Africa Finale: The Great Passport Page Crisis

[Laura again…]

It turned out that getting home was a bit of an adventure in itself—because apparently we hadn’t had quite enough adventure yet.

By this point, Mike’s leg wasn’t getting worse, but it wasn’t a lot better either. He had been taking sponge baths, with me helping to wash his hair, and we’d been cleaning out his wound once a day. But it felt like it would be good to get him back to a place with a medical system that spoke English—or at least the Dutch approximation of it.

We took the small plane to Maun, home to the second-largest airport in Botswana. When we were checking in for our flight to Johannesburg, the airline agent leafed through each of our passports. When he got to Mike’s, he took it away to confer with his manager. Never a good sign.

It turns out South Africa requires you to have three blank visa-stamp pages at the back of your passport. If you look at your passport, you’ll see that the last two pages are not visa-stamp pages. Instead, they are "endorsement" pages, which look useful but are most definitely not - at least if you are an airline agent in Maun.

Because Mike had been commuting to London for a few months last year—and the Dutch stamp passports every time you enter or leave the country—his passport was almost full. Without the two endorsement pages, which were blank but evidently didn’t count, he had only half a page left. The airline agent told him he wouldn’t be allowed into South Africa because of this.

This was a little weird, since we had flown into South Africa on our way down and no one had had an issue then. But perhaps, after being stamped in Zimbabwe and Botswana, Mike had officially run out of passport real estate.

They were also concerned because it was a US passport and we were flying from South Africa to Frankfurt. So even if he made it through South Africa (and filled that last available passport real estate), he wouldn’t be able to make it into Frankfurt.

A small amount of panic ensued. We weren’t sure what we would need to do, and given that Mike had a not-so-minor injury on his leg, we were a little worried about him having to stay in Botswana while it got sorted out.

Luckily, when we spoke with the manager and explained that we were Dutch residents—with official Dutch residence cards—she took pity on us. She was able to give Mike a “transit” ticket, meaning he would not technically enter South Africa. Instead, he would stay in the international terminal and avoid customs altogether.

By this time, we had already checked our bags to pick up in South Africa. We had to check them on the flight to Johannesburg but didn’t want to check them all the way through to Munich. So, when we got to Johannesburg, Mike took his and Alex’s backpacks and wandered off to chill in the international terminal.

Meanwhile, Alex and I went through customs, collected all three roller bags, and went back through passport control. No one seemed particularly concerned that I was traveling with two roller bags and a backpack, presumably because I looked exactly like someone whose husband had been temporarily exiled to the international terminal.

We eventually reunited with Mike. Crisis averted.

Also fortunately, the EU has just implemented a biometrics system for passport control, so passports are no longer stamped on the way in or out for European residents. Mike’s remaining half-page should therefore be able to enjoy a quiet retirement.

We are currently in the US, and Mike was able to travel here—and hopefully home again—with that half-page still intact (thank you new EU don't-stamp-the-passport system).

The lesson for folks at home: check the entry requirements for every country you’re visiting. I had heard of the requirement that a passport not expire within six months, but I had never heard of needing three blank pages—and, for the record, the endorsement pages don’t count, no matter how blank and willing they may be.

Overall, it was an amazing trip. We saw some fantastic animals, met some very nice people, and really enjoyed getting to know a part of the world we had not seen before.

And luckily, Mike’s leg continues to improve. It has been quite slow to heal, but he is now almost completely on the mend—which is good, because we have had enough adventure for a little while.