Is this going to be a problem?

I'm not known for being particularly responsible and I've had to explain the condition of my passport to more than one border official. Unfortunately, I think I've crossed the line and my passport will no longer meet the basic requirements for entrance to any country. How did I finally cross the line? I've already inadvertently laundered my passport, subjected it to a Thai water festival and left it in the bottom of many dirty bags. But, in the end, Starbuck crossed the line by eating my passport. That is correct - my dog actually ate my passport. He ate my pages of stamps, my Indonesian work visa and my Fijian student visa. He ate my picture and important contact information; he even ate the handy dandy bar code they scan at airports.

Unfortunately, I'm not blameless in this little fiasco as the passport eating incident did not go unprovoked. On Thursday, I had the brilliant idea of buying some elk meat from our local farmer's market. I put the meat in my messenger bag for the ride home. Unfortunately, my passport was at the bottom of this bag and as the elk meat defrosted, some delicious elk juice dripped onto my precious passport. When I got home, I realized what happened and left the passport out to dry out...apparently elk flavored passports are an unknown delicacy in the canine world.

In the end, I suppose it is a good thing the passport was completely destroyed, as walking around with a passport that smelled like raw meat would have been slightly embarrassing. The only question now is: do I send it back to Passport Canada, or do I pretend it's been lost and save myself from having to explain everything?

While on the subject of passports, I've started to plan the January trip to Egypt/Turkey. It should be a perfectly planned vacation from the frigid Yukon winter. If anyone has Egypt tips, I welcome all advice, especially from any scuba divers

Sierra posted this on Jul 24, 2007 from the outside | | permanent link