Greensboro Man Survives International Travel Nightmare
A Greensboro man’s passport nightmare is a cautionary tale. A few years ago, we had the opportunity to do our radio show from a resort in Jamaica. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Well, for one, we’d done ZERO international travel since 9/11 (by choice). And two, neither of us had a passport, and you need one of those to get to Jamaica. We’re so glad we did as we’ve enjoyed worry-free international travel on multiple occasions since. In fact, I never travel ANYWHERE without it, just in case. Greensboro’s Dimas Henriquez just experienced the “just in case.”
Greensboro Man’s Passport Nightmare Shouldn’t Have Happened
On August 3, Henriquez boarded a flight from Puerto Rico to Miami. This was the first leg on his trip back to North Carolina. Before we go any further, let me answer your question, “Why didn’t he have a passport? He was outside the country, right?” Well, physically, yes. Technically, as Puerto Rico is a United States territory, he was not. As such, Puerto Rico is one of the few places outside the 50 states that a passport for travel is not required (more on that later). So, travel between Puerto Rico and Miami is no different from travel from Charlotte to Miami. Here’s the problem, weather diverted Henriquez’s flight away from Miami and to the Bahamas. Uh-oh, you need a passport there. Without one, Dimas was stuck in the terminal-unable to leave a prescribed area for 14 hours without access to water or service. Further, once he and his party DID make it back to Miami, they couldn’t get a flight back to the Carolinas for two days. That meant incurring more cost just to get home. Henriquez is quoted by WFMY-TV, “What bothers me the most is I paid for a ticket to get me home, I then had to pay more money to get myself home,” The airline did refund a portion of his ticket, but it was nowhere near what was spent on rental car, food, or his emotional psyche, through no fault of his own.
Lessons Learned From Greensboro Man’s Passport Nightmare?
Okay kids, lesson time. Here are the six places you can travel without a passport: Guam, Alaska, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. That being said, and I know it’s a bit of an investment, get a passport. Dimas Henriquez learned this the hard way. You just never know what’s gonna happen that’s out of your control. Proper travel documentation of citizenship is a great thing to have, you know, just in case.
