Get Your Passport Now

Posted by Bridget Lux Sep 8, 2006

Buy a passport.

Anyone who plans to travel internationally at all - Canada, Mexico, the Bahamas, the United States, etc. - will need a passport soon. A passport costs about $100 (U.S.), and lasts for 10 years. If that makes it cost prohibitive for you, you're probably not going to be doing any travel, international or otherwise, anytime soon and you are exempt.

The rest of you, those who are even considering traveling across the border for a Tijuana weekend or a ferry ride into Vancouver, should just take the plunge. Been thinking about taking a cruise? Get a passport. It's a simple if not the quickest procedure - much easier than getting a driver's license - and may just save you and your family/friends a huge headache down the road. Experts are predicting long delays at the passport offices for those who procrastinate. You've been warned.

Although the date hasn't been set yet, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative is pending and requires anyone and everyone traveling between Canada, the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean, etc. to have a passport. Yes, in the past, you could go on a cruise to Jamaica without this form of ID, but that's all changing.

Now, why am I harping on this? Because along with waffling on the date the WHTI will be initiated, the Department of Homeland Security is also considering a slightly cheaper alternative to the passport. Why make this confusing? If there were a way to make the passports cheaper, I'd be all for that, but don't create two forms of ID. This will only cost the government and hence, taxpayers, money ... and that's really what we're trying to get away from, right?

So just do it. Pull the plug. Rip off the Band Aid and buy a passport. Once you step foot on a sandy beach in St. Martin, you'll be glad you did.