A subscriber private-messaged me with a request for tips on getting passports in Denver so I thought I’d share here.
Everything about the government is slow, and they heavily encourage everything to be done via old-fashioned mail, but (For a $60 per passport fee) there is a Denver office you can visit if you A) schedule an appointment long enough in advance, or B) need to get a passport in a hurry.
There isn’t much of an advantage to “scenario A” if you’re not traveling in the immediate future since all they do is mail in your application for you (and charge you $60 whether or not you need it in a hurry). If you want some hand-holding to make sure you filled everything out correctly, you can visit the Colorado Passport Agency. ($60 per passport is some expensive hand-holding in my opinion.)
If you have proof of international travel (confirmed airline tickets), you can schedule an appointment. (Or if you’re feeling lucky, just walk in. Michelle and I took a last minute trip and our appointment wasn’t until the day before we booked our tickets. I read that you can walk in and tell them you’ll wait for a no-show. When we went with hat-in-hand, the friendly security guard told us they were slow that day and let us right in.)
Here is a link to the Colorado Passport Agency.
PS – Don’t forget that a lot of countries turn people away whose passports expire within the next 6 months. Be sure to keep that in mind when you book your next trip! (That’s why we had to pay for expedited renewal of our Passports.)
PSS – Photo courtesy of my lovely wife Michelle – who took this pic of us putting our Denver Happy Hour Passports to use at “The Source” before putting our real passports to use in Aruba.