Travel Tips

Posts Tagged ‘add passport pages’

London is seriously unlike any other city I had ever been to before. Some of my fondest memories came from my week trip to London, and the trouble of having to add extra passport pages, getting special electrical plugs and exchanging currency seemed so small once I arrived. London is unmatched in its unique quality, and getting to experience that first hand was life changing.

Some get discouraged from traveling due to all the processes involved. While I was getting additional passport pages, my mom was telling me how she disliked traveling because of all the planning that’s involved. However, once you spend a while exploring and experiencing, the stress becomes irrelevant. Trust me.

London is the place to go if you love art in all its forms. Even the street art was beautiful. The huge stone buildings, the tall shining statues, and the abundance of music made going to London a completely consuming experience. Even just walking down the streets of London is like walking through a living, breathing museum. I spent a day at the Victoria and Albert Museum, or just the A and V Museum. Historical artifacts that span hundred or even thousands of years all sat in a huge room, and I had to walk around multiple times to make sure I saw it all. Exhibits of all kinds – from fashion to ancient, crumbling artifacts – were on display, and I left feeling pretty insignificant in comparison.

I then got to explore the Tate Modern Museum, which was a pretty sharp contrast to the Victoria and Albert Museum. I generally wasn’t very impressed by my earlier experiences with modern art, but the Tate changed that. Just walking into the huge building was a pretty neat experience. I spent hours and hours both looking at and interacting with the art, some of which held very powerful messages. I left feeling pretty empowered.

The best part of my trip was getting to go to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. William Shakespeare and all his works are the object of my undying love, and getting the opportunity to see plays at their birthplace was unbelievable. I chose to see the play as a “groundling,” and although my feet hurt a little by the end, getting to stand at the edge of the stage was amazing. I felt like I was in the play, and I’ll admit, I got so wrapped up that I cried at the end of Othello.

Please don’t let the preparation required for traveling stop you from experiencing your dream vacation. Whether you need a new US passport or to add pasport pages, need to hire a dog-sitter, or just book a plane ticket, make some solid plans and get yourself there. You aren’t being called to go there for no reason, so don’t ignore it. Pack your bags and grab your friends or family, and get ready to have an amazing vacation.

There are two instances where you can request additional pages for your passport. The first one is if you only have two to four pages left in your passport. The other is when you travel regularly and thus need more passport pages than normal. If you fall under either of these situations, then it’s natural that you’ll want to find out how to add passport pages to your US passport. We’ll talk about it in detail in the succeeding paragraphs.

Let’s discuss the first category first. If you are a passport holder, and your passport has less than two to four pages in it, you’ll need to request additional passport pages. But why request pages so soon? That’s because it will save you a lot of time when you do that now, rather than when you are already about to travel.

There are two requirements when requesting for passport pages in this situation. First, you need to fulfill Form DS-4085. This is the form you fill in every time you need to request for additional passport pages. Once you are done filling in the details, you can then mail the DS-4085 to the address indicated in the form, along with your current US passport.

When applying for additional passport pages, you are not required to pay anything to have it processed. However, you will have to pay an additional fee should you decide to have your application expedited. When getting an expedited passport, make sure you write ‘EXPEDITED’ on the envelope before mailing it. Having it expedited cuts your waiting time from four to six weeks to just two to three weeks.

Now let’s talk about frequent travelers. If you are a frequent traveler, then chances are you use up your passport pages faster than most people. When applying for passport pages, you’ll need to go through a different procedure.

You need to follow a different procedure in this case.  If you are a frequent traveler, you need to send a signed letter requesting additional passport pages. Aside from that, you will also have to mail the completed DS-82 form along with your letter. This form will allow you to apply for a passport by mail.  However, in case you are not eligible for applications by mail, you can instead fill in the Form DS-11, and then personally submit this with your letter at the passport office.

When sending your passport application by mail, it is recommended that you send it using a delivery method that can be traced. All modern courier services offer this type of service already. Also remember to place your documents in a tough envelope to prevent it from getting damaged easily when mailed.

It can’t be easier to request for additional passport pages. First of all, you would need to determine under which of the two categories you fall. Be aware that there are different procedures you need to follow if you are an applicant with less than two to four American passport pages left, as well as when you are a frequent traveler. Now you know how to add passport pages to your US passport.