the saga of my beloved passport

i got my first passport when i started working for a multinational IT company in makati. it was one of the requirements. it was delayed though, due to some technicalities.

it's not a big deal, it's just that we found out i'm not properly registered to the civil registry. i was still recorded as Baby Girl Rada! hehehe, ok so it was a big deal. we have to go through the process of late registration and the rest is history.

my first passport took me to places until it was time to renew it. it was supposedly easier this time. no need for personal appearances and the likes. just hand your old passport to a travel agency and they can do it for you. or, it should have been like that.

i had to do it personally because i had to do it in a rush. luckily, leslie was with me. we were going to travel together and both our passports were about to expire. so we had to spend half a day in queues (submission of application, verification, payment, etc., etc...). after one week, it was ready and i will not have problems with it for the next five years of my life. unless....

i got married!!! moreso, to a foreigner. naturally, i had to go with my husband to his home country. so it was best to have my passport amended/renewed to reflect my new surname sooner than later.

as you might have guessed already, i needed more requirements. i had to take two MRT's, from end to end, walk through three malls (and not do shopping), pay PhP250.00 (twice!), attend to an NGO seminar for spouses/fiance of foreign nationals, and get some "precious" certificate. so afterwards, it will be five years of peace.

think again!

this morning, i had to wake up much earlier than usual to go to austrian embassy and apply for schengen visa so that i could fly out from vienna back to my beloved PH. take note, i already got the ticket and we have all the requirements. except, they needed my permanent residence id, which i don't have yet. we managed to get certification from immigration police and planned to go back on monday. two weeks after that, we are hoping that the pages of my new passport will be adorned by another visa sticker. that is, if we find it.

yes, my beloved passport has gone missing in action this morning.

so sad! :(