. Consulate tomorrow so that we can get to some spots we haven't previously seen. That said, we'll probably go a London tour tomorrow just to be sure we didn't miss anything.
