Many of you may already know from Scott's Facebook page, but my trip to Ecuador ended before it even began. I got up early on Wednesday and met my group at our church to head for the airport. I said goodbye to Scott and Caleb, loaded up my bags in the church van, and headed for the airport. Everything was going as planned...until I got to the airport.

Upon check in, I was informed that in order to travel to Ecuador, your passport cannot expire within 6 months of your arrival date. Mine would expire in 5 months and 25 days. The result? The airline would not check me in and let me fly. None of us had ever heard this rule, including our group leader who has been to Ecuador about 5 times. The man at the airport informed us that it's a fairly new rule. (And, in my opinion, the rule makes no sense since you have to get a visa to stay longer than 90 days...).

**Note: If I had left 5 days earlier, I would have had no problems with my trip**

However, we were left without options (after talking to multiple airline personnel). I called Scott to pick me up and everyone else headed to Ecuador.

So for those of you who were anxiously awaiting my South American tales and pictures, there will be none because I remain in the States this week instead of in the jungles of South America. And I will have to visit my 6th continent another time.

The moral of the story? Apparently expiration dates on passports are really pseudo dates because passports cease to be valid long before they say they are.