Passport applications have overwhelmed the Federal government, leading to postponement of new border rules mandated by Homeland Security. My passport nightmare actually goes back tnearly a decade.

I was one of the leaders of a Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) delegation headed for the EIBTM trade show in Geneva. Our first stop was The Netherlands where I arrived safely…with an expired passport. I had inadvertently packed my old passport, the one with all the cool stamps, instead of the one I’d recently renewed.

That earned me a private audience in Passport Control. For the record, the agents were as nice as could be. They made an overseas call to my wife, Debbie, who located the valid passport and promised to immediately FedEx it to my hotel in Amsterdam. With that assurance, Dutch officials issued me a temporary visa but warned there was no way I’d be allowed to set foot on Swiss soil without the valid passport in hand.

No problem, you say. Not quite. At the time, FedEx did not deliver in Europe on weekends. With our flight to Geneva scheduled for Monday afternoon, that left a very brief window for my priority package to be delivered.

On Monday, I returned to our hotel around noon and made a beeline for the Concierge desk, anxious to confirm that a FedEx package addressed to Mr. Shure had arrived. The Concierge looked once and then a second time but couldn’t find it. Nearly hysterical, I trudged up to my room, opened the door…and spotted the magic envelope sitting on the bed. The renowned European service staff had delivered it to my room.

Five hours and one short flight later, I cleared Passport Control in Geneva.