PASSPORT BLUES

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED THE WEEK OF NOV. 12, 2023 IN WESTERN OUTDOOR PUBLICATIONS

More Americans are travelling than ever before.   Call it post-Covid fatigue or simply cabin fever, folks are on the move. 

Travel to Mexico is no exception and despite price increases felt world-wide on everything from food; to gas; to airlines; to lodging, travel is at historic proportions.

Popular tourism destinations such as Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, Cancun and others are scrambling to handle the influx.  They can’t build hotels fast enough or cover the crowded airports.

One of the biggest hinderances, however, has been the pinch on passports.  Renewing or getting a first-time passport has put more than one vacation in a pinch or kept someone nervously waiting by their mailbox.

This goes back to covid years when travel ergo the issuance of passports came to a virtual standstill.   It was not unusual to wait months for passports or being told, “It will arrive when it arrives.”

There goes your vacation. Go tell the kids. Or tell little Joey he doesnn’t get to travel with the family this year!

Since then, things have moved along a bit more fluently, but the simple fact that there was such a backlog of applications jammed the system.  It was still taking as much as 3-4 months to get a passport. 

Even longer if it was during peak times when everyone and their brother suddenly remembered passports for pending summer vacation plans or holiday travel at the last minute. 

Add to that the sheer number of new travelers and the logjam to get your little blue book could seem interminable.

Even with such delays, the U.S. State Department says it has been processing a record number of applications since Covid.

Nevertheless, the State Department recently announced that it’s doing it best to cut through the bureaucratic gunk that’s holding things up. 

The goal at this time, is to return to pre-covid timetables when passports could be issued in 6-8 weeks or even as little as 2-3 weeks for expedited requests .

To that end, the State Department has increased it manpower with increased hiring and expanding their network of offices. They are also allowing for much more overtime declaring that most applications are now taking only 7-10 weeks. 

Expedited service can be handled in as little a 3-5 weeks and urgent applications for emergencies can be processed in days.

That being said, the State Department urges travellers not to sit on your hands and procrastinate.  Millions of applications are still flooding the system. This is especially true as summer and holidays vacations and travel approache.

The sooner you apply, the sooner your results and the faster your anxiety level drops. 

Once your passport is safely in hand, you only have to concentrate on what to pack!

That’s my story!

Jonathan

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Jonathan Roldan has been writing the Baja Column in Western Outdoor News since 2004.  Along with his wife and fishing buddy, Jilly, they own and run the Tailhunter International Fishing Fleet in La Paz, Baja, Mexico  www.tailhunter.com.

They also run their Tailhunter Restaurant Bar on the famous La Paz malecon waterfront.  If you’d like to contact him directly, his e-mail is: jonathan@tailhunter.com

Or drop by the restaurant to say hi.  It’s right on the La Paz waterfront!

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Jonathan Roldan’s

Tailhunter International

Website: 

www.tailhunter-international.com

Mexico Office: Tailhunter International, 755 Paseo Obregon, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

U.S. Mailing Address:  Tailhunter International, 8030 La Mesa Blvd. #178, La Mesa CA  91942

Phones: 

from USA : 626-638-3383

from Mexico: 044-612-14-17863

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Tailhunter Weekly Fishing Report:  http://fishreport.jonathanroldan.com/

Tailhunter YouTube Video Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBLvdHL_p4-OAu3HfiVzW0g

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”