My whole passport debacle was an absolute head ache, but good experiences come from our misfortunes. While my whole family went along to Venice to tour the city for a day and catch our cruise ship, my mom and I had to make a little detour to Florence. It is a blessing and a bummer because Venice seems like an amazing city, but we had to stop at the US Consulate in Florence to get a temporary passport. I will have to say, Florence is also a beautiful city and I was just as happy to have been able spend the day there. My mom and I grabbed lunch (pasta and gelato of course) and we walked around the cute little town of Florence. We even stayed at this adorable hotel with a quaint courtyard in the backyard.
We stayed in Florence for one night, then the next morning we woke up bright and early to make sure we got to the consulate before it opened, incase there was a long line. We had to hurry because we still had to drive to Venice to catch our cruise ship that departed at 5pm. The drive to Venice is 2 1/2 hours so we were stressed that there was that slight chance we weren't going to make it. I am not going to lie, it was a little comforting seeing other Americans at the Consulate who had also lost or had their passport stolen. It was like a lost/stolen passport support group. We were like, hi what's your name and how did you end up here? It made me feel less bad about my own stupidity. LUCKILY the consulate was super helpful and quick and my mom and I were able to make it out of there by 10:30 am. Plenty of time to check out of our hotel, grab our rental car and make the drive to catch out cruise ship.
Looking back in hindsight, I think what a fun experience and time spent with my mom but of course in the moment it felt like a situation that wasn't going to sort itself out. But now I am writing this blogpost almost a week later and can be very thankful that everything worked out ok.
Florence, Italy
4/
5
Oleh
Ramazan AL
