May 31st
And today I learned how to deal with a failure. It’s about my planned trip to London for July. I love London and go there at least once a year. Last year for obvious reasons with lockdowns and pandemic I couldn’t. So this year I was planning for 8 days there starting on the 7th of July. With the pandemic easing down, more and more places being open and with me full vaccinated (I will get the second dose on the 15th of June), and having a place to stay for free (at my brother’s apartment at Forest Gate) I was really happy about it and already made plans about museums visits (I always spend one day starting at Tate Gallery then walking across the Thames to National Gallery and then to Victoria and Albert Museum), walks throughout the city and side trips (this year I planned a trip to hike in marshes in rural Norfolk).
And I forgot about renewing my passport…
It wasn’t just that I forgot, I had it on my list of long-term things to do and for some reason I ignored it. Now, when I finally started the process I found out that the first available time for a visit to Passport Office is on the 16th of June, and with the whole process taking about 4 weeks that means I won’t have my passport ready for a trip on 7th on July. I could conditionally travel with just my Polish ID but after Brexit, something like that is not really advisable and also my ID will expire in September of this year and airlines need to have a ticket holder to have a valid ID that will not expire for at least more than 3 months at the time of boarding. So, I am not going….
And it is all on me.
I had it on the “to do” list, I put it off because I thought I have enough time to do it, until I haven’t that time. There are no excuses. I will have to postpone this trip again. And with the fact that in weeks 27 and 28 we have mandatory time off (it is like that every summer for production maintenance) it will be very difficult to find a good time for this trip this year. I could try to just “wing it”, and count on having a temporary passport or using my soon-to-be expired ID for that trip but I decided against it. I wouldn’t feel comfortable with that set up and I wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy my trip.
I would expect myself to be angry and that whole situation, and especially at me. But, surprisingly, I am not. I see that as a good lesson — Do not put off things of that importance as renewing a passport. Do pay more attention to a “to do” list and the set deadlines. Get even more organized for the future. And what can I do for my summer break? First of all — finish this process of renewing a passport! Then plan and go on a trip locally in Poland or within the EU and without the need for air travel, somewhere when I can drive or take a train/bus. And I already have some good ideas — like a walk along the Baltic shore from Lithuania to Latvia.
