I put off renewing my passport because I didn’t want to admit that I needed to do it. Because that would mean admitting that I am fairly certain I accidentally threw my passport in the garbage bin here at home sometime last fall. I then spent several months in denial about this, ignoring all the warnings to renew before the new passport rules went into effect, blah, blah, blah.
About two weeks ago I was suddenly overwhelmed with this claustrophobic I-can’t-take-a-spontaneous-trip-if-I-want-to feeling, so I finally got going to the post office, where I waited two hours to file my paperwork. It was Saturday, March 24. I paid the extra expedited fee because they said normal service was taking 10 weeks and expedited only 8 weeks. I wanted to have my passport by June 1 at the latest, so I forked over the extra $60 thinking I might get lucky and have it show up around mid-May.
Nope. It actually showed up TODAY — only NINE DAYS after I submitted my application. And the issue date on the passport is March 29. It arrived Priority Mail from a service center in Charleston, SC.
Now, I’m not sure if the fact that the passport I lost in 2006 was fairly new itself (issued in 2005). Would that somehow speed up the process for me? Regardless, I am an impressed and satisfied customer, considering all the news of lengthy turn-around times. I spent about $170 (including photo, application fee and shipping), but since I can board a plane tomorrow if I want, I say it was well worth the extra bucks in exchange for freedom to depart at anytime.
And in fact, news out tonight confirms that the State Department has been burning the midnight oil to keep travelers moving. Regular service still takes ten weeks but expedited is definitely down to two. I’m certainly thankful to those government employees working round the clock.