Passports

[Carlene 12]

Just an FYI for anyone who might need a passport anytime soon.....don't hold your breath.

I applied for mine and DGD's the last week of March, when they said it would take 10 weeks. They just now are showing up on the website where you can track your app. When I finally got thru to a real person at their toll free number, she told me not to count on seeing them before July or August.

My friends paid extra ($60 each) for expedited service and applied the same time I did. They were booked to leave tomorrow for Mexico. They were first told the passports would be here the end of April. No show. Then mid-May. Still did not arrive. Many frantic phone calls later, they were promised them by yesterday. Guaranteed. Not to worry. Guess what? No passports.

So.........if you plan on traveling internationally this summer, and you don't already have a passport, just know that it's going to take longer than you thought - and longer than those people who promise "expedited service" will tell you. By the way, my friends were NOT reimbursed the $60.

[kyethra 0]

thats good to know. We have to go to canada in the fall. DH doesn't have one anymore. I do, but since my name is different now I think I need a new one. Only my old passport photo is cute so I wanted to wait until I was down to that weight again.

[travelgirl 3]

If you need a passport, DON'T WAIT to get one! I was listening to the radio a couple of days ago, and they reported that there are over a million passports being issued a month. There is only one place that issues passports, so it stands to reason that they are pretty backed up.

Apply early, and be patient. If you have summer travel plans and you don't have your passport yet, you might look into changing your plans now, because you probably won't be getting them in time to go.

[green 6]

Up here in Canada we have been in one horrible beaurocratic mess ever since a bunch of paranoid Republicans decided that the "world's longest undefended border" was no longer reliable and that all Canucks travelling south of the border and, for that matter, all those Americans visiting Canada needed to have valid passports in order to return to the United States. This has resulted in horrible delays for passports up here and at many government offices there are line-ups which begin at 3 or 4 in the morning, which is long before business hours, eh. And for those of us who are travelling to those parts of the globe where one always requires a passport these new delays are an irritant or worse. Canadian passports are issued with a five year expiry date but you can't really use them after 4.5 years.

This is why everyone figures that four and a half years from now there is going to be something in the way of another wave of passport renewal demand.

Green and her mate have been kinda lucky. We do a lot of travelling and so we tend to keep our passports current. And in the case of Green, because she doesn't drive her passport is the only ID she has. This is how we have managed to miss the current passport hysteria.

I personally think that profiling makes more sense when it comes to issues such as dealing with the "world's longest undefended border" or when choosing whom to pay close attention to when loading individuals on an aircraft. Of course the deal is this: all profiling has to be sensitively done.

[marlynncreel 1]

ok, i got my passport application from the dept of state website and had it filled out and went to the local postoffice (they did everything) and had mine expedited for only and extra $60. i got everything done and sent on May 6th and received my passport on May 29th. If your post office doesn't do the photos, you can have them done for around $8 at CVS or Walgreens Pharmacies. Good luck!