The holidays are here and you can often find last-minute travel deals that make traveling more affordable. If you have kids, don’t miss out. Get them a child passport to take advantage of the daily specials.
Why not take them to visit Santa? Every child knows that Santa lives at the North Pole. However, geographically speaking, the North Pole is at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean. In reality, Santa maintains a number of different residences and workshops. Since 1953, he has lived in North Pole, Alaska . Every year, the town has a North Pole Christmas in Ice Festival. Among other attractions, this year’s festival features a giant, illuminated ice sculpture of a frozen turkey. Don’t try to take a bite, unless you want to end up like the kid in A Christmas Story! Of course, there’s also the Santa Claus House, with Santa Claus, his reindeer and a gift shop selling Santa-approved presents.
Before Alaska claimed him as their own, Santa lived in the Lapland region of Finland. You can still visit him there year round at Santa’s Village. (How does Santa manage to live in two places at once? Magic!) Santa’s Village features Santa Claus, his workshop, snow, igloos and reindeer galore.
If you want to take the kids to see Santa in Lapland, of course, you’ll need passports. Don’t forget to get child passports for the kids-even babies need child passports to leave the country. If you’re just going to Alaska, you don’t need a passport if you have a direct flight. However, if you have a flight that stops in Canada, or if you plan on crossing the border into Canada, you will need a passport.
If you don’t have a passport and would like to go before Christmas, all is not lost. You can use an expediting service like RushMyPassport.com to get a passport (or a child passport) in just one day!