Less Traveled Path

At the end of this past September, I decided I wanted to travel somewhere internationally between Thanksgiving and Christmas and whipped out my passport only to find that it was due to expire in less than six months from my travel dates. Since certain countries in Asia require a US passport to be valid at least six months beyond the dates of the trip, my two options were to change my travel plans to a domestic trip or to renew the passport and pay an extra $60 (on top of the $67 regular fee) to expedite the processing. I reluctantly paid the avoidable fees that made up almost 50% of the total cost.

I sent in my passport application with Costco passport photos ($5.99 for 2) and my expiring passport and received a new passport 7 business days later which was much faster than the 2-3 weeks they estimated. It was certainly much better than the regular 4-6 weeks (though their site says 10-12 weeks is currently the norm) which would have cut it way too close for my trip. Plus, visa applications after that take time, too.

My shiny new passport has a computer chip with my information embedded in it since it’s one of the new electronic passports. More tech commentary on that. A little freaky, but what can I do? Stay at home or go out and see the world? I decided I’d take my chances.