Travel Then And Now

Maybe you saw the news story this past week about the man who traveled from England to Spain on his girlfriend’s passport.  Kind of scary.  But it reminded me of a long-ago incident in my travels that I hadn’t thought of in years.

It was January 1980 and I was serving a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the Country Music Association (CMA).  We had quarterly meetings each year but only one of them took place in Nashville.  The other three were in other American cities and often out of the country.  This particular meeting was to be held in Jamaica and back then that trip required no passport – just a birth certificate. I have always kept a passport handy and updated on file for any travel that was necessary but this one seemed like a snap, so while packing I grabbed my birth certificate and put it in my brief case and was ready to go.

I flew to Miami, went through the proper customs; flew out of Miami; landed in Jamaica and went through the proper customs there, also.  I spent three full days at the meeting and then returned using the same route and duties.  Each time I was asked for my birth certificate and another form of I.D. (driver’s license), I showed it, a person in uniform studied it, handed it back and on I went.

It was on the last leg of the flight home when, for some reason now lost to time, I looked closely at the birth certificate I had been using and realized it was my son’s birth certificate.  His name is Donald Sidney Reid II so it is understandable that the name passed without notice but he was born in 1968, which if it was to be noticed and believed by the authorities in charge of the borders, I was twelve (12) years old according to this official paper I was carrying.   This official paper that is required by law in order to go from one country to the other.

So even now as then, it doesn’t seem the folks in charge always pay attention to what they’re supposed to be doing.  Still kind of scary, ain’t it?

DSR April 7, 2014