# Passport Emergency - Facts Needed NOW \[16-Feb-2024\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** vacation-travel\ **Created:** [February 16, 2024, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passport-emergency-facts-needed-now-16-feb-2024/997654 "2024-02-16T12:04:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 57
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2024, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passport-emergency-facts-needed-now-16-feb-2024/997654/57 "2024-02-20T17:27:41Z")
More off-topic venting about my son: He had mentioned MONTHS before that he wanted to take a trip to Europe. I told him he should apply for his passport. He did nothing. I told him “go to the UPS store and get passport photos taken”. He did that. And nothing else. It gets to be a month before he wants to travel. “Have you asked for the time off work???”. “Uh, no.” “THEN DO THAT!”. He did. A week before he wanted to travel, I reminded him “You NEED TO GET THAT PASSPORT”. He called to make an appointment - this was on a Tuesday. He came back to me and said “I need to have an airline ticket booked”. I said “So book one!” (note: aside from the cost, this wasn’t that huge a deal, as he could have flown into pretty much any city in Europe, as his plans were not set in stone). On the Wednesday, I asked if he’d booked his ticket. He said “Um, there was some kind of problem with my credit card”. I said “THEN USE YOUR DEBIT CARD”. By Thursday, he had done so. And he got his appointment at the passport agency’s open house on the Saturday. That day, I did my only “hands-on” assistance: I drove him downtown to get there (he could have taken Metro, but that doesn’t run as frequently on weekends) and while he was there I went to a currency exchange and got him some Euros to put aside for emergencies. Mission accomplished; he had to go back on the Monday to pick up the passport. I dropped him off at the airport Tuesday, and off he went. Planning and travel [are chronicled here](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/22-year-old-wants-to-go-to-europe-solo/764045). He actually did fine, once he was there, even when he had trouble booking some planned train trips - he handled all the obstacles quite well. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/passport-emergency-facts-needed-now-16-feb-2024/997654)._