Licenses have a habit of expiring at inconvenient times

I went to get my international drivers license last week friday for our upcoming trip which starts on 1 April only to be told by the AA (No, not Alcoholics Anonymous) that my license expires while we are away. Bugger it! Getting a new license takes some time and a lot of time queueing in government offices waiting for people to come back from their lunch break, waiting for the computer system to work, waiting for - oh, any number of totally unbelievable excuses. In addition to this I actually couldn't get my license application in because the JMPD was on strike so I had to wait until this wednesday to hand the application in. It takes 6 weeks, or so they say. I leave in 7 weeks so it sounds like I'm going to be in for a nerve wracking time during that last week.