Sami and I have an annual tradition of spending a father-daughter weekend away each year, leaving on Friday morning early and returning either late Sunday night, or depending on the location and time of the year Monday.

Over the years, Sami and I have had some great trips and this year’s trip is shaping up to be another classic.  Sam always gets to choose the location; the only stipulation is that it has to be within North America given that we need to get somewhere without losing a day of travel.

This year we’re heading down to Washington DC to spend a weekend exploring a couple of the dozen or so Smithsonian’s museums that festoon their fine city.

However, up until this evening we were both on tenterhooks since Sam couldn’t find her passport…  Leading up to the weekend she had begun looking for it, having not used it since her trip to Israel some weeks ago.

She scoured every nook and cranny with no luck, even after my insistence that it must be somewhere in plain sight. I decided to only give advice and not help her find it, it’s amazing what accountability will do to sharpen the mind.

The situation was starting to feel a little desperate, so then I began researching what we needed to do to get a replacement passport, clearly not my first option.  The new passport route was going to be tight given that we are scheduled to leave next weekend, but with the complicating factor of a long weekend thrown in for good measure it was going to be down to the wire…

I didn’t realize but to get a replacement passport you actually have to file a police report, and then call the passport office to report it lost or stolen.

I had coached Sami about going down to Police headquarters this afternoon and filing a lost passport declaration.  She was a tad nervous at the prospect of having to go to the Police station, more out of embarrassment than anything else, but to her absolute credit she was ready to go if she didn’t find it.

So, once you’ve filed the lost passport report then you have to take the declaration form along with your new photos and completed passport application and submit them along with the full passport fee.  However, you only get a replacement irrespective of the amount of time remaining on your passport, but of course you have to pay the full fee again.

Penalty after penalty…I understand why but oh so painful.

However I’m proud to report that the issue has been averted!!!  🙂

Sami had been constantly retracing her steps in her head and distinctly remembered giving her passport to my ex as they were leaving the airport upon her return from Israel.  Which she then deposited it into her handbag and placed on the floor of her car.  Sami found it under the front passenger seat of my ex’s car.

The logical explanation was that it must have slipped out during the drive back from the airport, and neither of them thought about…until last week when I asked Sam if she had her passport ready for our trip to DC.

The backup plan was to go to the passport office first thing Tuesday morning at 7:30 am, and get the process underway.  I suppose if we paid enough money we could have gotten a rush passport replacement – which I think is it 48 hours.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to go down that path and both Sam and I drew a huge sigh of relief when she recovered it from the car.

Now we can relax and enjoy the planning.  As you can imagine we’re both really looking forward to our weekend in Washington. Sami is both a great travel companion in that she’s curious and adventurous which is fabulous because there is so much to see and do but she’s also a huge foodie!

In fact, my go-to restaurant guide!

There’s nothing better than getting dressed up and taking in a great restaurant on our travels. A great example is when we’re in NYC, Sami’s favourite restaurant is Tribeca Grill – 375 Greenwich Street (at Franklin Street).  We usually go to a Broadway matinee followed by dinner at the Tribeca Grill, fine dining at its best!  I’m not sure which part Sam likes best…the show, the restaurant or the glamour of Tribeca Grill?

Probably a little of each truth be told. 🙂

Discovering great restaurants is Sami’s forte, and I can’t tell you how many incredible meals I’ve had with her and Zach after she’s researched and booked us into her findings.

She has an eclectic palate and so we’ve experienced literally every type of restaurants on our adventures.  From the little hole in the wall place she found just outside Nashville in a strip mall that was, by and far the best BBQ I’ve ever had, to the incredible seafood place she found for us in Reykjavik – as you can imagine given the number of places we’ve traveled and all of the fabulous dining experiences we’ve had I would say that more than 90% of them can be directly attributed to Sam.

Now I must admit that there is a common feature that I’ve observed that runs through each and every one of Sami’s choices of restaurants…yes, you guessed it…an extensive dessert menu.

That girl has such a sweet tooth – OMG!  🙂

I’ll report on what we find after our travels.  Ciao!