Our good friend Viv is terrified of flying but decided that for once she would gather up all her courage and make the journey to Manchester as long as she was travelling with her friend Barbara.
Barbara promised to "hand hold" all the way to landing and Viv was somewhat comforted and bought her ticket.
Four days before the journey Viv heard the weather forecast for England. Strong winds, gales, heavy rain were forecast for the day of travel so panic set in once again. She phoned us asking what she should do and was in somewhat of a state of mild panic so Kathie invited her round to ours to discuss matters. Between us we decided that the best way back to Manchester was going to be a two day journey by train.
We sat at the PC for several hours and ended up with a planned journey, Alicante to Barcelona, Barcelona to Paris by TGV, Paris to London by Eurostar, and London to Manchester by Virgin Rail.
No problem then - apart from Viv's passport.
She had stored it in a handbag at her apartment but there had been a leak in the roof of the store room and the only thing to be affected was the handbag and of course the passport. The photograph page delaminated and advice from the British Consulate was that it would not be acceptable and a new one must be purchased. So with only four days to go we planned a trip to Alicante to see the Consulate.
We planned it for the day before her long journey was to begin so that she could simply stay overnight in Alicante then take the 9:20am train.
The anomaly in the passport arrangements was observed when Viv had to pay €120 for a one-off temporary passport, good for her journey to England only after which she would need to purchase a new ten year passport when in England for a further £72.50.
A person we met in the office had let his passport expire whilst in Spain and he needed to travel back to England and he was given an extension of one year FOR FREE!
It seemed unfair that one form of carelessness was rewarded with a free extension but accidental damage was rewarded with hefty costs.
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