It’s officially the holiday season and while most of us are (fortunately) less bitter than Mr. Scrooge, wanting to get away from it all is actually a fairly normal reaction. Get a fast passport to turn this fantasy into a reality.
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Just in time for the busy holiday season, the Department of State announced last week that the New Hampshire passport agency office in Portsmouth is now open to the public. The office, located in the Pease Tradeport, has been open since 1992, and handles expedited passport request from all over the country. However, before November 23, 2010, it was not open to the public. Instead, New Hampshire residents had to travel to Boston or New York to get emergency passport…
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A Oregon woman is finally able to apply for a new passport after the US Air Force located a copy of her birth certificate. According to the Mail Tribune, 21-year-old Vanessa Driskell has been looking for her birth certificate for the past 4 years, ever since she was 16 and wanted to apply for a driver's license. For most of us, a lost birth certificate is nothing more than an inconvenience. All it means is that you'll have to order…
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Have you ever had a pet try to prevent you from leaving on a trip? They'll try anything from looking cute and pitiful to going on a hunger strike. Once, my childhood cat even soiled the inside of my family's car to try keep us in town (fortunately, she chose the wrong vehicle). Moses, a basset hound puppy belonging to Eric Mann and Brooke Blew of Massachusetts, used a far more effective strategy: attempting to devour Mr. Mann's US passport…
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*The passport fees have recently changed. As of April 2nd, 2018, the passport acceptance fee has gone up from $25 to $35. According to Canada.com, Manitoba NDP MP Jim Maloway has been on a mission to lower passport application fees, not just for Canadians but also for US citizens. The idea is that lower passport application fees would enable more people on each side of the border to afford passports, which would encourage cross-border tourism. Apparently, Maloway introduces his…
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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…
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"We come from the land of the ice and snow, where the midnight sun and the harsh winds blow..." Led Zeppelin, "Immigrant Song" If you've always wanted to visit "the land of the ice and snow," check out the new contest on the "Faces of Scandinavia" website. (h/t Gadling) To enter, all you have to do is comment on one of the many personal stories posted on the site. The comment stream is pretty active, so you do have some…
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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…
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When you apply for a fast passport, it's important that you have all of your paperwork in order before you send in the application. After all, if you don't have the right documents, your application will be delayed, and that's the last thing you want to happen if you're about to leave the country. One of the most common mistakes people make when applying for a fast passport is using the wrong birth certificate, like a hospital or other unofficial…
