I'm sure you've heard all the stink about passports and how people aren't getting them back in time for their trips abroad. i didn't really pay much attention to it because i have a passport. every time i heard another sad passport story, i would think: thank god i don't have to deal with that.
wrong.
apparently passports expire after 10 years, and mine expired a year ago.
I might get the chance to go abroad next month, so I ordered a new passport. I'd heard it could take months to get it back, so i chose to expedite.
total to expedite: 127.00
photo from walgreens: 7.00
priority mail: 4.00? (can't remember the exact amount.)
without overnighting either way, I received my new passport in exactly 11 days.
21 comments:
Hope you;re going some place fun.
11 days isn't too bad at all. Figure in a weekend and four days in the mails, it took about five days for the actual process.
patti, i'll keep you posted!
steven, i'm horribly impressed that they turned it around so quickly. and the process was entirely painless.
I'd say you were very lucky. My mother had to miss a trip to France in the spring because her passport had expired and she didn't get it back in time to travel.
kaycie,
That's horrible! I've heard they're so backed up that they aren't even processing applications that aren't expedited. Yet on their web site it would appear that you can get your passport back fairly quickly without expedition. not the case. i knew someone who had to wait i think three months for her passport, which is why i decided to expedite. and also why i decided to post this in case anybody does a google search looking for info.
i should add that i'm sure there are massive screw ups and delays even for people who choose to expedite. i was extremely lucky.
The expedite option is really sweet. We've used it several times (for Luther's kids as well as for Luther), and I realize it's not cheap, but with something like a passport I have this whole security-conscious thing in my mind. Those are MY PAPERS.
Alas, Canadian passports expire in 5 years, and despite all that Americans tend to say about Canada's open borders... a Canadian passport is harder to get... just slightly, mind you. The list of people who can sign my passport application is shorter than the U.S. list. And while I'm in the States... shorter still.
On the other hand... I've always had a passport. The hoopla about passports, the sheer panic among some, kinda makes me giggle. Who the heck doesn't have a passport already?! Duh!
I am glad it went smoothly for you, and I am sorry it hasn't gone smoothly for all. Travel = good. It should be encouraged.
11 Days! Holy crap! Nicely done.
Mine's expired, which is fine, my p;d photo looks like I'm ready to join the Taliban. I'm sure I'd get taken to the back room for special treatment.
For all that, it sounds like you should go abroad, just to make it worth it.
I actually have a recurring dream that I arrive at the airport for a trip overseas. Each time, when I go to check in I find that my passport expired. It's my version of showing up to high school naked.
I hope you get to take the trip. Travel is so great for the muse.
Anne, great news on the passport. Mine expired this past June. Knowing it was going to, I sent it off unexpedited back in March right after I got back from Ireland.
I noted the day I sent it on the calendar and also the date 10 weeks hence that the post office guy said to expect it to arrive. The date came and went and we continued to wait. I called and got an automated message that said basically, unless you're traveling in the next two weeks, go away and don't bother us. We've got enough trouble without you.
So I went away. And ten days later it arrived. It was almost 12 weeks. I understand that's about what to expect. So, yes, hooray for expedited! I'm glad I waited until after Ireland to even try to do it, otherwise I might have got hung up and not been able to go.
Hope you get to make the trip! Where to? Or are you keeping it a surprise?
11 days is great! my daughter had a terrible time getting a passport, it took more than two months! have a great trip where ever you go! and my daughter will actually be somewhere in your neighborhood later this week!
I think mine expires in a year. Thanks for the reminder, though. The kids' just expired and I'm hoping to head to Europe in February.
bekbek, i have to agree about expediting. and 60 bucks isn't that much to pay for a quick turnaround. i guess it would add up if you have a bunch of kids though. five years actually makes more sense since a person can change a lot in ten.
jamie, i'm taking the 11 days as a good sign. and by the way -- just got my page proofs returned. ;)
word nerd, yes!!!
jaye, i have the high school one where i'm actually my current age, but i'm in high school. kind of a strangers with candy thing. :D
anne, thanks so much for the info on the regular application!
cinderelly, if your daughter needs anything, she can contact me through my email. i mean that.
mindy, i thought some people may have needed a reminder!
I heard that if you don't pay to expedite, your blank passport is sent to that room where the monkeys are typing. Sooner or later, your passport will come back. With my luck, that work of Shakespeare would come out first, though.
I--of course--don't have a PP. haha! At least you're sitting pretty for another 10 years. =D
Here's what I don't understand though-everyone knows that international traveling has gotten more popular and more complicated, yet people always wait until the last minute to apply for passports. And now that the government is getting picky about passports, why would we expect them to actually be speedy about processing the applications? They're certainly not speedy about anything else
Sorry, I'm a little cranky these days.
jason: LOL! isn't that almost any government office? sorry to my friends who work for the government. :O
kelly, it was so odd to look at the expiration date of 2017. there is that thing where you wonder if you'll still be alive.
norby, oh, i completely get your irritation! it's always annoyed the hell out of me. i've been in that line at the post office where some trophy wife with the hair and the clothes and the diamonds is holding up the show because she needs a passport right now. but i also finally understand how it can happen. i'm guessing a lot of people don't realize their passport expired.
anne, thanks so much for the offer! i appreciate that so much! (she went to a family reunion of her boyfriend's family...she has already text messaged me, "kill me, kill me now!" she's pretty funny!)
cinderelly -- LMAO!! that's one of my favorite lines!
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