About 30 days ago, the US Government made it mandatory that anyone traveling to the USA would require a passport to gain admittance. Now, I don't begrudge the Americans for this new law, after all, every other country in the world requires a passport to gain entry into the USA. What my problem is, is the timing of it.
Now I know that we were given fair warning (over a full year as I recall), but that hasn't helped those who still leave it to the last minute. OK I'm one of them too. My old passport expired and frankly I just never got around to getting a new one. But I did get to experience one thing that I'm sure no one expected: lining up for hours in the outdoor elements waiting for entry into the passport office. Three times I lined up in the past three weeks, first alone then twice with Michelle as we needed some extra documentation for our paperwork on the second visit.
Longest time in line was 2 hours 45 minutes just to gain entry to the inside of the office and another 45 minutes inside before the application was processed. I can tell you this, lining up in July would have been far better than lining up in February.
But I left it to the last minute and this is my result. I just wish more people had it together so I didn't have to (that's a joke ... I get the "accountability" thing).
However, I made some friends in line, heard some great stories and found out where everyone else seems to be traveling to.
As only Canadians can do, we accept things without much fuss and make no excuses for leaving things to the last minute. But try to butt in line after waiting for almost three hours and somebody could get hurt. Don't push a Canadian waiting in the cold. We're polite but to a point.
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