After almost six weeks on the road it’s good to be home. We traveled 10,387 miles through 23 states and discovered tons of cool accessible lodgings, sites and activities, that I look forward to sharing with my readers. It was a very successful road trip. That said, as with any adventure, it was dotted with highs and lows. With that in mind, here are a few of my ups and downs from our Summer 2014 cross country road trip. Continue reading
Tag Archives: US
Passport Application Process Streamlined on National Passport Day
Reply
Cherrie's friend Moe reminds folks about National Passport Day. Photo: Bruce N. Meyer
Cherrie’s friend and fellow world traveler Moe just wrote to tell her to pass the word about National Passport Day. Although Cherrie has had her passport for several years, she knows that many of her friends don’t have one yet, so now is the perfect time to get one.
Although you can renew your passport by mail, you must apply in person for your first passport. Usually that requires an appointment; but on National Passport Day — Saturday September 17, 2011 — you can just walk in to any passport office and apply. They’ll also have some cool activities on that day, so it’s worth a visit even if you’re not applying.
So talk to your parents and get your application materials together and make plans to head to the passport office this Saturday. Here’s all the information you need to apply. And remember, kids need passports too, because without them you can’t go on cool trips like Cherrie.
You never know when you’re going to need a passport. For example, last month when we visited Maine we took our passports with us, and we were able to cross over into Canada and go out to dinner one night. If I hadn’t remembered to pack our passports we wouldn’t have been able to do that.
Plus when you have your passport, you can plan cool last minute trips to foreign countries. Every time you enter and leave a foreign country you go through customs and have your passport stamped by the customs officer. For some countries you also need a visa, which you usually get from the embassy in the country you plan to visit.
Cherrie's bear sized passport
But no visas are required for US citizens for our upcoming trip to New Zealand, so we’re all set with our passports. And Cherrie is really looking forward to that trip — she even bought a new bathing suit for the wheelchair-accessible hot springs!
So celebrate National Passport Day by learning more about why passports are important and why we need to carry them. There’s lot of information available on http://travel.state.gov/passport/.