How To: Get your passport

If you are going to travel outside the United States on a ski trip with Skitravel.com, you will need a passport. From Skitravel's website you can click the "get a passport" link. The link will take you to the US Department of State's passport form (the DS11 passport form). On the Department of State's form, you have two choices, a passport book or a passport card. The passport book is good for ten years and you can travel anywhere in the world with it. The second choice is the passport card. With the passport card you can only use it to travel to Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda and you can only travel by bus, boat, or car. The passport card does not allow you to fly. There is one other passport option. If you live a New York, Vermont, Michigan, or Washington, you can get an enhanced driver's license from the DMV. The enhanced license works just like a passport card. Fill in the appropriate information on the form and at the bottom of the page click "print". Next, go to a local business where passport photos are taken and get two passport photos. You can not use your own camera to take your passport photos. Now, you will need to visit a United States Post Office with a passport office or a local Passport Agency located in Boston, Connecticut, New York, Philadelphia, or Washington DC. Take your original birth certificate, your passport photos, and a photo copy of the front and back of your driver's license. You will need two checks, one made out for $75 made out to the Department of State and one made out for $25 to the Post Office or Passport Agency. You will receive your original birth certificate in six to eight weeks in the mail. If you are in a hurry you can pay to get the passport in two weeks for an extra $60 plus overnight fees. If you are really in a hurry, you can contact your local Congressman who can help expedite the process and get the passport in as little as one day.