Summertime and traveltime go hand in hand. The weather warms up and folks want to get out and explore, and since the Pandemic stopped so many travel plans, Americans have been on the web booking travel plans to near and far off places. Many of those destinations require passports, and lucky Utah is going to get one of six new passport agencies opening in the country. It appears that more of us are traveling abroad today than at any time in our history. In 1990, only 5% of us had a passport but in 2023 the Department of State issued over 24 million passport books and passport cards-more than ever before.

The world’s first standardized passport was issued in 1920 following an agreement among the Leaue of Nations to begin standardizing passports. Governments met in France and agreed to the design, layout and size of the document for 42 nations. Back then the booklet showed not just the face and home address of the traveler, but also their occupation and had a place for a photo of the spouse and photos of the children because back then the protocol for a passport was based on the idea that the passport owner was a married man traveling at times with their family.  The booklet was dubbed ‘Old Blue’ due to its color, but then in 1988 it changed to a burgundy color.

Nowadays you can walk into a FedEx office and use ‘RushMyPassport’ for expedited travel passports, rushed renewals and expedited travel visa services. You can go online at fedex.com to start your application, and it’s about $15 to get the two required passport photos taken there. You can then print all your documents and with the photos send them via FedEx to RushMyPassport. What’s different about this news is that we’re going to actually get a walk-in center for folks seeking last minute passports /travel documents which is direct connection to the government’s Department of State. It will certainly save a lot of time and heartache for future travelers. You might remember back during the Pandemic that folks were waiting up to six months to get their passports and visas because offices were closed around the country. I had to renew mine this year and it took about 30 days to get the booklet and card back.

It’s $160 if you want a new passport and passport card. The card, which looks a bit like your driver’s license can be used when crossing borders to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and Caribbean countries but is not valid for international travel by air. The Card along is only $30, and the passport without the card is $130. It’s $100 for a child’s passport book and $15 for the card. If you want to rush the application add $60 for expedited service and another $20 to get it back in 1-2 days once the passport is completed.