So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve got lots of travel coming up the next few weeks. Part of the planning was to apply for a visa to Myanmar to take advantage of the great deals that were out there for tickets earlier this year. Well, long story short, even though I have two passports, the Myanmar Embassy here in DC is holding onto one for a longer time because applications are way behind for visas, leaving me with only one passport I can travel on…and it expires in 3 months. I know, poor planning on my part.
I can’t be without a valid passport for any period of time, so managed to convince the passport folks down to give me an appointment at the National Passport Centre for same day processing. The entertainment started when I got to the window. The agent called over several colleagues, who all had to have a look at my expiring 196 page monster…they’d never seen anything like it. Then, I asked the impossible. I know a standard book has 24 pages, and the new large one has 52 pages. Could I please get 100 pages to start – a standard book plus two sets of 24 page inserts. No way…not possible….
But then I learnt…she was saying no only because nobody had asked before. Lots of waiting, consulting, talking to people higher up the State Department food chain, and it was agreed. They would “try” and please come back later today. Well, to illustrate just how awesome these people are…she called me a couple hours later to tell me the photo I submitted wasn’t acceptable since it was an exact match of the one I used for my other passport a year ago, and pictures must be within the last 6 months. I showed up 5 minutes before closing with a new picture, and voila…they did it. Informing me in the process that I now had…
THE FIRST EVER 100 PAGE PASSPORT that’s likely been issued in the United States. Lots of passports (including the one I turned in) have over 100 pages, but according to the agents never before have they issued a brand new one with 100 pages up front. I feel special!
Here they are – the expired 196 pager with 10 years of memories on the left, and the new 100 pager on the right.
3 Responses to “New passport, new beginnings”
Leave a Reply to Dennis Cancel reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
my passport wasn’t issued with 100 pages from the onset, but i took it to have additional pages added shortly after it was issued and right before they started charging for the service, and they added 2 additional sets of pages (bringing my passport up to 100 pages), before i even had 1 stamp in it. i explained that i travel extensively, and they didn’t even blink before adding the pages. (i wasn’t thinking when i renewed my passport, or i would have asked for them from the beginning.)
Now this is absolutely AWESOME! Congrats!
Well done. Surprised they didn’t charge you for the extra pages.