Passport problems delay choir students’ oversea trip

Update: Both Jaden Jostrand and Hannah Massey have been issued new passports and will depart Friday at 5:10 p.m.

Before juniors Jaden Jostrand and Hannah Massey could even hear “benvenuto” upon their arrival to Italy for their choir trip, they were hit by a traveler’s worst nightmare Thursday as passport problems almost had them saying “ciao” to their European spring break.

“We only got as far as the DFW airport when we found this out,” Massey said. “Italy requires that your passport be valid 90 days after you return from your trip. My passport expires in May of this year so it unfortunately did not match up. We had no idea that this was a rule because it’s only something that they do in Italy.”

The U.S. is among several countries that are limited by this Italian expiry rule. Canada, Great Britain and Australia are among those nations.

“[My passport] extended only a few weeks after we were supposed to get back,” Jostrand said. “To travel to Italy, our expiration date needed to be at least three months past our return date and our travel company didn’t tell us that little crucial piece of information.”

Although the passport snafu prevented them from leaving with the rest of the choir group, a condensed itinerary is still possible.

“Hopefully we will be able to fly out and meet the rest of the choir in Italy,” Massey said. “We are at the immigration office trying to get me and Jaden new passports in time.”

The process is complicated to get a new passport and they may not get them processed and ready in time.

“It normally takes a day or two in an emergency,” Jostrand said. “We have a paper from the airport showing that it’s an emergency. The process requires us to take a picture at a CVS and then make sure you get to the government office before four o’clock which is why we couldn’t do it yesterday. There has been a lot of waiting in lines.”

They want to get to Italy sooner than later to avoid missing any more of their trip.

“We have a flight scheduled for 5:10 p.m.,” Jostrand said. “We will probably miss being in Venice for the first few days of the trip but we’re lucky that they said we should get [the passports] today.”

With the bulk of the trip already paid for, the students are a bit concerned about getting compensated for the part of the trip they are missing.

“We don’t know yet if the travel company will refund our trip,” Massey said. “My mom is fighting for our flight to be compensated by the travel company for not telling us this important information prior to the trip.”

This unfortunate situation is tough on the students, but they are trying to look on the bright side of things.

“I’m really upset,” Massey said. “But I’m hopeful that this will all work out. I’m looking on the positive side that at least me and my best friend got stuck together with the same problem so we can go through it together.”