BootsnAll Travel Community

It's 5:30 pm, the day before you are scheduled leave for that big trip you've been planning for months. The vacation has just been sitting there in front of you for weeks and weeks like a carrot on a stick, and it's finally right around the corner. You, your boyfriend/girlfriend, and some of your best friends are all so pumped at the thought of taking some time away from the real world, and having a fantastic time on a different continent. So you do a last minute check to make sure all your things are packed in their right place. Done. Do I have my tickets? Check. Passport? Check. You flip it open to see how silly you looked a couple of years ago, and your eyes drift to the bottom right-hand corner of the little booklet. Stomach drops. Why does the passport say that it expired 3 months ago? Panic sets in. You assume that there is no possible way to get a passport in time for your 9 pm flight TOMORROW...


If you ever find yourself in this horrifying situation, you should know that there is something you can do about it.

First, some very important information for young travellers in the US. If you got your passport before you turned 16, you should know that it is only valid for 5 years. Unlike passports received after turning 16, which last a good long 10 years. This is what happened to me. I thought that my passport was a 10 year passport, like everybody else's that I knew.

Hopefully, you will check this information long before the day before your flight leaves the country... but if you haven't, what you need to do is get an appointment at a US Passport Agency. They are located in major cities in the US. Go HERE as a jumping-off point for the information you will need during your appointment, and for links to the US Passport Agency nearest to you. You will have to call an automated secretary to get an appointment. If you get an appointment before noon or 1 pm, and you have proof that you are leaving the country within the next 7 days, YOU WILL GET A PASSPORT THAT DAY. If you need a passport within the next 14 days, they might have you come back to pick it up, so that the REAL slackers have priority.

The expedited renewal fee is pretty hefty, at $145, but it will most likely be taken out of your travel budget if you are in this emergency situation, and you will just have to be a little more frugal on the trip.

I managed to get a 10:30 appointment in Philly for the following morning (10 1/2 hours before my flight was scheduled to depart). So I started driving at 7 am. Once I arrived, I realized that I wasn't the only dumbass who made this mistake... there was a line out the door and the place was packed, I'm probably lucky that I even got an appointment in Philly. New York was completely booked up. I presented my case and my documentation, and 3 hours and a lovely lunch at Starbucks later, I was walking out of the Passport Agency with the most glorious little booklet of freedom in hand.

So, don't be stupid, check your passport expiration date even if you think it's fine. That is all. I hope this post will save some poor person from not being able to go on a trip.

Let's just say that my trip was 1,000 times better knowing that I almost didn't make it.

Happy Trails

Wow - that was close. It's also one of my big paranoia things. My passport is due to expire in November, but since it isn't six months away from my point of departure, I decided to renew it. Just in case.

Glad you made it!