Passports and pedicures.

Early in December our son unexpectedly invited me meet him in Beijing and head down to Thailand for a couple of weeks. He and some friends had recently acquired a 10 year lease on some property on Ko Phanang, an island in southern Thailand. One the group arranged for them to go on a private mindfulness meditation retreat. There was only room for a small group and I was invited.

Passport? Check. Expires in June; plenty of time.

No. Wait. I'll need a visa for China and you have to have six months left on your passport in  order to get a visa.

Passport Office: 5th avenue in downtown Seattle.


Passport was the first step. Next was the visa. I used a visa service, however it was all just around the holidays and the Chinese kept changing their reqirements. I finally got all the paperwork in just before New Years thinking it would come back in plenty of time for my January 7 departure date.

When my visa hadn't arrived by the predicted time on the morning of the departure, I had to do someting. Since you definitely need decent looking toenails when in the tropics, a pedicure was in order.