Passports

Before booking our cruise vacation,I read somewhere that after June the US passport law changes and we will all need passports to board our cruise. No problem I thought. I am probably the only Ohioan who has never been to Niagara falls, so what the hay we all get passports for the cruise then we have them for ten years ( five for the kids) so we are ready for a trip to Canada at whim. Yes even though it will add a substantial cost to this vacation, it will be worth it.
Too bad that I didn't realize the headache that would accompany the need for passports. Of course it will be hectic to get the whole family and drive to the immigration office, probably wait in line for an hour or two, finally get done , and go home and wait while praying that every one's will arrive on time, but that isn't the headache part. My head is already pounding and we haven't even loaded the car. My problem is that nobody seems to know the new law. The travel agency lady who I talked to to book told me that we only needed a drivers licence / state id and birth certificates. Well that is for everyone but me . She told me I would need a copy of my marriage certificate( which I haven't seen since we moved to this house over five years ago )because my birth certificate wouldn't match my drivers licence. Go figure,I bet that never happens to anyone but me ! Anyway I asked about the new law and was told that she never heard of a new law and that I must have been improperly informed. OK :-)
Next I called immigration and found that the agent in fact was wrong and I would have been denied boarding ( without refund) without the proper documents IE passports.
Next step was looking for a passport place that could process us without the boys taking off school and Mike taking off work. ( most have M-F 8AM to 3PM hours) As luck would have it there is a Post office fifteen minutes from the house( the one two minutes from us doesn't do passports) that would accommodate us on Saturday. I called to make the appointment and see what I needed. The man whom I talked to agreed that we needed passports but started talking about books and cards and whether I wanted one or both. Hmmm I didn't know. I asked which was necessary for a cruise, he told me both.
Looking at the Government site, he was proved wrong. we needed one or the other not both. We could get away with cards, ( like a licence ) which were cheaper, but could not fly out of the country with these. Even if one of us were to be dying on the ship with just a card we could not be life lighted back to the US. Ummmm I think we will get the books.
Now that that is all straightened out, and the appointment is made for Saturday, we now have to take passport photos as the USPS will charge an additional $15 per person . $75 total,to take them for us. Ummmm I think we can take our own, thank you. This shouldn't be a problem and may even get done tonight.
Then we are just left with everyone crawling into the car, going to the Post office, probably waiting in line to be told to wait in another line to turn in the applications ( which I have already downloaded , filled out, and printed) write a check and go home where I pray that they all come in time, while I wait. Yep no problem at all !