h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I would be *so* tempted!

There's a banner ad in my email from Travelzoo, and this was in it:
British Airways $100 London: Same Price from Across the U.S. (each way)

But by the time I could get a copy of my birth certificate and apply for a passport, and get one, the price wouldn't be that anymore

Though, since it's British Airways, I have to wonder if any of my brit friends could take advantage... I think $100 is about 75 quid...

Clicking on the abovementioned ad takes me to http://top20.travelzoo.com/Join.asp?source=yahoo&id=117746 And I just previewed, and it appears you can go directly there...

*note to self--get a can of air and clean the keyboard so you don't have to go back and take random gs out of every post!*

I just checked it out, and the sale ended November 7.

And the tickets could've been used as late as April

Well, shouldn't you get yourself a passport anyway, just in case you come across more offers of this kind? Eh? Isn't it about time?

Amy one advice, get pasport, because cheap flights will come again. the flight business is not going well

I once flown to London and back to pay "airport taxes" (about US$40) and for back trip (aboutUS$ 12).

it's about £64 airport tax now. Bluket and his stealth taxes!

no .. US$40 = 26 pound
that was when I went for local airport to London Stansted

No Airport Tax for a return to the USA was £64 which is $100 or more. the total fair was £260 and that isn't bad for Boston.

-- DoctorMO --

no not bad ....

I think the future flying will have more good deals...

That is a most excellent deal, hopefully we can find one like it again!!

Woohooo!! Thanks for leading me that way, Amy!!!! I've subscribed!!!!

Good stuff.

And get your passport, Missy!!!!

(Song of the Paperlady, a companion to the
scarecrow, tin man, lion, and little girl and dog)

You can tell that I'm not lyin'.
I wish that I was flyin',
But flight I can't afford.
Still, I'll wait for a bargain,
And I'll use my old noggin,
And I need a new passport.

After Amy+ left for the UK, I looked into getting a passport just in case there was some kind of emergency and I had to go over there for a while.

After the lady at the post office told me that what I'd been *told* was my birth certificate wasn't good enough because there was no raised seal on it, I called my mom to see if she happened to have one with a raised seal on it. She found it and sent it to me. (as it turned out, the one I had was only a copy of it)

*But* she sent it certified mail, which meant I had to sign for it... but did the mailman bring it to the door? Nooooooo, of course not. Never mind that I was home all day and my car was in the driveway, and I do believe even the front door was open, so it should have been pretty obvious that there was someone home. So anyhow, I had to go to the main post office to pick it up.

No problem, I thought to myself, I have to go there to turn in the passport application anyway, I'll just do it at the same time.

Except that this birth certificate still wasn't *good enough* to get a passport, because there was no date on it stating when it was issued, only the date of my birth. Can I help it they did things a little differently in '53? The lady at the passport window was then kind enough to tell me how to get a new birth certificate.

Then she asked when I was planning on travelling, and I explained to her once again (since I'd explained this to her the first time I'd been there) that I wasn't really planning on it, this was only for an emergency situation, and considering that Amy+ had very narrowly missed being hit by a car and just missed being in not just one but two tube derailments in the previous week, I thought I should have it just in case I needed to get over there because an emergency situation suddenly didn't seem as unlikely as it had at one time.

It was then, and only then that she bothered to tell me that if such a situation arose, I would be issued a temporary passport, even if I didn't have all the "proper" documentation.


Now *why* couldn't she have told me all this before I had put my mother to all the trouble of looking for my entirely inadequate birth certificate and sending it to me *certified* mail?


Anyhow, no longer being in any kind of hurry to get a passport, but figuring that I *might* need one someday, I just finally today printed up the form to send off to get my birth certificate, and made the copy of my drivers' license to send with it. If I get off the computer now, I could sign the thing, address it and sent it out today, I suppose...


Sorry to hijack your journal AmyP... This story's just been brewing for a while. Hope you don't have any trouble getting your birth certificate!

"I would be issued a temporary passport, even if I didn't have all the "proper" documentation"

I am not sure I would count on that in this day and age.
They would have to agree with your definition of an emergency for one thing A mothers definition is often different from anothers official definition

I have a birth certificate in my desk.
And, a death certificate is not yet appropriat.

My definition of emergency was something on the order of "distraut mother with seriously injured/ill kid in hospital in foreign country".

We were assured when she decided to take a semester in the UK that the international exchange student liasons (or whatever official title they had) would be able to help us with arranging everything necessary for us to go over there in an emergency, should it ever become necessary. Not like they'd be unaware of the situation, as I feel pretty certain they'd also be the ones informing us that there was a problem requiring us to travel over there. I just didn't think their assistance applied to getting the passport itself, but apparently it does.

Amy+ hasn't had any close calls in the last week or two, so I'm not worried or anything...

Um, I've forgotten why she went there
in the first place.

Student exchange program between Radford University (in Southwest Va, where she'd normally be studying) and Middlesex University (in North London, where she is now). And where better for an English major to take some English classes than England?


And oh how convenient, her boyfriend just happens to live in England too, so it's no longer a 4,000 mile long distance relationship, it's about a 2 hour long distance relationship, which means they've actually gotten to visit with each other a couple times since she's been there.

One of the ladies in our church's daughter was studying in Germany, and got really sick (suspected meningitis, I think) and L went right over. Of course, IIRC, they've family over there, so L might've had a passport already...

I may have to wait to get my birth certificate until I get my licence, because my ID's expired... That's right, I've been not me since December 28, 2002 Then again, DMV accepted it when I went to get my permit... I should probably see what Marion County, Oregon, wants to send me a certified copy... I should have one in any case. We've got Faith's, and since Tom was rather boggled to learn that I've no idea where mine is, I'm guessing his is around here somewhere too, probably in the lockbox with our marriage certificate. I just don't know where the lockbox is...