Fastest Ways To Get a Passport

March 9, 2010 by Susan · 1 Comment

All the information you need about applying for a passport and traveling safely abroad can be found at the US Department of State’s travel website: http://travel.state.gov Here are the steps you need to take to apply for a new passport or process a passport renewal.

1) Start TODAY – get your passport photos taken. AAA offices and any photo shop will be glad to oblige. Locate your original form Birth Certificate or order it from the city/town hall where you were born (If applying for a passport for the first time). Pick up an application at any post office or download it from the State Department’s travel site: http:/travel.state.gov/passports.

2) Depending on your date of departure, select the best method of application. Routine Service is now taking 10-12 weeks. Expedited Service, which requires an additional fee as well as overnight mailing fees, takes 2-3 weeks.

3) If you are traveling within two weeks (and can prove it by showing airline tickets) contact the National Passport Information Center at 877-487-2778, Monday through Friday 7am to Midnight. Expect long hold times as they are swamped. This is also true for their email service. Call this number as well if you have applied for a passport, it has not arrived, and you are within 2 weeks of travel.

NOW, if you have more money than time, or want to turn this problem over to someone else to worry about, contact a passport/visa expedite service. For a fee, they will take all your information and secure a passport or visa for you within a day or two in most circumstances. Here’s how it works: The passport processing centers allow expedite agencies to make a certain number of appointments per day for passport applications. With no fumbling and bumbling, applications get processed quickly. Most agencies have offices in multiple cities where passport centers are located, assuring they can submit quite a few applications in a day. The largest player in passport/visa expedite service by far is CIBT.com. As well as having offices worldwide, they have recently acquired several smaller agencies in the US, some of whom specialize in tour company and cruise passenger applications. For other choices, a web search for passport expedite services will result in a long list of available services.

So the moral of this story is start early, or pay more..what else is new!!

Happy travels!

Filed Under: How To, Trip Planning
Tagged: how to get a passport, passport applicaitons

What To Do When Flights Are Delayed or Canceled

November 23, 2009 by Susan · Leave a Comment

Heads up my friends, we’re heading into the worst travel weeks for flight delays, oversold planes and cancellations – ahhhh the joys of holiday and winter travel! This year there’s a new tool to use – TWITTER! Many of the airports across the US have their own Twitter pages that will give you the most up-to-the-minute information about parking availability, delays, which screening lines are shortest etc. You should also be checking your airline’s Twitter page for similar fast-changing info. You can find our new list of airlines on Twitter at our Twitter page WGTravelTips. The folks at Travelocity are also pitching in to help Thanksgiving travelers. They’ll have “spotters” at major airports across the country Tweeting updates about airport conditions.

1) Steps You Can Take In Advance of Your Travel
The sad truth is that there are very few legal obligations on the airline’s part to provide for your well-being when a flight is delayed or canceled, so it becomes increasingly important to plan in advance in order to avoid as many disruptions as possible.

Whenever possible take the first flight of the day. These flights are most likely to take off on time because the plane arrives the night before and if it is delayed or canceled you will have the most rerouting options.
If you cannot fly nonstop, consider the connecting city carefully. In winter choose a city to the south Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas etc, rather than a northern route connecting in Chicago, New York etc. Allow 45 minutes or more in layover time just in case your first flight is delayed. Read more

Filed Under: Airlines & Low Airfares, Featured, How To, Travel Health & Safety
Tagged: Airlines & Low Airfares

New England Fall Foliage Trains – Scenic Views Without The Traffic

September 25, 2009 by Susan · 2 Comments

New England is blessed with some of the most spectacular fall foliage displays in the world. The diverse variety of hardwood forests climbing dramatic mountainsides and reflected in shimmering lakes guarantee scenic overload. This year skip the traffic jams on the highways and view the foliage on board one of New England’s scenic train tours. Narrow track rail beds wind their way through deciduous forests, scenic villages, past covered bridges and mirrored lakes. Here are New Englands most popular vintage scenic train journeys.