Wow it was easy to renew my USA passport….

With my dad just having a stroke and going to Israel I sort of wanted to be able go there quickly.   I looked at my passport and noticed the expiration date of 5/2012…. That wasn’t good…. The airlines don’t always let you on if your passport is about to expire…  Also some countries won’t let you in.  By the way Israel will let you in if you have a return ticket.   I was in a quandary.. By expediting my passport there would be a 2-3 week window where I can’t travel.  I guess in an emergency I could go to Seattle (500 miles away) and throw myself at the mercy of the passport agency…So it is time to renew the passport…

So I googled the instructions…. They were really easy.    

In 5 minutes I had the form printed out.  Then went for my passport photo at Walgreens.  Photocopied everything at the office.  Made an envelope of my check, the application (with my photo) and my old passport.  Then I will go to the post office and hopefully have my passport in 2-3 weeks.  Note without expediting it takes $70 less but 4-6 weeks…. In an emergency you can go to the nearest passport office (with proof of travel (ie. Airline ticket)) in less then 2 weeks) and get it in 1 day.  You do need to make an appointment.  

So happy traveling... With luck my passport will be here in a couple of weeks.