This is a story about a passport. A passport may seem completely innocuous, but when it is missing or out of your personal control it is a destroyer of plans and can induce anxiety.
After learning that I would be heading to India for a two month internship, it became apparent that I would need to mail my passport from my current location, The Netherlands, to San Francisco, California. Unlike many other countries across the globe, India does not allow non-Dutch citizens to apply for the requisite visa via The Netherlands but instead requires you to apply via your country and even region of origin. The idea of sending my passport thousands of miles through the mail made me nervous, but because it was required in order to make my trip to India I acquiesced. Luckily I have been issued a Dutch ID card for the duration of my time here so I knew I would not be completely without ID and could still safely travel by train within the Schengen zone.
My passport departed The Netherlands at the end of March. I had sent it with the Dutch mail system TNT Post, but I paid the extra money to send it with tracking. Tracking with TNT Post is a joke. You are able to track a given package within The Netherlands, but as soon as it leaves The Netherlands the status on the website reads something like, "Your package has left The Netherlands and is in the destination country." The website never updates beyond this status and so you are left to wonder whether it is actually going to arrive. The package will also take much longer than the 3 - 5 business days that they promise you.
But despite not knowing where my passport was, my passport finally arrived at Travisa, the Indian Consulate's visa outsourcing service (yes, Indian Embassies and Consulates have outsourced their visa processing and this company happens to be American.). It was processed in about two weeks and mailed off to my parents (as a US address was required for the return). Travisa was smart enough to send the passport using FedEx. During the entire two days it was in transit from California to Montana I knew exactly where it was.
After its arrival to Montana, my Dad placed it in the mail. Unfortunately, despite my request that it be sent with tracking, it was sent via regular post. On the same day that my Dad sent the passport, he also placed a different package to me in the mail. One package arrived exactly one week after it was mailed, but it was not the package with the passport.
At that point I was still calm. The passport had only been in transit for one week and I knew that the different envelopes were probably sorted differently. Days passed. And more days passed. Each afternoon I would walk to the mailbox and each afternoon my heart would sink a bit at the realization that my passport was not there.
At exactly the three week point I broke down. At that point I felt the passport would never arrive. I was still willing to wait another week but I began to implement a contingency plan. I made an appointment at the American Consulate to obtain a replacement passport. I contacted the law firm in India that I will be interning for and asked to postpone my internship while I worked to obtain a replacement passport and a replacement visa. I also learned during this time that the only way to obtain a replacement visa would be to fly to San Francisco and have a new visa processed. Even though the visa had already been issued, the Indian Embassy in The Netherlands was not capable of contacting San Francisco and providing a replacement.
Things were looking a bit grim for about two days, but then I started to come to terms with the fact that I would be making a brief return to the US. The process of replacing the passport and visa was never appealing, but there were other things to look forward to. I could extend my internship at the ICTY while I waited for the new passport, I was offered an interview in the US (for a job to commence after I graduate in 2012) that I otherwise could not attend, and I would have the chance to see some friends that I have not seen for 5 months. It was a happy sad time. Flash forward to Thursday, May 26th. This is the date that I had set as a cutoff for when the passport could arrive (my appointment at the Consulate was scheduled for May 27th). At about 2:30 p.m. I ran home to check the mail. I wanted to be able to let my team of supervisors at the ICTY know whether I would be extending my internship or not. The mailbox was empty. I returned to the ICTY and committed to staying an additional week. Things were looking good. General Mladic (the most-wanted alleged war criminal from the Bosnian war) was captured and it appeared he may be making an initial appearance within the next few days (which translates to a lot of excitement at work as a new trial will be beginning).
I finished the day and headed home. I arrived home just after 6 p.m. and decided to head across the street to the police station to file a police report on my missing passport (it is recommended that you file a police report because of the risk of identity theft). Since I pass the mailboxes on the way out the door, I decided to look one more time. I opened the mailbox and what should appear but a small padded envelope with a passport inside. My passport had arrived! At the very last possible minute it arrived - better late than never I guess.
Although the passport finally arrived, I think the moral of this story is to use FedEx or UPS. The package or envelope stays in control of one entity the entire time, it arrives quickly, and it can be tracked!
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