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APPLYING FOR A PASSPORT
Applying for a passport should have been easy but it turned into a real adventure. I figured it would be a simple affair. I would hop a train downtown, walk a few blocks to Arch Street. I
would get photographed across the street from the Federal Building since I was told there would be a place right across the street. Then I would walk over and maybe wait in line for a little while and get my application in and be done with it.
Of course, it didn’t go nearly as smoothly as possible. I get to 6th and Arch and see the Federal Building but there is no photo place across the street from the federal building. I walk around the block and still find nothing. I start to head down Market Street figuring that it really shouldn’t be a problem. There’s hundreds of these places, no doubt.
So I head down Market Street all the way to 3rd Street and still can’t find a place where I can get my passport photo taken. Now these places are all over the city. I see them all the time when I walk around but as soon as I need one, I can’t find it.
I circle around Arch and head back the other way. I end up in Chinatown before I can find a place to do my passport photo. I flirt with the Asian girl who takes my picture and she talks about the price she paid to get her passport. It was different than the price listed on my application form. I’m not sure if she’s correct. I suppose the price could have gone up but I’m hoping not.
I let her snap the photos and pay for them. I double check the back of the application to make sure that I read it correctly. It does state my price but it doesn’t mention cash as a form of payment. It doesn’t say you can’t but it doesn’t say you can. I figure I’ll slide over to the Post Office on 9th and Market to get a money order.
I then go to the federal building on 6th and Arch and they send me to 2nd and Walnut. I get there and find out that the Asian girl was right about the price. It was 65 dollars and not 42 dollars but I was allowed to use cash as long as it was exact change. I had 23 dollars exactly to cover the difference so that problem was easy enough to resolve.
But then I learn that I’m a Pennsylvania resident but I don’t have a certified birth certificate. I have to go to a building on Broad and Spring Garden to get a certified copy of my birth certificate. I will then have to put the birth certificate in the mail to the Passport Services. I just walk there under a hot sun thinking “Oh, Jesus.” after stopping at Sugar Mom’s for a two pint lunch with a falafel and Spanish fries.
It's a long walk. I cut over to Spring Garden around 5th Street and I walk up Spring Garden. It’s not exactly the prettiest of neighborhoods. I feel glad it’s only 2 PM with 6 hours until sundown. I get there and fill out the form and pay the 4 buck fee so now I have to wait for the certified copy of my birth certificate to come in the mail to send to Passport Services to get my passport. So I will just have to sit around and wait for the mail to come in so we can finish the job.
It was a long, long grueling day and just to apply for a simple passport. After going thru an event like that, Europe will be anticlimactic. I’m not even sure if I even need to bother with going thru the trip at all.
