13th day of this travail. What a day. I hate our bureaucracy but unfortunately must deal with it. On occasion.
So today ended early and started early. I went to sleep early, around three am. Up three hours later at six. I set my alarm for 615. But not sleeping well. Too bad. I have to get to the passport office early according to sources in the federal govt. Sources unnamed and at the bottom.
So I got moving, showered, shaved(like it matters) and got out to federal bldg (The Tip O’Neil Fed Bldg) by 7. I was first in line. My mistake. I coulda slept in.
I Uber’d to the passport office. I was telling the driver my tale of woe and he felt so sorry for me he took me to Dunkin for coffee. Nice guy. I did have really bad hotel room coffee already but Dunkin was good. Anyhow, managed to get to destination by 7 am when they open. I was first! Turns out, so what. I waited around, others arrived, we formed a quick bond amongst us losers who screwed up. We were having a grand old time. We decided to line up, in absence of any guidance.
So we spent the next hour talking about why we were there and how we screwed up to the point we needed last minute passports. It was fun. By 8 more started to show up. And more. By 830 there were a hundred people waiting. Lined up as best we could. So about 820, a security guard showed up, took us all out of line and gathered us at back of room. Explained how it worked and released us as a crowd to re line up. So I lost my place in line. What a dick. And a half. Though he was cheerful. Prick.
I did manage to get to the window eventually. They sent me away to get pictures and fill out forms. I came back with all 25 mins later. They took it. Said come back at four. With no promises.
This place is just f’d up. They refuse to commit to anything with anyone. You have to just understand u may not get the passport. This is not helping.
We did notice the folks here reward screw ups. So the worse your tale of problems, the faster you get helped. Now, how is that a boon to mankind? Of course, I had a plane reservation to the UK, so they liked me. I am glad I chose to make the reservation. I can’t make sense of how they respond but it’s good for me. Anyway, I got my stuff filed.
So I decided to walk back to my hotel where I had stashed my bags. Walking turned into a mistake. Turns out there is a massive amount of rod work downtown. So my 1.2 mi walk took an hour and a half. Woulda called Uber but my phone died. Prob due to the two hours on hold with Icelandair. They cancelled my entire itinerary through August since I was unable to fly my flight yesterday. I hate Icelandair. And, btw, 2 hour holds are the norm for these buttholes. At the end of my hold I had a dead phone and a cancelled flight and they do not care. At all.
So I did get to my hotel and I collapsed on the lobby couch. I have no room. A miserable day. Rested. About 145 I called Uber and went back to the passport office to sit and wait. It does help, sort of, to be early to pick up.
To pass the time of day I charged my phone, checked emails and texts and just sat. I read a little. It’s quite boring in a Fed bldg lobby. Very boring. One of my buddies from the morning showed up. He had gone back to work for three hours. We teamed up dissecting what’s wrong with our government. We solved their problems. And sat.
About 330 I went upstairs to the place I suspected I should be. And waited. The liar security guard showed at 345 to explain all. He again pulled us out of line to explain what was going on. Then released the crowd to re line up in whatever order. Asshole.
So I ended up near the back of the line even though I got there early. Wtf? I hate this. One of the gals I spoke to has been thru this in NY and said it was far better there. Great.
I did finally manage to get to the front of the line, get my new passport, and head out. About time. Happy at last and smiling ear to ear.
The Uber driver took 15 minutes to show. Boston at 430 on a Friday. Not an easy drive. Sadly, I have him grief for it. But eventually I did apologize for being a dick. The feds rubbed off on me. I did get to the airport.
Flight was uneventful except for constant worry about the connection. Always nice to fret. I alreasy missed a flight that cost me a ton of money. The next flight was a 10pm depart. We landed and they opened our plane doors at 947. At gate 80. I had to get to 108 in 13 minutes. So, I ran like hell. Along with a few others. I am much faster than these fattys. I made my flight with 3 minutes to spare.
It’s 1115. We are headed to London to see the queen. I called and left her a message. Tea, Saturday at 4. Have not heard back.
Now I am waiting for food and bev. Not much else. Hope my connection improves.
The flight to London was nice. Almost seven hours which is enough time to be served two meals and two snacks. Time for the bathroom line to dwindle as everyone falls asleep. It is the middle of the night. Time to watch two movies. If only I had a first class seat it would be perfect. I had a ton of legroom but the guy in front of me had his seat all the way back for the whole flight. It puts a crimp in sleeping positions. I sleep very poorly on planes. No excrption here, I slept about 1.5 hours. Add that to the three last night and I am not so good. And I did not sleep longer cuz the stewardess woke me to see if I wanted breakfast. Whatever.
We landed at Heathrow about 1030am London time. We will call it a day right here. Tomorrow for the rest.