Since I haven't been out of the country since I was 19, I have never owned a U.S. passport. When I was a kid, you didn't need a passport to go to Canada or Mexico. The law has changed within the last couple years. Now you need a passport to go anywhere outside of the U.S. (unless it is a place the U.S. unofficially "owns," like Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands. )
There is also a card, like a special driver's license, that people can use to go to Canada or Mexico. However, it can't be used for air travel. You need a real passport for that.
On March 15, my friend Liz and I went to the Pierce County Auditor's office to apply for our passports. Actually, she was getting passports for her kids and renewing hers, and, since I had to apply for mine, I went to help her with the kids ( a baby and a 2 year old.) They were very good the whole time.
In order to get my passport, I had to fill out a whole bunch of paperwork. I downloaded the form from the internet. You can see the form DS-11 (Application for a U.S. Passport) here:
Application Form
I also had to go get some pictures taken to put on my passport. They are very picky about pictures. You have to be in good light, be facing straight forward, not smiling or making a weird face (harder for some of us than for others), not blending in to the background, no hair in your eyes/face (sorry, emo kids!), and the bottoms of your ears have to be showing. They also have to be a specific size (the photos, not your ears.) I went to Walgreen's to get my photos done. They let me look to make sure it was not too ugly. It was okay. The photos cost me $7.99+ tax.
After I filled out the forms with all of my personal information, I had to find my birth certificate. Since I had recently moved, it took me three days to find it. Of course, it was in the last place I looked! I know it will surprise people who know me when I tell them it was in a huge pile of random papers. I took my driver's license, my birth certificate and my application, and my checkbook (well, actually my friend's checkbook, as I had ordered checks with my new address on, and they hadn't arrived yet. I gave Liz the money, and she wrote a check for me) to the desk and the nice lady asked me some questions, looked at my documents, stamped some stuff, took my money (and my birth certificate...they promised they'd mail it back) and I was on my way...and so was my passport! I also ordered the special card because I may go to Canada or Mexico, and it would be easier to take my card with me. After all I went through to get it, I'm scared of losing my passport!
The passport cost $75.00
The card cost $20.00
The application fee was $25.00
And don't forget the photos! ($7.99 plus tax)
How much was that all together again?
And I haven't even gone anywhere yet. *sigh*
On April 5, 2010, my passport book and card arrived in the mail.
A passport looks like this on the outside:
On the inside, it has your picture and identifying information (No, this is not me...)
And a lot of blank pages for visa stamps. A lot of stamps make your pages look pretty:
Here is a photo of my passport card (with my personal information blocked out so no one can steal my identity and pretend to be me...Gori Chori, International Traveler...)
Questions
1. Have you ever been out of the U.S. (Or your native country if you are not a U.S. citizen)?
2. How old were you when you traveled out of the country?
3. What was something cool you remember?
4. If you have a passport, how many visa stamps does it have in it? From where?
Challenges:
1. Fill out the information on the passport application form.
2. Using that information, create a passport for yourself. Luckily, when you draw your own picture, you can make yourself look as good as you want! Make sure you leave plenty of pages for visa stamps!
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