How to love life when you don’t have an I.D for a whole month

I’ve spent the last few weeks without an I.D. Well, not strictly ‘without an I.D.’, but without an I.D. that anyone actually accepts. The DVLA currently has my passport (I’m foreign) because I’m applying for a driving license and so I got a Validate PASS certified card as my proof of age. Which totally makes sense – absolutely next best thing, if not as good as having either of those. But no…

You haven’t experienced true, frustrating irony until you’ve had an argument with a Why Not bouncer over your stand-in proof of age card. Sure, if you were actually 17 and he’d caught you out you’d call it fair game and be on your way so maybe try your luck at Opal or Gari B’s.

But not this time.

Ok, you can be a little bit jealous though

This time you actually are 19 and you’ve been queuing for an hour. But your attempt at rightfully standing your ground, your sadly feeble “No but I actually am 19 though”‘s are falling on deaf ears, and your friends have already slipped in without you. Snakes.

So, sitting in McDonald’s at a sombre 00.15am with only nuggets and your useless PASS card to keep you company, you consider how you’re meant to survive the next month while the DVLA keeps your passport in a drawer.

All in all, I can tell you, it’s been an enlightening experience.

Pre in your Pyjamas 

I swear by this one.

I won’t say I’m not a fan of going out, but let’s not kid ourselves – pres are the real highlight of any night. Going out somewhere with randomers and paying £1.50 for shots listening to snippets of the same 10 songs is a little less tempting when you could be in your kitchen with your friends, spotify and a bottle of echo falls.

Clearly I’m having the best night already

Let’s take that a step further. How badly do you even want to try on every shirt you own tonight, only to go for the same one you always wear? Do you really want to spend 15 minutes drunkenly trying to flick your eyeliner/gel your hair just right? Do you really *really* need to see that cute someone from your course who’s been ghosting you for a week?

Sometimes, the answer to all the above questions, you know, in your heart of hearts, is ‘nah, fuck it’.

You don’t have to be a lonely hermit, jealously watching other people’s snap stories, and you also don’t have to have the obligation to follow through til 3am – it’s the perfect balance. So don’t feel an ounce of regret waving your friends off now and again to a night they won’t remember save for some grim photos kept for the perfect Facebook birthday post.

Broaden your horizons 

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from not having a driving license, it’s that George Street needs to take a seat. Only accept licenses and passports? Whatever mate, you’re not all that. Bourbon actually let me in, albeit on a reluctant ‘we don’t like it, but you can come in just this once’. So screw the Mean Girls inspired ‘On Wednesdays we go to Creme Soda’ and break the mould.

That being said. If you are trying to go somewhere and you’re not sure whether they’ll, well, want you, it’s a big help to go relatively early, not very drunk, and with a group of friends sober enough to back you up and look like they know what they’re talking about too.

Give yourself a detox instead 

Seriously, not even in your 20-something university student prime are you made to survive going out four nights a week. Chill.

I suffer from fomo just as much as the next guy but honestly, all things considered, I haven’t regretted getting more than three hours of sleep before my 9am labs or getting to have breakfast without risking seeing it all again ten minutes later.

Okay, I’m not gonna get preachy but like give it a go sometimes. Have a pamper session instead – face mask and all. It’s not like you’re going to be dying of boredom between the hours of 11pm and 4am with nothing to do, that’s all I’m saying.