Get Your US Passport Renewal to Travel Along Germany’s Fairy Tale Road - Expedited Passports

Every child knows the stories of Hansel and Gretel, Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood. If you’ve already done Disney, you might consider getting a US passport renewal, grabbing your kids, and heading to Germany to drive down the Fairy Tale Road to take them to the scene of these enchanting stories.

The New York Times just ran a feature on the  Fairy Tale road, which connects the real, historical homes of the Brothers Grimm with sites that fit the descriptions of the settings of classic fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel and Little Red Riding Hood.For example, the Dornröschenschloss Sababurg is an old castle near where Kassel, where the brothers Grimm collected many of their fairy tales. When the brothers were alive, the castle was deserted and surrounded by masses of briars and wild roses, just like in Sleeping Beauty. Nowadays, of course, there’s the obligatory museum with a gift shop where you can treat your own little princess to a souvenir.

Then there’s Rotkäppchenland, which roughly translates to “Little Red Cap” land in English.   Long ago, the people inhabiting this valley wore clothes that indicated their ages and social position.  Little girls wore red caps-hence, “Little Red Riding Hood.”

In addition to the New York Times article referenced above, Weather.com also has an excellent guide to the Fairy Tale Road that can help you plan your trip.  But if you want your trip to have a happy ending, check the expiration date on your passport, and make sure to apply for a US passport renewal well in advance if necessary!

It takes about 6 weeks to get your passport renewed if you apply with normal processing, and about 3 weeks if you request the government’s expedited service. Also, don’t forget that your kids need passports too, no matter how little they are.

If you’re about to leave the country and looking for a fairy godmother to get you your passport on time, don’t despair! You can either make an appointment at a regional passport agency office or use a private passport expediting service like RushMyPassport.com. An expediting service is much faster and more convenient-there’s no need to make an appointment at a passport agency or wait in line. The expediting agency delivers your documents directly to the Department of State for you, for processing times as low as 24 hours. It’s like magic!

Apply for your US passport renewal today!

If you’re going on a cruise, you’ll have a much better time if you have everything you need with you when you get on the boat. It can be tough to remember everything you need to pack. This packing list will help you get started:

• Clothes: Mostly light, summer stuff, but also include some comfortable warmer clothes as well. Additionally, most cruise ships don’t allow jeans and T-shirts in the dining cabin for dinner, so bring appropriate clothing for that. Bring at least one (preferably 2) formal outfits for the formal dinner nights.
• Sunscreen: SPF 15 or higher
• Aloe vera or other sunburn treatment
• Sunglasses
• Personal care necessities, like your toothbrush, hairbrush and toiletries.
• Swimwear
• Medical insurance information
• Travel insurance information, if applicable
• Tickets and other documentation related to the cruise
• Airline ticket information and hotel confirmations, if applicable
• Your camera
• Basic medical stuff, like ibuprofen or acetaminophen, band-aids, antibiotic ointment, antacids and anti-diarrheal medication
• Dramamine or other medication for motion sickness
• Insect repellant
• Money belt or pouch to keep your money protected during shore excursions
• Stuff to read and/or listen to

If you’ll be leaving the country on your cruise, there’s one item that should be on the top of your list: Your US passport. Passports are required unless you are traveling to Mexico, the Caribbean or Canada on a closed-loop cruise, one that begins and ends at the same US port. For a closed-loop cruise to one of these regions, you can get by with a driver’s license and a birth certificate (or other form of US citizenship.)

However, even for closed-loop cruises, it’s still a good idea to bring your US passport with you.  You need a passport to fly anywhere outside of the US, so having your passport with you will make it much easier to get home in a hurry if you have an emergency of some sort. Also, if you don’t make it back to the boat on time during a shore excursion, if you have your passport you can fly to the next port and catch up with it. Finally, some cruise lines may require you to bring a passport even for closed-loop cruises, so call and ask if you have any questions.

If you need a US passport in a hurry, we can help. RushMyPassport can deliver your application directly to the Department of State, for processing times as fast as 24 hours!

Apply for your US passport today!

Can you imagine spending $5000 for a passport renewal? A New Zealand man recently did just that, after he discovered at the last minute that he would need his passport replaced to attend the World Cup in South Africa. According to the New Zealand Herald, Dave Barrett was about to board a plane to fly from Auckland to Johannesburg when officials noticed he didn’t have any clean pages in the back of his passport book. So, they told him he couldn’t board the flight.

Apparently, if you are a British citizen living in New Zealand, getting a passport renewal is a long process. Mr. Barrett was told that he would have to wait at least a month for a new passport, by which time the games would be over. So, he decided to fly from New Zealand to England to get a same-day passport renewal, and then fly to South Africa.

He told the New Zealand Herald:

“I thought about going to Hong Kong, but in the end I decided that the best thing to do was to cancel my original flight and go to London for a new passport…It was a long and expensive trip, yes. The new ticket cost me the equivalent of $5000, but I had no option,” he said.

Fortunately, he was able to get his passport renewed in London to attend the World Cup. Although I personally can’t imagine paying an extra 5 grand for the privilege of hearing those obnoxious vuvuzela horns in person, I’m glad Mr. Barrett’s story has a happy ending.

Fortunately, Americans don’t have to get a passport renewal when they run out of pages. As long as your passport is valid, you can simply add pages to the back. If you’re overseas, you can stop by a US Embassy or consulate. If you’re in the US, you’ll have to send it off- see “How to Get New Pages For Your Passport” for details.

If you need it in a hurry, you can either make an appointment at a Regional Passport Agency office or use a private passport expediting service, neither of which will cost you $5,000. In fact, RushMyPassport will personally deliver your application for extra pages to the Department of State for processing times as low as 24 hours.

Add pages to your passport today!

The government of Scotland is preparing to make a formal request to the British government: hand over William Wallace’s passport.  William Wallace, the Scottish hero who inspired the movie Braveheart, may have had the passport with him when he was arrested by the English. The English never gave it back, instead storing it in their National Archives.

The Times Online quotes Scottish official Christine Grahame explaining why the passport should be returned:

“This is a very significant historical document related to [one of] Scotland’s most iconic and lasting national heroes. There are very few artefacts in existence which are believed to have been handled directly by Wallace and the return of his Safe Conduct would be an important step in better understanding this period. It is entirely inappropriate that it should languish, forgotten in some closed drawer in Surrey and I urge the UK National Archive to pass it to the National Museum of Scotland where it can be properly displayed.”

Naturally, William Wallace’s passport looked nothing like the familiar passport books you see today. In fact, in those days a passport was actually a letter written by a head of state, granting “Safe Conduct” to the bearer. Wallace’s letter was written by King Philip IV of France, granting Wallace safe conduct to travel to Rome where he hope to gain the support of the Pope.

A copy of the letter, as well as a translation, is viewable online here.

Fortunately, today you don’t have to petition a head of state directly for your passport. However, applying for one can still be a difficult and time-consuming process. RushMyPassport can help. We provide you with professional assistance and handy checklists that make filling out the forms a snap and reduce the chance of mistakes that could hold up your application. Then, we hand-deliver your application to the Department of State, cutting processing time down to as little as 24 hours.

Apply for your passport today!

In some countries, getting a passport is almost second nature.  Not here, though. According to this recent post on The Expeditioner.com, only 22% Americans have a passport. That’s less than a quarter of the population! For a little perspective,  compare that rate to our neighbors in Canada. According to Wikipedia, 56.2% of Canadians have a Canadian passport.

Why is it so different here? The Expeditioner lays out a couple of possible reasons, both of which I basically agree with:

• Money: Most families don’t have enough extra lying around right now for a passport, much less all of the other expenses associated with international travel. Getting a passport for a family of 4 is no joke, financially speaking, and the US Department of State’s proposed passport fee increases certainly aren’t going to help matters.
• Culture: Traveling abroad isn’t as much a part of the culture here as it is in, say, Europe for example. The Expeditioner attributes this to Europe’s history of colonizing other parts of the world, while America pretty much kept to itself. I think you could also argue that America’s size plays a part-you can do and see a lot without leaving the US, and unless you live next to Canada and Mexico, it’s not as easy to visit another country as it is in Europe.

Here’s another factor I think the Expeditioner might have left out:

• Paperwork: Getting a passport requires dealing with paperwork, forms and bureaucrats, all of which Americans are historically impatient with.

In fact, if you have a deadline coming up and you need your passport quickly, the paperwork and time involved can go from intimidating to downright terrifying. Did I fill out this form correctly? Is there anything that could hold up my application?

In times like these, you may want to consider using a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport.com. When you apply through us, you get helpful instructions and checklists to make sure that nothing is missed, and you get the assistance of a private passport specialist who can answer any questions you may have.  Then, we deliver your application directly to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours.

Apply today to see how easy getting a passport can be!

In 2008, the US Department of State introduced a new passport option: the US passport card.  The wallet-sized card was meant to make international travel to Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean more convenient and less expensive. Passport cards are the same size and shape as a driver’s license, and they cost much less-only $45 for a card compared to $100 for a passport book.

Passport cards are gradually becoming more and more popular, but as Las Vegas’ Fox 5 News reports, there is still a lot of confusion about what type of travel they can actually be used for, and that means people are missing their vacations.

You see, passport cards may be much cheaper than a regular passport, but they are much more limited in terms of where and when you can use them. They are ONLY valid for land or sea travel to Mexico, Canada, or the Caribbean. They aren’t valid for travel to any other countries. Equally important, they can’t be used for air travel at all. So, even if you are flying to Mexico, Canada or the Caribbean, you need a passport book, not a passport card. If you show up at the airport with a passport card, they won’t let you on the plane. That’s exactly what happened to Wendy and Jason Baxter, as described by Fox 5 News:

“You have to have a passport book,” the agent told the family.Last year, when Wendy and Jason Baxter ordered new passports, they were told they could order the passcards to fly to Canada instead of the more expensive passport, they said.“We asked what the difference was” between the two, Wendy Baxter said. Baxter said they were told passports were needed to fly overseas, while the passcard would get them into Mexico and Canada.“(You) get everything packed, everything’s done, (and) you get to the airport … and they say, ‘You can’t go,’” Wendy Baxter said.

Did passport card confusion catch you by surprise? If you need a new passport in a hurry, you have 3 different options: order a new passport with expedited processing, which costs an additional $60 and will get your application processed in 3 weeks instead of the normal 6, make an appointment at a passport agency office, or use a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport.

Of these options, an expediting company is the most convenient way to get superfast service. At RushMyPassport, we walk you through the application process and hand-deliver your application to the Department of State, resulting in processing times as low as 24 hours.

Apply for your new passport today!

Soon, El Paso residents who wish to apply for a passport will no longer be able to use the El Paso county passport office. The office, which accepted applications for regular and expedited processing, is located inside the El Paso County District Clerk’s office at 500 E. San Antonio.

County District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez announced the planned closure on Monday.  He blamed it on budget cuts and an “unsupportive” commissioner’s court, though the office was making money and the commissioners’ court is sorry to see it go.

Sanchez told the local Fox 14 station that he was closing the office because “It’s a non-mandated function. My position here is to service the courts. Commissioner (Veronica) Escobar has said why don’t they go to the post office…The people of El Paso had two years to get their passport. The post office is still open and they can get it by other means.”

The passport office will be closing next month unless something changes.  But if you’re in El Paso, don’t worry…there are actually multiple post offices throughout the city that will be happy to accept your passport application.  Visit the Department of State’s website for a list of passport offices in El Paso.

Like the office in the County District Clerk’s office, these passport offices are all passport acceptance facilities, which means they can only take applications for regular processing, which can take 6 weeks or more, or the government’s expedited processing, which can take 3 weeks.

If you need your passport more quickly, you’ll have to make an appointment at a different type of passport office, called a Regional Passport Agency office. These offices can issue same-day passports, but the nearest one is in Tucson, Arizona.

If you don’t want to go that far out of your way or you just don’t want to go through the hassle of making an appointment, a private expediting company like RushMyPassport.com may be a better fit for you.  With an expediting company, you can just go to the post office as usual and have them “seal” your documents. Then, send them to the expediting company and the expediting company will hand-deliver them to the Department of State, for processing times as low as 24 hours.

Apply for your expedited passport today!

Travel writers are professional travelers, but that doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes like the rest of us.  Seth Kugel, the new Frugal Traveler columnist for the New York Times, saw his new gig get off to a rough start due to one of the most common travel mishaps: a lost passport.

He described his ordeal in yesterday’s New York Times:

Yep, last week, as I prepared for my grand debut in the frugal spotlight, I realized my passport had disappeared from my São Paulo apartment. Of course, I looked everywhere – desk drawers, jacket pockets, under cushions, and eventually, methodically, in every square inch of every room, including inside my running shoes and (twice) in the shower. It was gone.

Think, Seth, think. When was the last time you had it? Passing through customs at São Paulo’s Guarulhos airport after a recent sleepless overnight flight … searching desperately for a restroom … putting it down on top of the paper towel dispenser … nooooooo!

Oops! Luckily for Mr. Kugel, someone had actually turned his lost passport in at the airport’s lost and found. Kind of restores your faith in humanity, doesn’t it?

Losing your passport right before a trip can be a blow to your self-esteem, but it shouldn’t be.  If it can happen to the Frugal Traveler, it can happen to anyone.

If you lose your passport overseas as Mr. Kugel did, you will need to apply for a replacement at the nearest American embassy or consulate. If you’re still in the States, you have a few different options for replacing your lost passport, depending on how quickly you need it.

The first option is to apply at a post office or other passport acceptance facility (see How to Replace a Lost Passport for details).  If you choose regular processing, you should have your new passport in your hands in about 6 weeks. If you pay an additional $60 plus overnight delivery fees, you’ll have it in about 3 weeks.

If you need it sooner than that, you have two options: use a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport.com, or make an appointment at a Regional Passport Agency office. Using an expediting company is well worth the extra cost for most people, as there is no need to make an appointment or wait around at the passport office.

Let us help you replace your lost passport quickly and easily, today!

Are you over Napa Valley? If you’d like to go on a wine tour somewhere new and different, why not give the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia a try?

As the New York Times reported, this wine-producing valley has grown up in the past couple of decades. Once the home of the type of cheap wine that college students tend to consume in quantity, the Okanagan Valley now produces a variety of wines capable of pleasing more mature palates.

One great thing about the region is its variety-you can taste everything from high-quality fruit wines to syrah to chardonnay and Pinot blanc. Another bonus is the scenery. The New York Times explains:

It’s the kind of environment that affects your taste buds: the best glasses I tasted seemed to have the same brimming clarity as the lake itself. And it’s smart to enjoy the wine in situ: between the bureaucracy of wine imports and the jingoistic fervor with which British Columbian wine is consumed in swank restaurants in Vancouver and Whistler, little of the stuff makes it down south of the border.

You can either fly in to Canada and rent a car or drive your own car up. Some of the vineyards have guesthouses, should you not want to designate a driver. If you are flying in to Canada, you will need a US passport book for sure. IF you are driving in, you can use a passport book or one of the following Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative-compliant documents:

• A US passport card
• An enhanced driver’s license (EDL), only available in certain states
• A NEXUS, SENTRI or FAST card

Of course, you need a passport book to fly and there’s always a chance you might have to fly back home for an emergency, so a passport book is your best bet.

If you haven’t used your passport in some time, check it-it may be time to apply for your US passport renewal. Unlike new applications, US passport renewals can generally be processed by mail. The processing time is the same as it would be for a new passport- at least 6 weeks for regular processing and 3 weeks for the government’s expedited processing.

However, if you need your US passport renewal processed more quickly, you do have a couple of options. You can either make an appointment at a passport office for a same-day passport (assuming you have a passport office nearby, which may not be the case), or you can use a private passport expediting company to process your US passport renewal.

An expediting company is much faster and more convenient. There’s no need to make an appointment at a passport office and no need to drive out of your way.  Once you send your documents in, the expediting company delivers them to the Department of State. RushMyPassport can get your application processed in as little as 24 hours.

Apply for your US passport renewal today!

Here’s a great reason to get an expedited passport this summer: Le Domaine de Lonvillies resort in St. Martin is offering a half-price discount for summer travelers. Gadling has the scoop on this travel deal:

You can pick up four nights at Le Domaine de Lonvillies for a mere $210 – the normal price is cut in half. As long as you head down there before August 31, 2010, you’ll pick up breakfast every day, free wi-fi and dinner every night a La Table du Marche.

Since the chef at the resort is the world-famous Christophe Leroy, dinner is worth staying in for.  Of course, guests of Le Domaine de Lonvillies also get to sample the Caribbean island’s many amenities, including lazing around on gorgeous beaches, drinking delicious guavaberry cocktails, and world-class shopping for cheap (but genuine) designer goods.

Note: the special offer Gadling mentions doesn’t appear on the website for the hotel itself, but appears to be available here on Bookit.com. Please give the hotel a call before booking if you have any questions!

The special ends on August 31, so if you don’t have your passport already, you should consider expedited passport processing.  If you are traveling by plane, you do need a passport book- the new wallet-sized passport cards won’t cut it for air travel.

Regular passport processing usually takes around 6 weeks. You can order expedited passport processing for an additional $60 plus overnight delivery costs, but that still takes 3 weeks or more. If you can’t wait 2-3 weeks for your passport to arrive, you can either make an appointment at a Regional Passport Agency office or use a private expediting company.

Companies like RushMyPassport.com make getting expedited passport processing much easier. There’s no need to make an appointment or wait in line at a passport office- we do all of that for you. By hand-delivering your passport to the Department of State, we cut processing time to as little as 24 hours!

Apply for your expedited passport today!