After yesterday’s debacle at the airport, we’ve spent today sorting out what that means for us. More importantly, what that means for us going on vacation.

Here is a list of barriers to vacation and the state they are currently in, as chronologically as I can remember:

1. Jason doesn’t have a passport. The US Embassy in PNG has put our passports in a DHL bag. We have the tracking number and are very closely watching its incremental progress to Vanuatu.
2. Jason has shootings for Love Patrol on Wednesday. I called the director’s assistant, who talked to the director, who checked the script. Jason only has one scene and it isn’t a major one so they can reschedule.
3. Jason’s residency visa for Vanuatu is associated with his canceled passport. We have a letter stating that Jason has residency. The letter doesn’t have anything about passport numbers, just his name. So, we should be good on that front. We hope.
4. Jason doesn’t have a visa for Australia. We have to get the passport from the US Embassy and apply online for the Australian visa. We are still waiting on the passport. Again, cross your fingers for us.

So, all of those hiccups make sense for a passport snafu. This is where things fall into the ridiculous realm.

5. Qantas (the airline we booked through) has dropped its code sharing with Air Vanuatu (the airline we were scheduled to fly on). This seems like a minor issue, on the surface but it turns out that when re-booking this is a huge problem.

Our awesome staff member, Richard, went to Air Vanuatu to discuss our tickets with them. They said they could issue a new ticket and itinerary to the tune of $1000 USD, but since we had originally booked with Qantas, we’d have to buy a new ticket. They wouldn’t honor the old ticket, because they weren’t part of the code share. Then we called Qantas. They saw the new itinerary that Air Vanuatu had created us and said we were already set up. Then Richard looked more closely at the document Air Vanuatu had given us and discovered that it was not a ticket, just an itinerary. So, we called Qantas back and explained that to them. Actually, we called Qantas back and Richard explained that to them. Then Richard explained a few things to them and in the end they gave us tickets for Friday with no additional charge. Richard is magic.

So, as the situation stands right now, we have tickets to Australia. I have a valid passport. Jason’s passport has left Papau New Guinnea and is in transit to Vanuatu. If his passport arrives by Thursday evening, we’re going to Australia on Friday. At least we are looking likely to get our vacation, even if its a week late.