(no subject)

[shadowkat]

So, Wales apparently is serious about going to the Caribbean.

I got an email today at work with this LINK for St. Lucia.

Wales:I found an all-inclusive package for $698 in St. Lucia. I assume airfare is separate. I put in the dates over your birthday in March – March 8 to March 12. What do you think?
ME: Looks beautiful.
Wales: I know! Want to do it? Let me see if I can take off of work.
ME: Yeah sure. (I delete from the email "but I'm leery, since this kind of reminds me of the last time we attempted to plan a trip to the Caribbean, way back in 2009 - which did not end at all well for me." Yes, folks I've got serious deja vue about this...and I'm leery.)
Wales:P.S. That was $698 per day. Not for the whole trip.

I get home, talk to mother, and discuss this. We're both leery. Mother remembers all too well the last time this happened...so I've decided not invest emotionally in this idea at all. We'll see what happens.

I open my email.

Wales: I’m really sorry. I can’t go to St. Lucia b/c I don’t have a passport. I’m really bummed.

I burst out laughing. I find this hilarious. [But you'd have to know the entire back story of 2009, to understand.]

Me:Want to pick a place that you can go to - without needing a passport? Like maybe Florida Keys? Or Hawaii? [We could even do Disney for that matter.]

Good news? I no longer have to worry about slimming down to fit into a bathing suit.

**

It's been that sort of an amusing day. Well, if you have my sense of humor. Not everyone does.

Crazy workplace was amusing too - but very hard to explain to folks. You kind of had to be there? It was also kind of cathartic in a weird sort of way. I got to watch people who had been annoying me - get their hats handed to them through no fault of my own.

Comments

[spiffikins]

$698 PER DAY??? Woah!

b/c I don’t have a passport

Really? That feels like something she should have thought of before deciding to do a trip outside of the US?

No wonder you don't take her vacation ideas seriously :D

[shadowkat]

Yup. Also, I thought it was $698 for the whole trip - and was wondering what was wrong with this picture? So, when she came back and said $698 per day, I thought, okay that makes me sense. (But I actually read that email after I read the one about the fact that she didn't have a passport.)

She told me about two years ago that didn't have a passport. And at the time, I told her she should get one. But apparently she ignored me, and didn't? LOL!

(I'd gotten mine renewed in 2019. I always do. You never know when you need it and it's good to have more than one government issued id on hand.)

[spiffikins]

Oh yeah, for sure - I renew both my Canadian and US passports immediately when they get to the point of expiring!

My mom never had a passport - until I got my first one when I was 15 and going on a school-organized trip to Italy - she wanted to be sure that if there was an issue, that she could come to wherever I was. And after that she just kept it renewed - especially after I moved to the US.

And, for me especially - other than my certificate of naturalization, my US passport is the ONLY piece of paper that I have that proves my right to be in this country - my birth certificate says Canada and I no longer have a work visa or green card.

[shadowkat]

I'm guessing you don't need a green card or visa, having a certificate of naturalization?

I keep mine - because I don't have the official birth certificate on me - mother has it in a safe deposit box. I have a copy of it. And you don't need it at all - if you have a US Passport and US Driver's License Enhanced ID. (I got the Real ID - Enhanced, which means I can travel to Canada, and to places like Bermuda and possibly the Caribbean without a passport? I don't know - I refuse to risk it.)

But I've always had a passport - had it since I was 12, I think. We traveled to France, Germany and England as a family. And I went to France at 16. My parents were into traveling - so they drilled it into me.

I don't understand my friend, though? Since she also traveled as a teen and had one as a teen. Why she didn't renew it, I've no clue.

[spiffikins]

you don't need a green card or visa, having a certificate of naturalization?

Right - before I got my US citizenship, I had my visa, and then I had a green card - technically as an immigrant I was supposed to keep my visa and/or green card on my person at all times. Which I never did - but I have the luxury of being white and not likely to have any law enforcement person question whether or not I'm "legal" in the country.

The certificate is not something I would want to try to use though - it's not really "ID" - I couldn't use it to get on a plane or anything.

Yeah, I have the "Real ID" as well - but California didn't do the "enhanced" type - and they have had so much trouble getting people to get the Real ID that I doubt they will be trying to implement yet another new ID card anytime soon. I think the deadline has been pushed out a half dozen times at this point!

But yeah, I wouldn't try to travel internationally on my driver's license, even the enhanced one!

[shadowkat]

Which I never did - but I have the luxury of being white and not likely to have any law enforcement person question whether or not I'm "legal" in the country.

You reminded me of a story a friend of mine told me back in 2017. She carried her driver's license and passport, everywhere. The reason? She's Black. American by way of the Caribbean, but born and bred New Yorker, who moved to Martha's Vineyard, and she did not want to be caught on a beach without ID. And had people ask her for it on occasion. (I was appalled. But alas, not surprised. People can be racist shit-heads.)

but California didn't do the "enhanced" type - and they have had so much trouble getting people to get the Real ID that I doubt they will be trying to implement yet another new ID card anytime soon

The Real ID gig kind of got dropped with the pandemic. They keep extending it, because most states can't afford to issue it to everyone yet. Most states don't have the Enhanced ID. I think NY State is among the few that does. I know this - because South Carolina was confused by it. LOL!

I got it - because it was not much more than the Real ID, and might as well? Now I wish I hadn't bothered. But live and learn.

[iddewes]

I‘m glad you hadn’t paid for anything!

[shadowkat]

No, I'd have waited until she paid first. LOL!

[threemeninaboat]

698 PER DAY. I didn't spend that in Nagano when the onsen House Mother baby sat us 3 adults for 3 days. She had to chase my mother around.

[shadowkat]

Nagano? I think that's cheaper though? Prices have gone up. But I am curious - why were you being baby sat for three days, and why was she chasing your mother around??

I think Wales (my friend) was planning on us splitting the cost of the room? What she doesn't know - is I have sleep apnea, and probably snore.

Also $698 is pricy (although it is supposed to be all inclusive - but I'm leery of all inclusive.)

[threemeninaboat]

It's a tiny all inclusive Japanese spa. The house mother drives you around and cooks for you and shows you how to use the beer vending machines and dresses you and makes you wear the correct bathroom slippers... I can walk all day. Mom can walk for about 2 hours then we'd drop her at a cafe or bar and the house mother would have to find her and bring her back to the onsen.

[shadowkat]

It's a spa that makes you walk around all day? And the only thing to drink is beer out of vending machines? And you are dressed by the housemother?

Did you see Spirtied Away? It's Spirited Away but a whole town

[threemeninaboat]

Haaa. No. The entire town is a spa. it's a spa next to many other spas and you can visit them all if you are guest at one. And a fun town. And there's snow monkeys everywhere. And a national park. No, there's lots to drink and she'll bring you whatever but the novelty of using the beer vending machine is strong with my mother. It's like a slot machine for alcoholics. Yes, she puts you in the yukata (it's a cotton kimono that is specific to your spa so you get it right).
Another spa we were at later they do not dress you and ...it's embarrassing because we got it wrong but we didn't go outside in those.

We were here, I guess the pictures make more sense: https://eihachi.com/english.html

Re: Did you see Spirtied Away? It's Spirited Away but a whole town

[shadowkat]

Ah, thank you. Yes - I did see Spirited Away. (Favorite Anime film. Owned it on DVD for a bit, until the DVD player broke and I got rid of all of my DVDs. Kind of pointless to own DVD's when you don't own a player and don't plan to buy a new one. The downside is without a DVD player - I've no way of knowing if the little wave on my television set is cable/internet related or television related. But I digress.)

Cool spa! I kind of want to go there. It looks like fun. And yes, that makes a lot more sense.
Cheaper than St. Lucie, except alas, further away. If I ever go to Japan - I'm doing that.
I've been warned about Japan - though. According to my brother - I won't be able to eat much of anything. Since I can't do any grains, and am somewhat restricted on a few items. But it's also my brother - and he's not the most reliable source on the planet when it comes to travel.

[kerk_hiraeth]

I used to know someone from St. Lucia; we hung out on several occasions back in the late eighties; he was a very nice guy; unfortunately straight, who I knew because he was at the same Uni/College as some of my SF community at the time.

Last conversation he had was partly about how; as much as he loved London & the UK, he couldn't wait to go home. He told me all kinds of things I would never have learned about the various African/ Afro-Caribbean & Afro-American commnunities that; as at the time I was just finally getting into Shakespeare, made me think there was ripe territory for a director or playwright to translate stories like Romeo & Juliet and King Lear to somewhere where the three communities' were inter-mingling.

Haven't thought about him in years; he'd be about sixty now I think.

kerk

[shadowkat]

Sounds interesting - the straight bit works in my favor. As does 60 for that matter. And living in St. Lucia. LOL!