Have Passport, Will Travel
Oct. 15th, 2022 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerMy new passport arrived in the mail today. My last one, quite well used (I had traveled overseas extensively years ago) expired in 2020. With the Coronavirus pandemic and all I let it lapse and then procrastinated renewing it. Finally I drew a line in the sand last month and pushed myself to submit the application for renewal.
Getting my new passport less than 4 weeks later, including time mailing the old one in and getting the new one mailed back, seems fast. But that's because I paid $60 extra for expedited service. Regular passport service comes with a disclaimer like, "We'll try to get it in 6 months. Maybe. We're really busy." So I paid more not to wait in limbo. Gotta love the government.
Where will I go first with my renewed passport? I don't know. I don't have any specific travel plans right now. I rushed the renewal mostly because I wanted to have a valid passport to renew my Global Entry pass,which expires at the end of this year. Global Entry is valuable even without travel abroad because it includes TSA PreCheck— which I enjoy the benefits of on every trip that involves flying from a US airport. That's been 20 one-way trips in the past 7 months, with at least 6 more in the next 2 months. I definitely don't want to let that lapse next year... and again the government's already like, "Processing time could be 6 months or longer due to high demand." 🙄
Getting my new passport less than 4 weeks later, including time mailing the old one in and getting the new one mailed back, seems fast. But that's because I paid $60 extra for expedited service. Regular passport service comes with a disclaimer like, "We'll try to get it in 6 months. Maybe. We're really busy." So I paid more not to wait in limbo. Gotta love the government.
Where will I go first with my renewed passport? I don't know. I don't have any specific travel plans right now. I rushed the renewal mostly because I wanted to have a valid passport to renew my Global Entry pass,which expires at the end of this year. Global Entry is valuable even without travel abroad because it includes TSA PreCheck— which I enjoy the benefits of on every trip that involves flying from a US airport. That's been 20 one-way trips in the past 7 months, with at least 6 more in the next 2 months. I definitely don't want to let that lapse next year... and again the government's already like, "Processing time could be 6 months or longer due to high demand." 🙄
