Frequent Travelers: Tip to Save Passport Pages and a Renewal Cost - Expedited Passports

Renewing your passport is expensive, but now that there’s a hefty new $82 fee for adding pages, it’s almost a better deal to just go ahead and apply for a US passport renewal. Plus, there are limits to how many pages you can get added to your passport before you have to get a new one.

If you’d prefer to put off the day of reckoning for as long as possible, here’s a tip courtesy of Gadling’s Grant Martin:

“One way to conserve space though is at immigration on the way back into the United States. For American citizens it’s not a requirement to have each and every inbound border crossing stamped. As a result, page-stingy travelers like myself can politely ask the homeland security officer to not leave any ink. Those few remaining spots can mean one or two last trips squeezed out before the dreaded trip back.”

Once you’ve run out of pages, though, you absolutely have to get more added or get a US passport renewal before you can travel. Some countries even require you to have more than one page available to accommodate their visas. Having not-quite-enough room in your passport can mean missing your flight while you get the situation rectified.

Whether you decide to add pages or to go all out and apply for a US passport renewal, it’s best to apply as far in advance as possible. The average processing time for either of these procedures is 6 weeks if you apply for regular processing and 3 weeks if you apply for the government’s expedited processing.

If you need your passport updated more quickly, you’ll either have to visit a US passport agency office or use a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport.

At RushMyPassport.com, whether you want to renew your passport or just want more pages added, we’ll personally deliver your paperwork to the Department of State for processing times as low as 24 hours. Even better, when you use our service there’s no need to make an appointment, travel to or wait in line at a US passport agency office.

Apply for your US passport renewal today!

Is your passport about to expire? Are you wondering if you should bother with the US passport renewal process, or just let it go for a while? The New York Times has a review of some new Caribbean resorts that just might motivate you to get down to the post office with your renewal application!

All of the resorts the Times reviews focus on immersing travelers in local culture and local experiences. My favorite resort out of the 5 mentioned in the article is the Hotel Chocolat on St. Lucia. The resort consists of private cottages located on a real, working cocoa plantation. Perks include gorgeous, lush Caribbean scenery and, of course, chocolate.

However, James Bond fans might prefer a stay at the newly renovated GoldenEye, the same Jamaican property where Ian Fleming wrote his famous spy novels. Now owned by Chris Blackwell of Island Records, the resort has 22 decked-out rooms, serves local fare and hosts a variety of fun fitness activities.

Of course, the only resort mentioned in the article that you can visit without a passport is the one in Puerto Rico. If you want to go anywhere else in the Caribbean, you’d best get your US passport renewal application in. A passport is required to travel between the US and the Caribbean by air. If you’re traveling by sea, you have a little bit more leeway and can use a passport book, a passport card, an enhanced driver’s license or a trusted traveler card. See Do You Need a Passport to Go to the Caribbean? for details.

RushMyPassport can help you get your US passport renewal processed quickly, much faster than the standard 6 week processing time or even the three weeks for the government’s expedited processing option. We’ll personally deliver your application to the Department of State for processing in as little as 24 hours.

Apply for your US passport renewal today!

When you run out of pages in your passport, you have to get more pages added or you won’t be allowed to travel. Usually, adding pages is no big deal-in fact, until just this summer, the government didn’t even charge for it. However, tech entrepreneur Sanjeev Midha had a passport so large, he had to get an early US passport renewal instead.

According to AOL.com, Midha’s passport had enough pages that it could almost qualify as a small novel: a full 96 pages of passport stamps! Once your passport gets that full, the State Department cannot continue to add pages to the back and will require you to get a new one instead. That’s what happened to Midha. After getting an early US passport renewal due to lack of space, he’s now on page 72 of his new passport!

How did he manage to amass such a collection of passport stamps? Midha strongly believes in the importance of travel, and he makes it a point to take his family to as many different places as he can. He has personally visited over 100 different countries, and his 16-year old son has been to at least 80. He explained to ABCNews.com:

“If people were to travel more to all parts of the world, there would be more camaraderie and less distrust, for more people would be getting authentic experiences, getting rich in all aspects of life, including culture, art, architecture, history, languages, science, cuisines, climates, nature and religion.”

If you need more pages in your passport, be aware that it can take some time to process your request. Allow at least 6 weeks if you apply for normal processing, which costs $82. Expedited service is an additional $60 plus overnight shipping costs, and you should allow at least 3 weeks if you decide to use it.

If you need your passport back with the additional pages more quickly than that, you have two options: make an appointment at a Regional Passport Agency office or use a private passport expediting company. An expediting company costs a little more, since you have to pay the company’s fees, but it’s a faster, less time-consuming process, especially if you don’t happen to live near a Passport Agency office.

Need a quick US passport renewal or extra pages? Let us help!

In honor of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, the following post is written mostly in Pirate.

Arrr! September 19th be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, but just ’cause it’s in the past, that doesn’t mean that your buccaneering days are over ’til next year. Hoist yer sails and make your way down to the Cayman Islands, which come November 11th through the 21st will be filled with the dirtiest scalawags this side of Tortuga!

In other words, it’s Pirates Week in the Caymans. The Pirates Week  festival has been going on for 33 years, long before pirates became the pop culture darlings they are today.  The islands were originally settled by pirates, slaves and other outcasts, and Pirates Week is a chance for citizens of the Caymans to celebrate their freewheeling and colorful history.  For example, the Pirates Week website describes one of the festival’s main attractions:

Then on the first Saturday we have a mock ‘pirate invasion’ from the sea! Two old-time sailing vessels, loaded with pirates make a Saturday surprise landing at the bowl-shaped George Town harbour, as thousands line the streets to take part in the spectacle or just watch. It’s good-natured fun, there’s a new twist every year, and families just love it. It’s the only event of its kind in the Caribbean region.

Well, shiver me timbers! Ye could hardly do better for a fall vacation, but make sure ye keep to the code: The Cayman Islands, being originally settled by the notorious pirate Sir Francis Drake, be a British territory now, and ye must be issued a US passport or be made to walk the plank back home.

Check the expiration date on your passport-if it’s expired, you’ll need to apply for a US passport renewal. In most cases, though, you can apply for your US passport renewal by mail, without having to present your scurvy self to the authorities.

But avast! It can take 6 weeks for your US passport renewal to be processed if you request regular processing, and by that time the last pirate ship will have sailed from the island. To get it faster, you can pay an additional $60 gold pieces to expedite it, but it’ll still take at least 3 weeks to get to you.

RushMyPassport can help-we’ll use our swiftest vessels to take your US passport renewal application directly to the landlubbers at the Department of State, for processing times as low as 24 hours!

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!

It’s already May, and that means it’s time to start shopping around for summer travel deals. Here’s how to end up with an incredible, affordable summer vacation in 3 easy steps:

Step 1- Apply for your US passport renewal

Some of the best travel deals this summer will take you out of the country. Since you now need your passport even for most trips to our neighbors in Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean, it makes sense to go ahead and apply for your passport renewal now.

Step 2- Friend/Follow your favorite airlines and hotels

One great way to get the inside scoop on travel deals is to connect with your favorite airlines or hotels on Twitter and/or Facebook. For example, CBS’ “The Early Show” reported that the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort is offering discounts of up to 40% off to travelers who “like” the resort’s Facebook page.

Likewise, many airlines announce specials on Twitter. For example, JetBlue airlines uses the @JetBlueCheeps account to broadcast discounted fares to its followers.

Step 3- Monitor sites for deals

Many discount travel sites will send you updates by email to show you what their latest deals are. For example, Orbitz has a service called “Deal Detector” that lets you name your desired price for a specific itinerary. If the price for the trip drops down below a certain point, Orbitz will notify you by email.

Other travel websites will send you email newsletters with hand-picked travel bargains. If you don’t want these clogging your inbox, consider changing your email settings to have them routed to a special “travel” folder, which you can then review at your leisure.

While it makes sense to book ahead most of the time, last-minute deals do also come up. That’s why it’s so important to have a valid passport. US passport renewal can take 6 weeks if you apply with regular processing, and 3 weeks even if you apply for the government’s expedited processing.

If you need your passport renewal more quickly, there is hope-a private passport expediting company like RushMyPassport can get your application processed in as little as 24 hours, without you having to spend a lot of time in a passport office.

Apply for your US passport renewal today!

Question: When is a valid passport not a valid passport?

As the Washington Post warns travelers in this article, even if your passport is valid, you may not be able to travel with it. That’s because some countries require that your passport be valid for a certain number of months into the future, even if you plan to return to the US before your expiration date.

For example, the Washington Post describes the unfortunate situation that happened to Indiana grad student Kyle Lenz. The poor guy booked a trip to Quito, Ecuador, to attend his best friend’s wedding. He checked his passport expiration date, but unfortunately, he didn’t check Ecuador’s entry requirements. The country requires that US citizens have a passport that will be valid for at least the next 6 months before they can enter the country. Mr. Lenz was turned away, and the wedding went on without him.

To ensure that this doesn’t happen to you, check your destination country’s travel requirements at the US Department of State’s website.  What if you find out you need your US passport renewal processed at the last minute?  With current processing times, it’s taking at least 6 weeks for passport applications to be processed with normal processing. Even if you choose the government’s expedited service, your US passport renewal may take 3 weeks or longer to go through.

If you need your US passport renewal processed quickly, the easiest thing to do is to submit it using a private passport expediting company. An expediting company makes things easier by helping you with the paperwork to prevent mistakes on your application that could increase processing time.  Then, they’ll forward the application to the Department of State by hand for priority processing. With an expediting company, your passport renewal could be completed in as little as 24 hours!

Don’t let what happened to Kyle Lenz happen to you-apply for your US passport renewal today!