With stories to tell.

Cool painting, huh? More on that later. In case you didn’t know, I just got back from visiting Spain. Same heat, different humidity. I’m melting.

Funny how a couple weeks off seems to be harder than simply staying and working.

I mentioned a slight problem in a post the day I left.  I’m almost embarrassed to say.  We discovered that my son’s passport had expired.  His slightly legal EU one too.  Kind of an issue, especially for a control freak like me.  My wife just says, “we’ll go and play dumb”.   Great.

Damned if it didn’t work.  The only real hassle was with the Air Canada check-in.  But after consulting some little book, some manager guy told the agent to issue us boarding passes.  Ha!  This is after already crossing the US/Canada border to get to the airport in Montreal.  Unbelievable!  Getting past customs in Madrid was even easier.  My wife and son went to the EU citizen line and were basically whisked through.  They had to wait for us with the valid passports.

Honestly, I should have known.  I once left with a passport that was expiring before I returned.  Went to the embassy and had a new one in-hand withing 90 minutes.  No extra charge.  That was 10 years ago.  We hit the embassy again first thing in the morning and had a new one on the way withing 10 days.  Delivery by messenger service.   That “skin-of-your-teeth” traveling.