Must Read Before You Leave for Your Trip

Attention Travelers!! A Must Read Before You Leave for Your Trip!!

I just returned home to Manhattan after my wedding in Tuscany and my honeymoon in various other parts of Italy and the Greek Isles. My mother was about to kill me right before our family and friends boarded our flight there, not even for being a Bridezilla, but for my general absent-mindedness while preparing for this wedding. And to think we wouldn’t have even gotten there without Fastport Passport … we wouldn’t have gotten married when we had planned …

Chris and I decided we wanted to get married in Italy last year not too long after we got engaged. Since then, I just focused myself in planning. The actual wedding and reception was at a villa just outside of Florence, but I booked hotels in the city so it’s easier for everyone to immerse themselves in the beauty of Italy. Chris and I decided to see as much of Italy as we could and then a few days in the Greek Isles for our honeymoon; we are both Italian and he is part Greek so we were excited to bounce around the Motherland(s) for two weeks.

Now, of course my “fairytale” wedding appeared to be running smoothly up until about two days before we left; I was getting gray hairs on my 29 year old head (not a good look for someone with dark brown, almost black hair, I’ll say). I had been planning every little detail of this day since Chris asked me to marry him last March. My mother had done her share of nagging during this long tumultuous process also, and keeps reminding me to make sure I have “everything in order”, “everything organized”, etc, etc. She has consistently nagged and I have consistently rolled my eyes, resuming back to about 1988 or so, but I guess that’s the mother’s role. One thing I strongly dislike? ‘I-told-you-so’s’.

So as I said, two days before we left for Italy, I was packing my suitcase and looking through all my old travel stuff from when I studied in France a few years back. I hadn’t left the country since I got back from France, so my passport was still in a zipper in my suitcase. I glanced at it and was reminiscing about my past travels and how young I looked in my picture … and then I saw realized it. The picture was taken when I had just graduated high school when I was 18. I just turned 29 in May. The cartoon lightbulb above my head started to flicker. 11 years. Passports are good for 10. 11 years … passports are good for … I started to hyperventilate. Chris wasn’t home of course, so I frantically called my mother, speechless and on the verge of tears. The most obvious problem here was that if my passport was expired I couldn’t get married when I had planned. “

Amanda, I told you to get everything in order didn’t I?” My mother’s tone didn’t help me in any way, shape or form. I needed to calm down and explore a serious and immediate solution. If I had to postpone the wedding, I most likely would not be able to get the entire wedding party and guests back to the same place on the same date. That is a lot to ask of everyone involved.

I asked around and no one seemed to have an answer for “What do you do if you need a passport NOW????” … so I started searching online. I found a couple of different websites with different reviews, and ended up deciding to contact one called Fastport Passport, based in the city. I was naturally nervous even to call a place that specializes in fast passport delivery just because no matter what, I figured chances were slim I would have it in my hand by the time I needed to board my plane. It just didn’t seem like it was in the cards.

The website I stumbled upon ended up being a saving grace. As a patient expediter dealing with a frantic bride-to-be, a representative of Fastport Passport provided the service they advertise … within 24 hours of my call, it was delivered to me in person. I wish my absent-minded hadn’t created a day and a half of stress and near-hyperventilation, but I was speechless with the efficiency my passport expediter stood by.

As a new bride, I am allowed to be girly and gush about my romantic Italian wedding and honeymoon … the food, the music, the dress, the weather … literally a magical two weeks that are and will continue to be a pivotal time in my life. This wedding was something I had dreamed of when I was a little girl. Not to sound corny, but the anticipation that was built up for this trip was definitely enough to make me go crazy and obviously forget to renew my passport… so in a way this magic was only possible with Fastport Passport. The excitement was always about my family and friends and my happiness with Chris, but now it is also about a wonderful company that is able to, in a way, make dreams come true. They are there to help anyone in any similar situation that I was. I am sure there are many people that missed out on amazing moments because they were not aware that there is a passport expediter that is not only are not that pricey, but so efficient. My life would be very different for a few weeks without them.