Losing my Passport in Atlanta

I probably shouldn’t be making a post about this just because it is so embarrassing and irresponsible; but at the same time, even if you think you’re the most responsible person in the world and could never do anything as stupid as lose your passport- think again. Right now I’m sitting on my flight to Lima with about 50 minutes of my flight left. The fact that I’m even on this flight is a blessing because I almost wasn’t. My flight has been nice so far, I’ve slept most of the time and I didn’t even have to take drugs to fall asleep. And I haven’t missed out on any food and refreshments, which is even better!

So how did I manage to get onto the flight to Lima without a passport? How did I even lose my passport? I was being flat out stupid, which you will see if you want to skip to the end. My flight started boarding at 4:55 pm, and I was on a later zone to board the plane at a later time since departure was 5:50 pm. Around 4:50, I figured it would be a good idea to get my stuff around… after going through all of my stuff, I had my boarding pass, but my passport was gone. My immediate thought was that I left it in the bathroom! An hour earlier… I had actually met another exchange student that was on the same flight as me. Her name is Katie, and she is from Omaha, Nebraska. I told her about my situation and that I would hopefully see her on my flight while I ran to go find my passport.

I went to the bathroom praying out loud, looking all over, and it was nowhere. Well crap. I go out off the bathroom and see one of the janitorial ladies and ask her if she’d seen one since I remembered there was a lady in there cleaning when I was using it. She had just got there and wasn’t sure who had been there an hour or 2 earlier, so she told me to go to the information desk and see if anyone and turned in a passport. I go over to the information desk and talk to the lady there, and no passport had been turned in. The lady at the information desk then told me to go to the Delta service desk and see if it was in their lost and found, and that she would call me back over if she heard something. I go to the Delta service desk and talk to a lady there named Kimberly. Kimberly was quite helpful. She looked around the back, talked to all the other service people, and there was no passport turned in. She called a lot of different people and let many people know that my passport was missing.

I just stood at the desk waiting for some good news, but time was ticking. Kimberly knew I was on the flight to Lima, and it was leaving super soon. After calling and waiting around, it was hopeless. My options at this point were to go to downtown Atlanta and get a new passport and get on the next flight to Lima tomorrow, which I couldn’t do because I am a minor and my visa is in my passport. So I would have had to go to Chicago again to get a new visa… Or get on the next flight back to Fort Wayne, my only option.

It was around 5:30, I heard my name on the loudspeaker for the last boarding call on my flight, while Kimberly was booking me on the next flight to Fort Wayne that left around 8 pm. All I could think about was how I was supposed to call my parents and tell them to pick me up from the airport again in 5 hours. And that all of my stuff was in Peru, and that we had to go through the entire pain in the butt process of making me legal all over again. I didn't understand why this had to happen, but at the same time I know everything happens for a reason. All there was to do was trust that the situation was in God's hands.

At 5:35, 15 minutes before departure, my flight had stopped boarding. Literally right at 5:36, Kimberly got a phone call: they had found my passport at the gate. With tears in my eyes, I thanked her and SPRINTED to my gate. I got to the gate and they gave me my passport, gave me a little talk about how I need to be more responsible about such an important document. They told me where they found it, and it was by the floor where I was sitting waiting for my flight! How the heck I missed it, I don’t know. Before I even got there, they had the gate opened back up for me to go get on the flight. I had my passport and my boarding pass- I was ready to go!

I boarded my flight, running down to get on, dropping things as I went of course. Everyone else was already all situated and they had to put my carryon in first class since there was no room for it in the very back of the plane where I am right now. All the flight attendants were so kind and helpful getting me to my seat and stowing away my carryon. Lucky me, I got a window seat! I couldn’t believe it- I was barely on my flight to Lima. Never have I felt so blessed and fortunate.