PASSPORT REQUIRED FOR TRAVEL
A passport is required for travel to Barbados.
That’s it.
This doesn’t even need to be a long, drawn out post. Everybody already knows a passport book is required to travel out of the United States by air. I’m only here to remind you that we’re at the end of September, a mere 10 weeks from departure.
The trip is 10 weeks away and it takes up to 10 weeks to get a passport!
Majority of this girls’ trip gang has never traveled out of the country by air and had no previous need for a passport. And even since joining this trip, nobody was rushing down to the post office to get one, but now is the time.
I’ll pick on Taylor, since my good sis already knows she “got all the kids,” as she puts it. I understand y’all have priorities, and a lot going on, getting a passport needs to be one of them. Taylor has more kids in her household than all y’all mamas in the gang put together, so I’ve been staying on top of her since LAST December. Finally, at the end of this past week, she texted me a picture of her passport application receipt, as to say, “okay b!+ch, hea! Ya happy?!” Yes, I am, I am happy.
Go apply for your passport the next moment you have to breathe.
According to the government’s official travel website, it takes 7 to 10 weeks from the time you submit your application to the time you’ll receive your passport in the mail.
If you do not apply for a passport THIS WEEK, you will need to pay an additional $60 for expedited processing… or don’t, and cross your fingers and hope you won’t be left in the United States come December, while the rest of us are boarding our flight to Barbados, when that passport doesn’t arrive on time.
I don’t want to stress you out with my dramatics, but I also don’t want us to stop being friends when you don’t get your money back for this girls’ trip you done paid for but ain’t got no passport to go on.
This info is available elsewhere online, such as the U.S. Department of State, but since you’re here, I’ll list the steps to get a passport.
How to apply for a U.S. passport:
take a passport photo at a passport photo provider of your choosing (I went to a drug store)
gather your U.S. Citizenship documents (click link for government website on which documents prove citizenship; can’t be copies!!)
bring your ID, in both a physical form and a copy of the front+back printed on a sheet of paper to turn in with your passport application
fill out passport application form in-person (post office or other passport service locations, I went as a walk-in, but it’s wiser to make an appointment); or, you could download one from the gov’s website, print it w/ your own resources, and bring it to your local passport service location already completed
pay and submit! — have fees ready: a check or money order made out to “U.S. Department of State” for $130 to include with your passport book application + pay $35 facility fee by check, money order, or card
See?! Easy peasy!
Note: this is a brief overview of steps for the typical adult U.S. citizen that’s applying for a U.S. passport for the first time. For example, Nicolette lost her passport and only needs a replacement, so her process to get a new one before December won’t be the exact same as outlined above. (That’s a wild girl when she gets lit, y’all, and I really have no room to talk with the items that have left me while intoxicated…….[tears] let’s hope we keep track of all our possessions traveling to/from Barbados.)
Cute airport photo inspo — girls together, luggage around, passport and boarding pass in-hand.
In my own experience, it was easy as the 5 steps listed above, but please, if you’re confused about anything, please check the government website: How to Apply for A Passport.
I’m ready to be like, “all my b!+ches international, YAAS!”
Okay, go apply, bye!
