Some times life is amusing. I truly believe that there very well can be a chain effect to one's actions. This is such a story that leads to me only obtaining a single entry visa for my upcoming summer in Doha, Qatar.
I first obtained a passport before departing on my European study abroad back in Spring of 2003. This blue packet would be filled with stamps as I took trains, planes, buses, bikes, taxis, boats and any other means of transportation through many European countries. Never once did I have a passport scare as it was hidden securely in my oversize backpack.
I would later file it away in a drawer at my apartment. It survived college moves, Detroit, Connecticut, and some time in Dallas. It would survive my second Europe trip where I went to Spain. Except here, a turn of events forever changed the course of this passport. My friend Mike and I had gotten back to Barcelona after surviving the Running of the Bulls. What a better way to relax than to get out of clothes and use the ocean as a bath of sorts. That was until we hit a cat. With our broken Spanish and an elder's broken English we were informed that we had hit a cat with our rental car. That would be proven untrue as once we witnessed there was no cat, I witnessed I had no wallet. Luckily my passport was still hidden safely inside my backpack.
The wallet was gone and that meant so was a government picture ID. I made it back to the US safe and sound. It was summer and it was time to head to Austin to float the river. Well it's popular to drink on the river and I wanted to join in the festivities. So my passport came along as I felt my paper drivers license would not make due should we run into the law. I learned a valuable lesson: a Ziploc bag can't overcome the rapids of the Guadeloupe. I would quickly go about trying to dry out my passport. I could tell it was damaged, but I could tell it was legible.
A few years would pass and my laziness would set in. It was only till this Spring that I thought about replacing it as I was off to China with my MBA program. I showed the damaged blue to the office and they said they had seen worse. Another lesson learned: when in doubt just get it fixed.
I would make it through all the custom offices on my China trip: US, Taipei, Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. I would make it through with conversations with additional customs officials and worries of not being able to gain entry. It was an unneeded stress on an otherwise amazing trip.
When I came back from China I knew right away I needed to get a passport. I'm Middle East bound in a couple weeks and do not want to deal with that headache again. While I had my passport processed as quickly as possible it was not ready quick enough for my employer or Qatar for the sake of gaining a business visa. I will no longer be allowed a multi entry visa that would allow me to explore Dubai or Jordan or whatever other destination I had been thinking about. I guess I will have to make due with staying in Qatar, a country I have never been to that has international cuisine, museums, sand dunes, Persian Gulf, sports, camel racing, etc. (As you can tell I'm not complaining too much). Things could be worse, but it appears that elderly criminal in Spain got one more laugh in.
