Once upon a time, there was a passport that belonged to a girl named Simone Johanna Maria Simons. It got lost in the mail on its way to the Netherlands to be provided with a visa for Japan. The girl and the Tour Manager called the Dutch and German post offices numerous times, to no avail. Every time they were told a different story of where the passport resided or was traveling to. The day where our flight to Japan would take off was getting closer and closer. We decided to come up with Plan B.

Plan B would mean the girl would have to travel to the Lowlands (Netherlands) to report a missing passport and apply for a new one.

The Dutch Post office told us that my passport was sent back to Germany, but it never arrived. Turned out, it was still stuck in the Netherlands for over two weeks.

On the morning after I applied for a new passport, my phone rang. My missing passport was found in Den Hague. I tried to reverse the 'new passport' procedure immediately, but I was too late. The reason why it was held back was because of some missing info. Normally the parcel would be returned to sender.

My old passport was not valid anymore. I can now give it to Vincent to customise it for me 'V-Style', which means there will be a lot of monsters and vampires living in my passport. It will be so much prettier.

Two days after my new passport arrived, I met up with my TM in Maastricht so that he could bring my passport directly to the Visa Office which was still a two-hour drive away. I planned my journey back to Germany with Vincent and kept my fingers crossed that the visa would arrive on time.

In the end, it all worked out and the Dutch Post office apologised for the hassle with a coupon to buy flowers. I got to fly to Japan and have the most wonderful birthday playing new songs and wearing a new dress.

Thank you Eric for helping me get my visa, and also Christine for locating my passport. 💋