On the tour of Spain which I described in earlier posts, we arrived in Seville at 7pm, when one of our group discovered that she had lost her passport. We were scheduled to move on to the Mediterranean coast in two days' time (and leave for home two days later). What to do?

Though it was evening, we reasoned that there had to be a duty officer at the U.S. Embassy in Madrid who would answer the phone. And sure enough, after an initial recorded message, a person came onto the line to point out that only two U.S. consulates in Spain -- Madrid and Barcelona -- were able to replace passports. The consulate that used to operate in Seville had closed. But the Madrid service for replacing passports was open only until 1pm each day.

And here the high-speed train system of Spain -- the AVE -- furnished the solution. Though Spain will not permit a passport-lacking person to board a flight, even within Spain, there was a 9am train from Seville that would arrive in Madrid -- a distance of more than 300 miles -- in two-and-a-half hours, going at a speed of more than 140 miles an hour (and making several stops along the way).

After phoning to make a reservation, our tour companion, along with an accompanying friend, caught the 9am AVE the next morning, and arrived punctually in Madrid at 11:30am She was at the door of the U.S. Embassy (which contains the consulate) by12:30pm And after begging the staff to expedite her replacement passport (a strange-looking document valid for only three months), they delivered it to her at 2:15pm She caught the 3pm train (again the high-speed AVE) and greeted the rest of us in our hotel lobby in Seville at around 6pm

Now let me make a couple of points. She was able to obtain a replacement passport that quickly because, before leaving home, she had written the number of her passport on several separate pieces of paper. Advising the Madrid consulate of that number did wonders in speeding up the issuance of the replacement. None of us should ever travel abroad without safeguarding the number of our passport.

Second point. We should again stand in awe of the European development of high-speed rail. In the United States, a train trip to a destination as far from Madrid as Seville would take five hours (assuming it left on time). It would never be possible to transact a round-trip in the record time that she managed. Think of all the sensible, efficient, civilized, activities of life that high-speed rail in the United States would make possible. Why must we discover that Europe has achieved a quality of life that in numerous areas is higher than ours?

Write and read comments about this post.

Labels: passports