Passport Story (cont'd.)

So we ended up cancelling our flight to Hong Kong, as well as our hotel for that evening. I called Jason (in Seattle), who went to my apartment to pick up my passport. Now for the more difficult part - how to get the passport to Socal within a day? Fedex and UPS both have next-day service, but nothing within the day. There are personal courier services, costing $300 or more, where they will pick up the item within 1.5 hours, send it on a flight, and then pick it up on the other end and deliver it to the final destination within another 1.5 hours.

Another option, which we ultimately chose, is a lesser-known cargo service called counter-to-counter. Nearly every airline has this service. We chose Alaska Airlines, because there are something like a dozen flights between Seattle and Orange County a day. Someone needs to deliver the item to the airport (or the cargo warehouse near the airport), which sends it on a flight. Then the recipient can pick it up at the destination airport, at the airline counter.

So the next day, Jason drove down to Sea-Tac airport and dropped off the passport at Alaska Air's GoldStreak cargo service for the 1:50pm flight to Orange County. My mom and I picked up the passport at John Wayne Airport at 5:00pm. Incredible. As for the cost, the service was $25. Of course, that didn't include the time, labor and gas costs of Jason, Mom or myself.

Notwithstanding this achievement, we couldn't get a flight to Hong Kong the next evening, and had to wait until the following afternoon (nearly two days later.) However, we did arrive in Hong Kong late Friday evening, and didn't have to cancel another night's stay at the hotel.

So here we are in Hong Kong - safe and sound!

Along with the key players Mom and Jason, special thanks go to Dad, Joy, my cousins Vinnie and Ivan who played critical supporting roles in our success!