It is confirmed - My spouse Chris ( @artist1989 ) and I are going to SteemFest :) We are so excited!!!
It was not an easy process for us. We were pretty sure we were not going to be able to go. Chris was born in Germany, and did not have any of the paperwork that proved he was a US citizen. I spent over 10 hours on the phone with various government agencies, and filled out numerous forms to get the paperwork we needed for his passport - but everything seemed like it would not make it in time. One of them cost $550, and they said it would take 13 months to process!
We tried to talk ask his parents, but they said that they didn't have any of the paperwork either. We asked if they could double/triple check, since it seemed like the only way we could get his passport. They said they would, but they were pretty sure they didn't have it. A few days later, they emailed us back and said they found it! His citizenship paperwork was being mailed to us as certified mail :)
We went into the passport office and filled out our applications. We paid extra to have them rushed, so we could get them ASAP. They just arrived today!
We got our hotel reservations at the "HF Lisboa" (home base):
Since this is both of our first times traveling outside the US, we thought it would be a good opportunity to visit Chris's birth mom in Germany. We leave for Germany on Friday October 27. We will stay there for a few days, and then fly from Germany to Lisbon on October 31. We'll be in Lisbon for the entire conference, and then fly home on November 6.
We are both super excited and look forward to meeting lots of you there!
The liquid rewards from this post will be donated to the SteemFest Travel Reimbursement fund - @t-r-f.