OK, so, woke up this morning, called the post office (0800 hours), still no delivery even to the first delivery centre from which the parcel can be traced (one is really starting to wonder why you bloody pay for registered post in the first place…). We ask if there's any way it could possibly already be at the post office, they say no, definitely not, it's supposed to go through 2 check points before that and there's no trace of it. They say we should initiate an investigation into its whereabouts immediately but that this can only be done by the sender ie. the US consulate. They aren't contactable by phone so I email them to which an automatic reply comes telling me they will respond within 5 working days - how useful.

Really starting to panic now, there's no way mail should take more than 3 days from Sydney to Brisbane. We call QANTAS and discover there are no later flights out to LA up til the Sunday after next at least (actually it was Mum who called and she didn't tell me this til much later cause I think she was pretty sure I'd have a meltdown) ie. Disneyland tickets, LA tours, LA accommodation out the window! Also, there's no travel insurance coverage because they don't cover you if "you lose" your passport and/or visa.

So, we decide to at least delay our flight down to Sydney from Brisbane because we are supposed to flying out at 11:45 and don't want to risk having the passport couriered down (if it actually gets here). We find out we can't change or cancel our current flights, so we just have to pay for another one tomorrow and use some of our Frequent Flyer points to lower the cost. I am well and truly freaked out and Mum is doing a brilliant job of staying calm (albeit looking thoroughly pissed off).

We get off the phone from changing our flights and call the Post Office again to just check if it's come in to one of the delivery points yet (this is 10:00 now). Turns out, it's at the local post office and has been there since 7:30AM. SEVEN THIRTY THAT MORNING. They had no previous record of it going through the other 2 check points, though if you remember correctly "No, it could not possibly be at the post office already". We jump in the car and head down to the post office and I rip open the packaging and kiss the small hideous document containing my small hideous photo while Mum gets back on the phone to QANTAS.

In the last half hour they have resold our "uncancellable" tickets so our seats are no longer available but they manage to get us onto a 1:45 flight. It takes us the whole car trip to the airport to actually get them to understand what has happened so we decide to just wait here for a few hours and here I am, venting to you people! Haha Aaaaah feels good to get that out of my system =D

So, I've got it. I'm looking at my passport. Holding it in my hand. Strapping it to my body with industrial strength duct taping, and a few staples for good measure. Mum and I celebrated by sharing an overpriced, pre-packaged sandwich from an airport cafeteria (having not made it onto the 11:45 flight, we won't even be getting a free lunch!). Hurrah!

And now if you'll excuse me, I must get on to writing that terse email.

LIVxo