I did it, I admit. I let my passport dwindle down to only four months of validity.
I know, I know. I’m not perfect okay?
A few years ago I went to an ACTE conference where one of the speakers was from the passport section of the State Department. Let’s not mince words here; she told us flat out that there was going to be a surge on passport renewals in 2017…
And yet I still let my password get down to only four months of life left.
Why is this bad, you ask?
For starters, there are certain conditions that your passport must meet (besides being valid) for entry into a foreign country. One of them is having a certain number of pages open or blank so that they can put that coveted stamp on it when you enter (Jamaica you are still my favorite!) The other big one is having SIX months or more validity left on your passport. Not all countries follow these rules; however, there are a large number of countries that I cannot visit until I get this thing renewed!
So here it is, March. November was my last big trip to Denmark in Spain and I still have not applied for passport renewal. Fortunately I do not have any trips on the calendar for the next few months, so together we’ll walk through this process and see what happens and how it works. Stay tuned let’s see how this unfolds!
*This is actually a confession article that is launching into a series on the process for renewing a passport.
Have you renewed your passport lately?
For those among us with an extra curious nature, here’s a quick vid on the history of passports and why we need them, from the folks over at BrainStuff:
Want more?
If you found this helpful, subscribe for more advice, updates and get our latest content by email.
