Second honeymoon -- Europe 2014 -- It seemed like a good idea at the time :-(

curmudgeoness

I'm braving the retooled site (I still dislike it, sorry, folks) to wish everyone heading to the Europe shows safe travels and to give voice to my own excitement.

My husband and I are celebrating our twentieth anniversary this month; when the Europe dates were announced, we could not think of a better way to celebrate than to fly to Europe and catch some shows. It all made sense: we still were on a high from the shows we saw last October; our wedding celebration was something of a cross-country tour, itself (three receptions, 3,000 miles); both of our children were born in Seattle; some of our happiest memories include drizzle, mountains, the Ballard Locks, pushing strollers on the Burke-Gilman trail, listening to Pearl Jam on KNDD (and jazz on KPLU!) and taking our boys to their first Pearl Jam show, Mansfield 1 2008 (where we all went nuts pounding on the seats during "Betterman").

So we will be in Vienna, Berlin, Stockholm, and Oslo, reflecting on the last twenty years, trying to convince ourselves we aren't really *that* old, and looking forward to the next twenty years and more together.

I couldn't have asked for a better man, and I am so happy to be able to celebrate with him in a way that is so very us.

I'm looking forward to a great tour. I hope everyone has an awesome time. :-D

mwplum

That is a very nice story! I hope you both have a great time over there!

dankind

Congratulations curmudgeoness and Mr. curmudgeoness (curmudgeon?)! Have a blast!

curmudgeoness

Well, that did not go as planned.
We flew to Europe Monday evening, had a good flight. At passport control, we were not allowed into Europe because my husband's passport expires on September 20th, and, thanks to a law nobody mentioned, the EU now requires passports to be valid for at least three months after one's date of departure.

So, I had the option of entering and continuing our trip, but I would have had to do so alone -- not exactly how I would like to celebrate our twentieth anniversary.

Instead, the police escorted us to the Lufthansa desk, where we changed our tickets and were sent back home.

My husband, who spent months planning the trip and who always has wanted to take me on a vacation like this, is crushed. Should he have known about this law? I don't know; he travels a lot for work, and never had heard of it -- neither had anyone else I know. Apparently, we should not have been allowed to board our flight to Europe in the first place -- and had that happened, we at least would have been able to take immediate action to get a new passport or to go HOME instead of sitting on a bench in a tiny room under armed guard.

People are telling us to "salvage" our vacation by going to a B&B for three days or by going to a passport office today and getting an expedited passport, but I don't see that happening. There are only so many transatlantic flights I can handle in a week.

I asked the Ten Club folks to make my tickets available to someone else, but I don't know how they handle that sort of thing.

I hope the rest of you have a great, passport incident-free time.

PP193448

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccckkkkkkkkk!!!
That sucks big time. Sorry about your trip. I never heard of that before either. Happy 20th Anniversary!!!

curmudgeoness

It's called the Schengen agreement. And we (US) have something similar, apparently: people traveling to the US need to have passports valid for at least six months. Europe just began enforcing it recently, which probably is why my husband did not know about it.

jumbojet

Sorry about that. Some rules really suck. This kind of stuff should be printed in bold letters while purchasing the ticket.

Spags

That's a heartbreaking story. Hope you find something else to do with your time off. Main thing is you get to spend it together!

curmudgeoness

Yes, it is the kind of info we should be told when purchasing airline tickets. Not much we can do about it now. :-( Oh well.

CharlieP

That´s so ridiculous. One shouldn´t be able to purchase flight tickets then. I feel very sorry for you Guys!

MayDay10

I hate to rub it in.

I just looked into travelling to Europe and that rule was the 1st thing I saw.

CharlieP

I know of the six month rule when visiting the United States but I don't know how the information is the other way around. Either way, it really sucks for you Guys! Damn....

jervin007

Wow, that sucks. You would think there would be some step it the process to alert you of that. Don't you have to input your passport information when you buy international airline tickets? If not it seems like that would be the easiest way to notify you that you needed to renew your passport.

Hopefully you two can catch some fall tour shows to make up for it.

curmudgeoness

We did not enter the lottery for the fall tour; between the kids' schedules and the Europe tour, we felt those four shows were enough.

I don't know if passport info is entered when purchasing the tickets -- my husband handled all of that (no, really, he travels a LOT). But your passport is scanned/swiped repeatedly from the time you arrive at the airport to depart until you pass through customs at your destination. We should have been stopped before boarding; we were told there will be a stiff fine for the people who let us leave in the first place. And had we been stopped here in the US, we could have rushed out and obtained an expedited passport for him, cutting things close for the Vienna show but allowing to have the rest of our vacation.

@MayDay10 -- lucky for you, I guess. Our tickets were booked a long time ago -- right after I had confirmation from 10Club, I think. The consulate told us the law has existed since 2006 but they only began to enforce it recently -- don't know how recently. And, seriously, my husband travels to Europe and Asia all the time -- monthly, at least. He was utterly blindsided by this.

Joey Eakins

This really sucks for you. I knew about this law because I read a lot of travel websites. I got an expedited passport last year in order fit this six month rule. Many countries, no just Europe and U.S. have the same exact law or something similar. Some countries have a 3 month rule if I am not mistaken. I am really sorry this happened to you. Try to salvage this celebration.

SPEEDY MCCREADY

Devastating.
Had that happened to me, I would have been beyond crushed.

bluegrace

Oh, I'm so sorry for you. Never heard of that rule before. Hope you can make something of your vacation anyhow and find something fun to do.

PJ_Soul

Ugh, that is terrible. I'm really sorry your trip went to shit. :(

I was aware of this new-ish rule, but really only by coincidence. Happened to hear it mentioned somewhere.

Poncier

Holy crap that sucks. So sorry.

rock4ever

Sorry to here about the passport issue, we have had the minimum 3mnths rule on passports for ages here in the UK ,if traveling to Europe , some countries let us Europeans in with less, for international travel we have always been told to have a minimum 6mnths when you are due to return, I think it's just something your always told on booking a package holiday. And it's normally printed on holiday doc,s too,

curmudgeoness

The airline should have told us; they have all of my husband's passport information on file, after all.

I've not been out of the country in twenty years (since our honeymoon, which was our last vacation), so it's not something that was obvious to me. And my husband's whole goal was to show me that foreign travel is easy and not intimidating. So much for that idea. He's familiar with things like trying to get a visa to go to China, but this particular requirement, not so much.

BCBA

I go to Canada often and every time I go, I make sure I check to see what the requirements are, such as bringing a kid, or pets, etc. Research is a must. Rules/Regulations change all the time.
http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/non-eu-nationals/index_en.htm
right there up top

If you are a non-EU national wishing to visit or travel within the EU, you will need a passport:
valid for at least 3 months after the date you intend to leave the EU country you are visiting

but that doesnt help now. Hopefully, it can save someone else out there some anguish.

Really sucks to hear. Hopefully you make the most of your anniversary and hit it next time.
Go take a trip around here. Get some hankey panky. Resolve to make damn sure to make an even better PJ trip next time. Celebrate your 20 years.

ldent42

You know I remember seeing the phrase "schegen " a dew times but had no idea what it was. Seriously though the airlines should have to make this type of info clear when you book your tickets. They let me book a ticket to Australia without mentioning that you need a visa for there early this year. I was lucky that I got one right away at the airport. You should really file a complaint in writing with your airline.

oftenreading

Oh, curmudgeoness, I'm so sorry to hear that - it really sucks! What a let down for you and your husband.

mwplum

Heartbreaking...so sorry to hear that. I hope you can recover some of it, and maybe do some shows in the fall if at all possible. Customs really should have some discretion to give leeway, as that seems so unreasonable.

link93

That really is horrible. My question is what the freak is an expiration date good for if you have different rules in diff countries for travel pre expiration date. It seems to me that logically as long as your passport date is valid after your return trip you should be fine. I will remember this for future travel.

ceska

That's the dumbest thing ever. What's the point of an expiration date, if the damn thing really expires three months before??? So sorry to hear of your troubles. I hope you get to do something out of the ordinary back home with your time at least.