At least I don't have to do it again for 10 more years...

So on Monday, I'm heading up to Montreal for a work meeting. My passport expired recently, and this meeting was just schedule a couple of days ago, so I'd called up the passport's hotline to set up an appointment at the local passport office. (Luckily, Boston is one of the major offices).

Well, the first few calls don't go so well since the system is apparently so overload that I can't even get through to the automated scheduling system. When I do get through to the automated system, the system takes so long to search for appointments (several minutes!), that originally I thought I'd gotten disconnected. This search fails a few times, so finally I press # a few times on a call, which confuses the system enough that I'm put through to a real person. The agent is very friendly, but has a ridiculously thick backwoods, Southern accent that it makes me irrationally think he's less intelligent than he probably is. Anyways, he searches for a few minutes too, and at last tells me I have an appointment Thursday morning at 8:30a, recommending that I get there at 8am to check-in. Great, smooth sailing so far.

So I'm not a morning person, but ok, get up at 7am, haul ass over to North Station (wander the wrong way down Causeway street), and finally get upstairs to the Passport office a little after 8. Turns out my "8:30 appointment" really means "come wait in line to check-in at 8:30am", and there are almost 30 people already there. Check-in entails a lone agent checking to make sure everyone has the proper documentation, and proper people present For example one dad didn't bring his kids along, or an affidavit from the mom stating it was ok for the kids to get a passport (you know, in case he was trying to steal the kids or something.) Anyways, after all that you get a number to wait in the actual line for passport processing. (Waiting in line for a spot in another line, awesome!) I'm not sure if the agent gave out different numbers depending on when you were traveling so that more urgent cases were processed first. Knowing the government, probably not.

Oh, and the actual processing office doesn't open until 10:15a, with first 'appointment' at 10:30a (which almost everyone is given). Spend a couple more hours sitting in a DMV like lounge and finally get processed. The processing was actually fairly efficient, but I still didn't get back home until 1pm. Now I just have to go back today at 3pm to actually pick up my passport. Overall, not a bad experience - everyone was super-friendly and helpful - but still a waste of time considering all I did was drop off some forms and pay some money.

The real kicker? It was actually even a much bigger waste of time as the U.S's air travel policy to/from Canada (and other nearby countries) just changed today so that passports are no longer required; instead a receipt of application for a passport and government-issued ID are all that's required.

Awesome.