After almost being denied entry to Jamaica due to zero room left in my passport, I decided it was time to add pages. I had a rare few days at home so I made an appointment to go to the Miami passport office to get the new pages.

Surprisingly, it was well run and efficient. It took waiting in a few short lines to check in and then about 10 minutes to get called to an agent.

My only problem was that my passport was rather worn out and they would not add new pages to it. They gave me two choices....keep it and hope for the best or get a new one now. I did not come prepared to get a new one and did not have the photos. She suggested that I go down to the street where just about every store front advertises passport photos and then come back up for a new one. She also made a notation on my application that got me past all the lines and told me to just wave at her when I got back.

10 minutes later I was in front of her window, finishing my application and making my payment. 3 hours later I was able to pick up my new passport.

Interesting thing was the fees. $55 for the passport, $60 for the expidite fee and $12 for "security enhancements". The security enhancement is actually an RFID chip and antenna. I have no idea what it is going to do for me (or to me) but it seems that I have now paid to have "Big Brother" in my pocket.

Over all, as one that does not do well with bureaucracy, it was a relatively painless experience, but I don't like the idea of having that chip in my pocket.

onelove