About a month ago I asked my beautiful and never-wrong, headstrong wife to make sure that her passport had not expired for the trip to Thailand and she, without hesitation, said it was OK.

I'm in the office working here on a Sunday evening and everything is in place to go away for 17 days. I get a call from my wife. "I have to tell you something......My passport expired October 1st" The flight is tomorrow morning(Monday). I felt like throwing up and then screaming at her. Unbelievable!!!!!!!

Make sure you guys double check EVERYTHING before any of you go on a trip. I can't believe this has happened. Its like a bad dream (You shark fin lovers are rejoicing, I know).

At this point, I might be going on without her and she will show up later on this week. Absolute BS. Will keep you guys posted.

What a nightmare ! Let us know how this comes out. Good luck.

"You shark fin lovers are rejoicing, I know"

mango7, nonsense. what kind of cromagnum do you think i am, to glee at someones misfortune. lol.

hope all works out.

Mango7-I hope everything works out for you. I feel for your wife. Usually, I'm the one in her position.

Ken-are we to infer that your inquiry admitted that you were a cro-magnon and now we have to guess which kind? This may be difficult. Most of them live in Needham.

Usually you can get a quick passport with a flight ticket and a fair amount of money. Good luck!

Yes Mango - before you medicate too heavily, call you US Congressman or Senator's office in your home state/district (not the Washington, DC office) and speak to the person who handles passport expedition (each office has someone who does this). Contact information for all House and Senate members is available at www.senate.gov or www.House.gov. My father actually had to get his passport renewed in two days about two weeks ago and was able to make it happen. Granted, it was more of a pain than if he had looked to make sure everything was in order earlier (he had to go to DC personally and stand in line with "official" paperwork), but with the backlog being what it is at the State Department, two days is pretty incredible. One point that may matter, though, is that he had to have a letter from his employer indicating the business need for the trip. Not sure if vacation holds the same "value" to the powers that be, but it's certainly worth a try.

Good luck!! The Sharks need you....

You could also try the visa services - google passport and expedite, and you should come up with outfits like Travisa and CIBT.

Don't know where you live, in SF there are travel agencies that are authorized to expedite passports (2 day turnaround) for a fee.

andy, didn't know they were different c-ms. i think i am of the moderate nature.

i wonder what kind of chaos bob is creating in romania? lol.

what happened to mango?

I'' somehow certain the OP's use of the term "headstrong" was not a mistake. It is unfortunate that the OP didn't take his own advice in regard to his loved one.

dude, i really feel for you. i think i winced when i read your post. this is why i renewed my husband's passport for him.

mango7-

so tell us: did you ditch the mrs and head to Thailand on your own???

No reply - I guess he's on a beach somewhere.

Travisa passport/visa service is great. I've dealt with them twice when having to get a visa to Ghana, West Africa and they get thumbs up from me.

Maybe worse than your situation is a friend of a close friend showed up at LAX airport for her trip to Ghana...not connected with my trip...and didn't know that she needed to have a visa...so home she was sent.

So, my friend called me up to see what I could suggest for her friend to do and I told her to contact Travisa and stat. Well, they handled everything and she couldn't have been happier. She of course had to reschedule her flight, but she still made it to Ghana.

When I went to Ghana two years in a row, I sent my passport back to them, the second year, to get a new visa, but they called and left an answering machine message saying that although my original visa was a single-entry visa, that they would make a notation on it to make it valid for another year and that I wouldn't be charged for a new visa. They immediatedly mailed back my passport with the notation and I entered Ghana the second year on the original visa and with no problem. Happy Travels!

Thanks everyone!!! New post coming!