Turn In Your Passport Application To Win a Free Trip to Chile - Expedited Passports

Do you love wine and travel? If so, here’s a travel contest that’s tailor-made for you: The Wines of Chile Experience. (Via Gadling.)

If you win, you’ll get two free flights to Chile (one for you, one for a guest), as well as five nights of accommodations at a boutique hotel or winery, food and drink, activities and transportation within Chile. The total value of the prize package is “not to exceed $15,000,” so there should be enough of a budget for you to really enjoy yourself!

To enter, you’ll need to visit the “Wines of Chile” Facebook page. The page lists 5 themes: For the Love of Chile; Wine and Stars; Horses and Huasos; Harvest Holiday and Urban Wine Retreat. Upload 5 of your own original photographs, one for each theme. The deadline is November 4th, and on November 5th, the company will select 5 finalists. The finalist whose photos get the most votes from other fans, wins.

If you win, you’ll need to be ready to travel between January 1st and April 30th, 2012. One big step will be turning in your passport application. Don’t wait until the last minute to do this; it takes at least six weeks to process a unexpedited application. With the Department of State’s expedited service, you’ll pay an additional $60 fee but your passport application will still take three weeks to process. The Contest Rules note that

“The Winning Participant and his/her travel companion are responsible for obtaining all necessary documentation (including, but not limited to, valid passport, photo ID, visas, etc.) prior to travel.”

So, if you procrastinate, you might miss out on the trip of a lifetime.

If you are about to leave the country and need to have your passport application processed quickly, don’t despair. You can either travel to one of 24 regional passport agency offices, or use a private expediting company like RushMyPassport. We’ll personally bring your application to the Department of State, so it gets processed in as little as 24 hours!

Put your passport application on the top of the stack- Contact us today!

Japan has come to depend on its tourist industry, but after the earthquake/tsunami one-two punch that leveled parts of the coast and damaged the Fukushima nuclear reactor, the number of foreign visitors dropped by 50-60 percent (via NileGuidance). Since then, the Japanese travel industry has come up with several promotions aimed at combating the negative perception of the country that still lingers even today. For example, in July, a group of Japanese resorts held a contest to send one lucky travel blogger on a tour of the country for free.

Now, the Japan Tourism Agency is seriously considering expanding that idea in a big way, by giving 10,000 foreign tourists free flights into Japan. According to the Daily Mail, the initiative still needs to be approved and funded by the Japanese government. However, as long as the approval process goes smoothly, the program should be up and running by next April.

To get one of the free flights, you will need to fill out an application. Since Japan hopes to use this promotion to create positive word-of-mouth, it is likely that they will consider factors like how well you can write, whether or not you already have a blog and the size of your online audience. Winners will still have to pay for their own accommodations, food, and activities, as well as for transportation within Japan.

Agency spokeswoman Kylie Clark explained to the Daily Mail how Japan hopes to use the free flights to reinvigorate its tourist industry:

“When people visit Japan they fall in love with it. So rather than spend millions on a big advertising campaign, we hope to be able to give away free flights so people can go and experience Japan for themselves and then tell their family, friends and colleagues what a fantastic destination it is for a holiday.”

Of course, to visit Japan you will need a US passport. Applying well in advance is essential here, as processing time ranges from three weeks for the Department of State’s expedited processing to six weeks for normal processing. Should you need it more quickly, you can make an appointment at one of the 24 regional passport agency offices sprinkled throughout the US. Or, you can go the easier route and use a private expediting company like RushMyPassport to deliver your US passport application to the Department of State, for processing in as little as 24 hours.

Need a US passport quickly? Apply with us today!

Want to do something really special for Halloween this year? Now that popular reality shows follow “paranormal investigators” around, ghost-hunting is all the rage, but do you really want to spend your Halloween shivering in an abandoned building in the hopes that something will materialize?

Stay at one of these reputedly haunted hotels, and you can enjoy your creature comforts while you try to catch a glimpse of supernatural visitors. Just remember: you can check in, but you may never check out…

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, Alberta, Canada

It may be located in Canada, but according to its website, the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel is “styled after a Scottish Baronial Castle.” And of course, all the best Scottish Baronial Castles have one thing in common: ghosts!

In the case of the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel, the resident ghost is said to be Sam the Bellman, a preternaturally dedicated employee who died a few years after he retired in 1967, and has since been spotted roaming the grounds, still in uniform.

Samudra Beach Hotel, Indonesia

The fishing village of Palabuhanratu is a great place to surf…as long as your swimsuit isn’t green. Supposedly, that’s the favorite color of the local ghost, Nyai Loro Kidul. Called the “Queen of the South Sea,” she is said to be the spirit of an Indonesian princess afflicted with leprosy who threw herself into the sea. Now, she haunts the coast in mermaid form as a sort of ocean goddess. Go near the sea wearing green, and she’ll pull you under. One of the rooms in this hotel is reserved for her.

Castle Stuart, Scotland

Built in the 17th century, Castle Stuart has had a long time to collect restless spirits. The luxury hotel honors the clans that died at the battle of Culloden, with rooms named after them and decorated in their clan tartans. Perhaps some of these ancient warriors are still stalking the grounds? According to the hotel website, a local man named “Big Angus” spent the night in the hotel’s most haunted bedroom on a bet, determined to prove there were no ghosts. That never ends well, and unfortunately for Big Angus, they found him dead on the ground below the next morning.

Dragsholm Castle, Denmark

Today, Dragsholm Castle is a hotel and restaurant. However, for James Hepburn, the 4th Earl of Bothwell, it was the worst of prisons. The former husband of Mary Queen of Scots, Bothwell was driven away from his wife by nobles who opposed him and the marriage. He spent the last 5 to 10 years of his life chained in the dungeon here, and if some stories are to be believed, even death offered no escape for him.

If you want to spend Halloween at any of these hotels, you’ll need to expedite your passport if you don’t already have one. Normally, it takes at least six weeks for a passport to be issued unless you pay a $60 expedite fee to the Department of State. Even then, it takes three weeks, by which time Halloween will have come and gone. To get your passport in time, you’ll need to either make an appointment at one of 24 regional passport agencies in the US or use a private company like RushMyPassport. There’s nothing supernatural about our service: we simply hand-deliver your application to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours, with no appointments, lines or waiting.

Let us help you expedite your passport today!

Winter is traditionally low season in Iceland, but the “Inspired by Iceland”  campaign aims to fix that. To entice more tourists to visit Iceland during the cold winter months, the campaign encourages Icelanders to open up their homes to tourists eager to have locals show them around the country.  It has received support from no less a public figure than Iceland’s prime minister,  Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who posted a video on the Inspired by Iceland website encouraging others to take part. In the video, Prime Minister Grimsson says,

“Now at the beginning of winter, we traditionally see fewer tourists in Iceland. This is a development we want to change…Me and my wife Dorrit will also take part here at our residence at Bessastadir, invite a good group to come here for traditional Icelandic pancakes. Dorrit also wants to treat them to vegetables we grow in greenhouses…Then we will take a scenic walk around here and see the birdlife and the majestic views.”

Pancakes and a nature walk…that’s my idea of a good time. You’re on!

Visiting the Inspired by Iceland website, it appears that a fair number of Icelanders have decided to follow the Prime Minister’s example. Musicians Mugison and Sigga would love to entertain you with traditional Icelandic music, while Ragnar would be delighted to take you on a traditional Icelandic ice cream car ride. Very hardy souls can arrange to go sea swimming with Benedikt, who promises that afterwards “you will feel like a new person.” Meanwhile, another gentleman named Ragnar will teach you how to take breathtaking photographs of the Northern Lights.

Sounds tempting, no? If you want to head to Iceland this winter, you’ll need to get a passport. Apply as soon as possible, since regular processing can take up to six weeks. The State Department’s expedited processing option will get your passport to you in about three weeks, though you’ll pay an additional $60 for the privilege.

Should you find a last-minute deal that’s good to pass up, don’t despair. There are a couple of ways you can get your passport more quickly. One is to make an appointment at a regional passport agency office. These offices can issue emergency passports within 24 hours, though there are only 24 of them to serve the entire country.  An easier option is to use a private passport expediter like RushMyPassport. We deliver your application to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours, with no need to make an appointment, wait in line or travel any further afield than your local post office.

Need to get your passport quickly? Let us help!

At first, it seemed like an inspirational Hallmark story, the type of thing that restores your faith in humanity. A British couple, Jeremy and Sally Weaving, lost a bag at the airport containing valuables like money, a digital camera and Mr. Weaving’s passport. They despaired of finding it again, only to wake up one morning to see a package on their doorstep containing the missing bag. In an interview with the Daily Echo, Mrs. Weaving described how delighted they were to see the bag returned:

“When we realised the bag was missing my husband drove straight back to the airport in the hope that it had been handed in but to no avail. To make matters worse he was due to go to France three days later to take part in a 600-mile charity bike ride…You can imagine our surprise when a large parcel arrived at our house.”

Unfortunately, the golden moment was quickly tarnished when the couple opened the bag.

A 2001 study by Reader’s Digest showed that about 67% percent of those who encounter a lost wallet will return it to its owner, along with the cash inside. The woman who returned the Weaving’s bag, however, must have been in the other 33%. The money was there, true, and so was Mr. Weaving’s passport. However, the woman claimed the couple’s digital camera for herself, writing “I am sure your gratitude will extend to let me keep the camera (I never did replace mine) as a reward.”

Even more cheekily, she had the nerve to tell the couple that they should consider it a “travel expense.” She signed the letter “A Good Samaritan, but not that good.”

Unfortunately for the “Not-So-Good Samaritan,” she may get more than she bargained for. The police are treating the case as a theft.

Should you happen to suffer from a lost passport, this story is an important reminder that you shouldn’t depend too heavily on the kindness of strangers. Look for it, give it a short period of time to reappear, and then call the National Passport Center at 1-877-487-2778 to report the lost passport so that nobody else can use it.

For instructions on how to get another valid passport, see How to Replace a Lost Passport.

Regular passport processing takes about six weeks, and even expedited service can take three weeks door-to-door. If you need your new passport sooner, you have two options: Make an appointment at one of 24 regional passport agency offices run by the Department of State, or use a private company like RushMyPassport for passport processing in as little as 24 hours with no appointment necessary.

Contact us today to get your lost passport replaced as quickly and simply as possible!

After you apply for your new passport, all that’s left is the waiting. If you requested regular service, that’s about six weeks of checking the mail obsessively for an envelope from the State Department.

Passports are sent back via regular mail with a tracking number, but you don’t have to sign for it. So, if you’re not home when it’s delivered, there’s usually not a problem…unless, of course, someone goes through your mailbox.

That’s what Snehlata Oberoi of San Francisco believes happened to her brand-new passport. Ms. Oberoi recently became a US citizen, and one of the first things she did was to apply for a US passport. Unfortunately, Ms. Oberoi told her local ABC affiliate, it never arrived. When she checked with the State Department, though, they told her it had been delivered and gave her a tracking number.

She said:

“So I looked up the tracking number online; it said your item was delivered at 11:15 on June 17 in San Francisco…I just want to know where my passport is, who is in possession of my passport, it’s like identity theft.”

Concerned that her stolen passport could be used for fraud by someone looking to use her identity for their own nefarious purposes, Ms. Oberoi would like to propose a solution to the Department of State:

“It’s a very secure document that needs to be sent in a secure fashion; it should always be sent with signature required on delivery,” she said.

But should it? In a response to the local ABC station Ms. Oberoi went to for help, the department noted that “generally, the Office of Passport Services does not require signatures for the delivery of passports, and millions of passports are delivered every year without incident.” Read the rest of this entry »

At the moment, you only need a passport if you’re leaving the country.  But in this age of increased security, will you ever need a passport to board a domestic flight?

Eventually, yes. There is a possibility that you could need a passport to board  a domestic flight if you live in some states. That’s because in 2005, the government passed the REAL ID Act, which created new standards that states were required to apply to their driver’s license and state ID programs in order for those IDs to be accepted for certain purposes. A gold star on the license indicates that it meets the REAL ID qualifications.

Many states acted quickly to  introduce the new requirements, but there were also some holdouts. For example, Alabama and Connecticut just announced that while they would introduce “gold star” licenses that conform to REAL ID standards, they would also continue to issue regular, non-compliant IDs as well.

Eventually, if you live in a state that offers regular IDs and “gold star” licenses, you’ll need a passport to get on even a domestic flight if you select the regular license. This requirement will start in 2014 if you were born after December 1st, 1964, and in 2017 if you were born before that date.

Assuming the law actually goes into effect as planned, that is. A lot can happen between now and 2014, and the ACLU’s David McGuire told the Connecticut Mirror that he is skeptical it will ever be implemented:

 ”There really is no need to jump through the hoops and get the verified license. There is virtually no chance that ‘Real ID’ will ever be implemented, or you won’t be able to fly without a verified license or enter a federal building.”

Nothing’s certain, at this point, but if you live in a state that’s not issuing REAL IDs exclusively, you should keep an eye on the situation in the years to come and take it into consideration when it’s time to renew your license.

In the meantime, if you need a passport for an international flight, make sure to apply well in advance of your travel dates. You’ll need at least six weeks if you apply with regular processing, and at least three weeks if you apply for the Department of State’s expedited processing.

For faster processing, you have two options: make an appointment and possibly travel to one of the State Department’s 24 regional passport agency offices or use a private expediting company like RushMyPassport. We hand-deliver your application to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours.

Need a passport fast? Contact us today!

Lost passports are a perennial hazard for the teams of contestants on “The Amazing Race,” now in its tenth year of production. This time around, a passport mishap almost ended one team’s race before it could even begin.

Kaylani Paliotta and her teammate Lisa Tilley stopped at a gas station en route to Los Angeles International Airport. Unfortunately, Kaylani’s passport didn’t make it out of the gas station.  The film crew, who saw the dropped passport, were unable to intervene- except to call the show’s producers to tell them that the team was toast.

Host Phil Keoghan told the New York Times that “We were planning on eliminating this particular team, because there was no way they were going to travel.”

The duo’s race was saved, however, by an unlikely hero named Ryan Storm. Mr. Storm, a techie with an active Twitter account, saw Kaylani drop her passport and tweeted about it:

“So #Thelife gets crazier. So after being randomly filmed for ‘The Amazing Race,’ I see that one of them dropped there [sic] passport!!!”

His tweet was seen by another Twitter user, someone with a passion for “The Amazing Race” (and perhaps a bit too much time on his or her hands) who was monitoring the social network for mentions of the show. This person urged Mr. Storm to take the passport to the airport ASAP.

How could he say no? As he wrote to the New York Times, “Her dream was going to die right now if I didn’t get her this passport.”

With Kaylani’s lost passport returned, the elimination ceremony was called off and the two women were able to continue the race.

What would have happened if Mr. Storm hadn’t made it to the airport? While it would have been heartbreaking to see them shut out of the race that early, it was understandable that they were slated for elimination given the fact that lost passports take time to replace. Standard processing can take a whole six weeks, while expedited processing can take three.

Faster service is available, with twenty-four hour processing available by appointment only at one of the State Department’s 24 regional passport agency offices or without an appointment through a private expediter like RushMyPassport.com. Unfortunately, when it comes to The Amazing Race, even 24 hour processing is too slow.

Need help replacing a lost passport quickly? Contact us today!

After 10 years, your passport probably feels like an old friend. Unfortunately, after a decade of accompanying you all over the world, it’s time for your old friend to retire. Applying for a passport renewal in a timely fashion will keep you footloose and fancy free, ready to jet off somewhere exotic at a moment’s notice. Here’s what you need to know to make the passport renewal process go as smoothly as possible.

When to Apply 

You might be tempted to try to milk your current passport for as long as possible, but don’t. The Department of State recommends that you apply for your passport renewal nine months before it expires. This isn’t an attempt to squeeze extra money out of you-many countries actually require that your passport be valid for a full six months or they’ll deny you entry, even if you don’t plan to stay in the country that long.

Where to Apply 

The good news about applying for a passport renewal is that in many cases you can apply by mail. You are eligible to simply mail in your application if all of the following statements are true:

• You still have your current passport in your possession, and it hasn’t been damaged (normal wear and tear is generally okay.)
• Your passport was issued no more than 15 years ago, and it was issued after your 16th birthday.
• If you’ve changed your name since it was issued, you have legal documents like a marriage certificate or divorce decree to support that request.

If any of the statements above don’t apply to you, you need to apply in person, just like the first time. See How to Apply for a New Passport for details.

Required Documents and Fees 

If you are eligible to apply by mail, all you’ll need is a completed copy of passport renewal form DS-82 along with your current passport, one new passport photo and name change documents, if applicable.  Send these in to the address on the form, along with $110 for the passport renewal fees. Add an additional $30 if you would like a wallet-sized passport card in addition to your passport book, and another $60 if you need expedited processing.

Processing Time 

If you applied for regular processing, you may have to wait 6 weeks or longer to get your passport. For expedited processing, you should allow 3 weeks. If you need your passport sooner than that, you have two options. The first is to make an appointment at one of the country’s 24 regional passport agencies. The second is to use a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport to expedite your application, no appointment or additional travel needed. We personally deliver your paperwork to the Department of State, for processing in as little as 24 hours!

Apply for your passport renewal today!

Germany’s Oktoberfest is going on even as we speak- millions of people from all over the world gathering together to celebrate their love for a cold, frosty brew. Sounds great, doesn’t it? If you feel like you’re in your element in the midst of a large crowd of very drunk people, sure. However, as Matador Travel’s Karyn Johnson discovered, the reality of Oktoberfest is often far less glamorous and far more vomit-filled than the hype. She says:

“This is great if you love meeting people from all over the world, but if you’re looking to mingle with Germans while experiencing a bit of the local culture, you might want to look at any of the smaller Oktoberfest celebrations going on throughout Deutschland. They’re every bit as festive and the beer flows just as much, but they’re less tourist-clogged.”

So, where are these smaller, saner Oktoberfest alternatives? Everywhere, really, but here are some of the most notable:

Cannstatter Volksfest

Canstatter Volksfest lasts three weeks, from late September to early October. Held in Stuttgart, Germany, the festival has much more to offer than beer: carnival rides. local foods, and games beckon as well. The Cannstatter Volksfest was originally an agricultural festival and was founded by the “farmer king,” King Wilhelm I, in 1818, but very little of the original “4-H” vibe remains.

Hamburger Dom Winter Festival

The Hamburger Dom Winter Festival celebrates more than just beer. It attracts locals and tourists alike to the city of Hamburg with carnival rides, games and more. This year’s Winter Dom takes place on the weekend of November 11.

“Auer Dult” Festival

Held in Munich, the Auer Dult is like Oktoberfest’s quieter, more laid-back sibling. A combination of a street market and a carnival, it features beer tents along with carnival rides and the largest ceramics market in Europe. This year, it takes place from October 15th to October 23.

Oktoberfest Hanover

The Oktoberfest in Hanover is the second-largest Oktoberfest in the world. Still, with “only” a million attendees, it’s much more manageable than Munich.

Kulmbacher Beer

Located in northern Bavaria, this beer festival takes place in August, so you’re out of luck this year. It might be worth marking on your calendar for next year, though- the brew is supposed to be a secret traditional recipe served nowhere else and at no other time!

If you’d like to attend a fall beer festival in Europe this year, you’ll need to expedite your passport. Regular processing takes at least six weeks, so it’s really too late for that. If you expedite your passport application via the Department of State, you’re still looking at around three weeks before you’ll have your passport in hand. For faster service, you’ll need to make an appointment at one of the country’s 24 regional passport agency offices, or use a private expediting company like RushMyPasssport for convenient processing in as little as 24 hours.

Expedite your passport with us today!