My wife and I are planning a trip to Portugal and Spain to hike the Camino de Santiago with middle son this fall. My passport expired a couple of years ago, and my son has never had one. My oldest turned 16 this year, so since he's eligible for a 10-year and we have long term plans for a drive through Canada we decided to go ahead and get him a new one, too (his previous 5-year is long expired).

I remember them being $90 apiece, which always seemed kind of obscene, but it is what it is. I found out yesterday that they're not $90. They're $130 ($100 for a kid's 5-year)!!! Plus there's a $35 local filing fee per passport to the courthouse. I was able to renew mine online and avoid that, but the kids aren't eligible for that so we got stuck paying it for them.

So my wallet is now $430 lighter and we haven't spent a single dime on any of the actual trips yet. What about that stupid little book justifies that kind of pricing?!?! And beyond a couple of staples, an envelope, and a stamp, I don't get how it's costing the clerk's office $70, either. The government is a tax-funded service...it's not supposed to be making a profit off of fees.

Guess my P320 AXG build project is getting pushed back a few more weeks...

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Plus there's a $35 local filing fee per passport to the courthouse.

??

Why not the post office? No added "slush fee" (though they might charge for photos, but I cannot recall)

https://www.usps.com/international/passports.htm

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Originally posted by LS1 GTO:

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Plus there's a $35 local filing fee per passport to the courthouse.

??

Why not the post office? No added "slush fee" (though they might charge for photos, but I cannot recall)

https://www.usps.com/international/passports.htm

I was not aware that they even did that...we were directed to the clerk's office by the state dept website. The website even listed the $35 fee. Too late now in any case...we will try the post office next year for our youngest, though.

As to charging for photos, we had to provide those ourselves. They didn't take them. We also filled out all the forms the night before off the website...all we did today was show ID and sign.

We're planning an Italy trip next year, need to get the kids passports. Guess I should add that to the budget of obscenely priced flights [5 tickets, round-trip, IAH>Rome].

Question. How did you renew online? I'm starting the process to renew mine which expires in July


My daughter just renewed hers, she went to the post office and they did charge her the $35 filing fee

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Originally posted by P250UA5:


We're planning an Italy trip next year, need to get the kids passports. Guess I should add that to the budget of obscenely priced flights [5 tickets, round-trip, IAH>Rome].

Yep. And make sure you get the app in with plenty of time...they said it takes 4-6 weeks for a normal app. Expedited costs more. When I was a kid one of my passports expired while we were living overseas...a visit to the embassy and we walked out with a new one the same day.

At least doing it this way spreads the costs out a bit. You guys will have a great time in Rome...I have really fond memories of a couple of trips there back in the late 90s.

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Originally posted by BigSwede:
Question. How did you renew online? I'm starting the process to renew mine which expires in July


My daughter just renewed hers, she went to the post office and they did charge her the $35 filing fee

https://travel.state.gov/conte...zN6YcXxoChpsQAvD_BwE

There are certain conditions you have to meet to be eligible, but the website spells them out pretty clearly.

Thanks, I just did it. I had my application printed out, dragging my ass to get a photo and then go to post office. Didn't know it was an option.

My wife is going to be pissed, she just renewed hers and our daughters the old way. She is usually on top of this stuff


The main conditions are, have a current passport or it has expired within the last five years


I owe you a dram of Blantons

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Originally posted by 92fstech:

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Originally posted by P250UA5:


We're planning an Italy trip next year, need to get the kids passports. Guess I should add that to the budget of obscenely priced flights [5 tickets, round-trip, IAH>Rome].

Yep. And make sure you get the app in with plenty of time...they said it takes 4-6 weeks for a normal app. Expedited costs more. When I was a kid one of my passports expired while we were living overseas...a visit to the embassy and we walked out with a new one the same day.

At least doing it this way spreads the costs out a bit. You guys will have a great time in Rome...I have really fond memories of a couple of trips there back in the late 90s.

We're looking at May or June next year, so we've got some time.
We hosted an Italian exchange student a few years ago & have been meaning to go visit. She graduates college next year, so it made a good reason to take the trip.

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Originally posted by BigSwede:
Thanks, I just did it. I had my application printed out, dragging my ass to get a photo and then go to post office. Didn't know it was an option.

My wife is going to be pissed, she just renewed hers and our daughters the old way. She is usually on top of this stuff


The main conditions are, have a current passport or it has expired within the last five years


I owe you a dram of Blantons

Hopefully it works. I just got a notification that they received my payment, so it seems like things are on track.

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We're looking at May or June next year, so we've got some time.
We hosted an Italian exchange student a few years ago & have been meaning to go visit. She graduates college next year, so it made a good reason to take the trip.

I went with my family once and another time with my school. On the family trip we only got to spend a few hours because it was an 8 hour drive round trip to where we were staying and we did it in one day...so we only saw the highlights. On the school trip we had a week, and got to spend time in the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Forum, Catacombs, and just walking around the city. The food was amazing, the architecture and history were incredible, and it was a blast as a teenager just exploring the city with friends.

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Originally posted by 92fstech:
I went with my family once and another time with my school. On the family trip we only got to spend a few hours because it was an 8 hour drive round trip to where we were staying and we did it in one day...so we only saw the highlights. On the school trip we had a week, and got to spend time in the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Forum, Catacombs, and just walking around the city. The food was amazing, the architecture and history were incredible, and it was a blast as a teenager just exploring the city with friends.

I did a week in London with a HS group, similarly, but we had a charter bus as well to see the out of London sights [Bath, Stratford, Stonehenge]
We got a fair bit of time to see the city on our own.

I actually think $13 a year for a passport is reasonable considering inflation.

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I just got a notification that they received my payment, so it seems like things are on track.

Mine too, It took an hour and 40 mins

I don't need a passport until September, Alaska cruise via Gay North Dakota


2023 we did a Spain/Italy cruise, a Spain/Portugal cruise. Last year we did a Greece cruise

I did love Italy but not so much Rome, crowds and lines. We did stop at a Cafe on the banks of the River Tiber. Had a Margherita pizza that was out of this world


We loved everything about Spain and Portugal. Greece, been there, done it and have no desire to go back

We paid out the ass for plane tickets and we decided no more European cruises. We plan on flying to Germany next year and spend about 8-10 days seeing the sites with a side trip to Normandy. We both have zero desire to see Paris

Oh yeah, we also crossed of Charles de Gaulle Airport for ever, what a POS. We did a short layover there. Once. Avoid it if you can

My wife and I renewed our passports last year. Since the old passports hadn't expired, we were both able to renew online. One then prints the form and mails it, along with a photo, to the processing center. No surcharge. We received updates as each stage was completed. We renewed in January for travel in October. I sent mine certified and the postal clerk was really good, she asked a number of questions to be sure the form was filled out correctly. I appreciated her double checking me.

If you are traveling out of the country and your passport expires in less than six months after your date of return, you may be stopped at the gate. Many countries require your passport to be valid for 6 months after your travel dates.

Also, one must have 2 - 4 blank pages in your passport. If you travel a great deal and don't have sufficient blank pages you need to renew the passport. Again, you may be stopped at the gate if there are insufficient blank pages.

Passport FAQ - https://travel.state.gov/conte...sport-help/faqs.html

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Also, one must have 2 - 4 blank pages in your passport. If you travel a great deal and don't have sufficient blank pages you need to renew the passport. Again, you may be stopped at the gate if there are insufficient blank pages.

When renewing your passport, you can opt for a new passport with more pages.

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Originally posted by SPWAMike0317:
...Also, one must have 2 - 4 blank pages in your passport. If you travel a great deal and don't have sufficient blank pages you need to renew the passport. Again, you may be stopped at the gate if there are insufficient blank pages.

Passport FAQ - https://travel.state.gov/conte...sport-help/faqs.html

Good advice!

From the FAQ:

On your passport form, select the option for a "large book" so you can get a passport book with extra visa pages.

Get the large book if you travel a lot!! A few years ago we both had to renew ours early as we were almost out of blank pages.

Don't forget to get your ETIAS (visa) travel authorization to go with your passport for European travel. Its about $7 per person if I remember correctly,

I applied at the local library and had to fess up the $35 fee, too. The turnaround time to get my passport was 5 weeks almost to the day.
Related clusterfuck:
I went to a local contracted TSA site to try and get the TSA pre-check. So I dont have to take off my shoes to get on a plane. But... No joy. My VA and other ID documents show my last name with "Jr" at the end. TSA does not care if your ID says Jr or no Jr. My MI drivers license omits Jr. The person running the show refused to accept my ID with Jr on it and insisted she could not process my pre-check application since my IDs dont match. Did I print out and show her the TSA regs that show what ID forms are acceptable to apply for the pre-check and the portion of the regs that state they are not concerned with the Jr thing? I did! She still refused to process my application. Guess what my new passport shows? Jr!

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Originally posted by BigSwede:
We plan on flying to Germany next year and spend about 8-10 days seeing the sites with a side trip to Normandy. We both have zero desire to see Paris

Germany is top of my travel list, for int'l destinations, 2nd is Japan.
Neither is likely anytime soon.

More than you ever wanted to know about six month rules:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide...sport-validity-rule/