I just wanted to give future travelers a headsup. We just got married July 7, 2007 and had plans to visit Ireland on the 8th.

-First lesson, if you plan on leaving the country make sure you place an order for your passport 6 months in advance. We have been waiting 4 months now and still have not recieved them, we spent the whole night after our wedding night canceling our Ireland trip. Thank you U.S. government.

-Second Lesson, if you plan on renting a car make sure you are at your destination before your rent it. After we canceled our Ireland trip we though it would be nice to plan a 5 day trip to Vail Colorado. We used Travelocity and bought a package deal. Big mistake. We thought we would plan ahead and set ourselves up with a rental car through Budget rental. When we arrived at the airport we found out our flight was canceled and we would fly out the next day leaving a 4 day Vail trip and we would not get into Vail till 10 o'clock pm. We decided to cancel that trip as well. No honeymoon for this newlywed couple.

-Budget rental did cancel our reservation but still charged us $75.00 for an early cancelation fee. We did not cancel our rental 5 days before, I bet this happens alot. So if you plan on renting a car do not go through Budget unless you are 100% sure you are going to make it. But is any trip 100% ?

All in all we are spending the rest of our vacation time trying to regain our Honeymoon money and we are still happy to be togehter through thick and thin. We actually are able to laugh about this "Thank goodness" and life has a way of balancing out.

I hope no one has to go through any of this, I wish everyone the best and keep your traveling noses to the wind.

Thank you
Kent and Sarah.

Gosh...talk about "in good times and bad"! So sorry to hear about your honeymoon plans, and thx for posting. I've heard from relatives that the wait for passports right now is insane, but many people aren't aware fo that. Hopefully your post will help 'em out.

You may want to send an email to Budget explaining your unique circumstances -- you booked your rental within five days of your planned trip, right? So there was never an opportunity for you to cancel. The Budget clerk you spoke with may not have had any sympathy, but someone higher up might realize they'll be losing a customer if they don't try to assist you.

On the bright side, by the time those &%&#^%#&^% passports get here, the weather in Ireland will be cooler and prices will be a bit lower! I hope you two get the honeymoon you deserve, and SOON.

You could have called at any time during the 4 months to expedite the passport delivery. Also did you call the passport agency at any time to find the passport status? Someone should have told you of that option on the phone.

Did you read Travelocity's cancellation policy and how it could affect your trip beforehand? Sorry things got mixed up but I think it all could have been averted through more extensive travel planning.

I realize that may have been hard to do planning the actual ceremony but traveling out of the country is no small matter these days.

Perhaps you can celebrate this itinerary on your one year anniversary...best of luck and sorry about your disappointment.

Thanks for sharing. Makes me want to keep my traveling in the US for the time being.

Thanks for sharing. Sorry this had to happen on your honeymoon. Makes me want to keep my traveling in the US for the time being.

sbarry2003, not to make light of your disappointment, but honeymoons are always weird anyway -- all that post-wedding stress, yadayadayada. Your first non-honeymoon trip will be ever so much more fun, I promise!

I though getting married on 07/07/07 was supposed to be lucky!

sbarry, it just occurred to me: I've never -- ever -- been charged for cancelling a rental car, even "day of." Is that a new policy?

LucieV-I am not sure but I am thinking that because they bought a package deal on Travelocity, the car was prepaid. So there usually is a cancellation fee. Or if it's not prepaid, then there is some kind of fee to cancel through Travelocity.

sbarry-Sorry your honeymoon was ruined. Usually you can get an expedited passport in a month. My neighbor got his in 3 weeks by paying the expedition fee.

Also, although package deals look good, as you can see sometimes they are not worth it. If you had booked Budget separately instead of through Travelocity, you shouldn't have had a problem cancelling even at the very last minute.

Hope you get to take that honeymoon sometime.

So much for all those news stories about 7/7/07 being the luckiest day to get married in this century! So sorry to hear of your woes, but from here on out it has to get better! You will have great stories for the grandchildren, but in the meantime be really kind to yourselves. Is there some really special experience that you can treat yourselves to locally?

"Usually you can get an expedited passport in a month. My neighbor got his in 3 weeks by paying the expedition fee."

In third world countries we would call this expedition fee a bribe.

I found this on Budget's TOS when I plugged in Vail, Colorado:

"For locations that require a credit card to secure the reservation, failure to cancel the reservation at least 48 hours before scheduled pickup may result in a $75 US fee."

It does say "may", so I think you have a good chance of getting it refunded if you talk to someone higher up the food chain. Just be sure to be polite but firm and state exactly what you want (i.e., I want to be refunded the $75 fee as we didn't book the car more than 24 hours out and we cancelled it only x hours later).

wow-I didn't know Budget had a cancellation policy. Well I guess I won't use them especially when I am on a business trip.

rm_mm-Well I don't know if you can call the expedition fee a bribe-but this whole passport thing cetainly has been a big mess. The irony for my neighbor was he needed the passport for Mexico. About a week before his trip they relaxed the rules for Mexico and Canada. So he wouldn't have had to pay the extra fee. Anyway I guess better safe than sorry.

Paula - I believe Budget's cancellation fee is only for specific locations. Probably those areas with a high no show rate.

The big thing I've learned with car rental companies is to always check the TOS - before you start the process, again right before you confirm the reservation and a third time after confirmation.

I've found that they often list their "basic terms" at the first check, but those terms change depending upon your location.

sbarry...
I am sooooo sorry this happened.
I am sure this was terribly stressful.
It does make for a unforgettable 'honeymoon' and eventually you will get that trip.
Can you tell us whether you lost money on the Travelocity booking?
Why was the flight cancelled?

So sorry to hear about your problems.

This won't help you - but for anyone else in this fix -- If you contact your congressperson's local office w/i two weeks of your departure date (don't bother earlier than that) the passport will get to you. It happens every day. Most every member of Congress has at least one staffer working on this issue nearly full time. As long as you have your flights booked and proof that you submitted the passport application and/or its tracking number you would be put at the top of the ladder and get the passport in time.

Kent and Sarah - Thanks for sharing your experiences. It is so refreshing to hear that you can keep this awful beginning of your married life in perspective and, as you said, find some humor in it. I hope you two can have a wonderful, delayed, honeymoon of your dreams sometime soon. And think of the fun it will be to plan.

Sbarry2003 - I feel for you.

I do second however calling both Travelocity/Budget and giving them a complete this is what happened story.

At the worst they say no which is what you've accepted now. They MIGHT give you a break.

Wouldn't hurt, right?

My friend has assured that Travelocity will give a full refund in this circumstance!

You could certainly have received your passports before your wedding. There are ways to do it, it just takes action. I'm sorry for your bad luck, but you certainly blame a lot of people for things you could have taken care of yourself.