Even though I am a businesswoman who loves to travel, the truth is that I am also a fan of massive multiplayer games like the amazing World of Warcraft, which is probably one of the best multiplayer games ever!
Still, all these massive multiplayer games have boring parts which you can skip easily if you buy in-game money to give you much more power to skip those parts within a few minutes. If you would really like to buy some in-game money for any game that you love, then you definitely need to see this website selling WoW Gold which also offers a 100% money back guarantee on all orders! Furthermore, there are many other games apart from World of Warcraft which are included on the website so that you can also buy gold for those games. What else could you really ask for?
Jun 6, 2009
Traveling to Bahamas
Which is your favorite destination around the world? Would Bahamas appear in your top list? Well, in my personal opinion, Bahamas definitely appear in the top of my favorite destinations simply because you won't find a better place to enjoy your vacations if you are looking for relaxing moments on the beach! Belos is the msnbc.com article showing you why I love Bahamas so much:
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Fresh seafood, warm sunshine and wave-kissed beaches. And just a short hop from the U.S. mainland. Why wouldn't you want to visit the Bahamas?
Even at this time of year, that sweater you wear onto the plane can stay in your hotel room. Look for the "Weather" link on the left side of the page at Bahamas Guide for a glance at typical weather on the islands; the average daily high in March is 79 degrees. The site also provides helpful travel basics that include clothing and attire; along with beach wear, consider taking a rain jacket. Next, look under "Planning Your Trip" for an entry on budgeting, with previews of what you might expect to spend. The other sections in "Planning ..." can help you pick an island to visit, arrange your travel and pick a time of year to visit. (It's nice now, but summer is cheaper.)
Bahamas Guide also helps acquaint you with island food, from culinary styles to restaurants, and provides background and a few addresses for diving and fishing.
"About ..." is also where the ministry stacks detailed information on things to do on land and on water, from bird watching, gambling and spa visits to sailing, diving and fishing, along with some sparse information on beaches. And look for the shopping section to see if you want to set aside some cash for the island's famous duty-free shops. Then you should go back to the top of the page and read the essential details listed under "Before You Go."
Focus on Nassau/Paradise Island and drill down through "What To Do" until you find "Top 10 Reasons to Visit," running the gamut from beaches and swimming with dolphins to nightclubs and golf courses. And save a couple of minutes for the amateur photos and videos.
The Out Islands have their own charms, ranging from fancy resorts to quiet spots. They include tiny Harbour Island with its famous pink beach and Cat Island with rolling hills and hiking trails.
Grand Bahama has the city of Freeport, and numerous hotels, resorts, shopping and golf courses. And you can always try glass-bottom boat tours, deep-sea fishing and a tour of Ben's Cave in Lucayan National Park.
Thinking of taking the kids? Tell them about pirates. Visit the Bahamas Travel and Culture Guide and look for the link to pirate history, along with sections on history of the islands and the people.
What did other visitors think of the various islands or one hotel over another? Look for "Forums" at the Bahamas chapter of TripAdvisor to read opinions and see where some visitors had "the most phenomenal dinner." Then browse through visitors suggestions for activities including day trips and family pursuits,
Even if you're not old enough to be a member, AARP has useful visitors' information for the islands — including guides to the island music and Bahamian rum. Take a look at "Travel Tips" for more essentials on etiquette, health, taxes, tipping and health issues.
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The importance of marketing and mortgages
When keeping in mind all my experience as businesswoman who really knows the important role played by marketing and mortgages in the success of any company, I would like to recommend all my readers to have a look at the great Mortgage Leads that you are able to find on the website to which I have linked just above.
Personally, I would say that direct marketing service such as the ones that you may find on the website above will definitely bring any company or business to the next level because they are the most effective way of spreading the word about a specific product, promotion or anything else! Moreover, with the help of the mortgages that you are easily able to get, then you can buy some new machinery for you business, hire new staff, expand your business, amongst many other great things that will surely exploit the capabilities of your business.
So, would you like to know more about direct marketing services, mortgages and other important topics for your business or company? If the answer is affirmative, then you definitely need to take some time and visit the user-friendly website to which I have linked above, while also making sure that you are reading vital information from a very trusted source on the Internet.
Personally, I would say that direct marketing service such as the ones that you may find on the website above will definitely bring any company or business to the next level because they are the most effective way of spreading the word about a specific product, promotion or anything else! Moreover, with the help of the mortgages that you are easily able to get, then you can buy some new machinery for you business, hire new staff, expand your business, amongst many other great things that will surely exploit the capabilities of your business.
So, would you like to know more about direct marketing services, mortgages and other important topics for your business or company? If the answer is affirmative, then you definitely need to take some time and visit the user-friendly website to which I have linked above, while also making sure that you are reading vital information from a very trusted source on the Internet.
Airports looking for new "friends"
When considering the current financial crisis, it is abvious that airports are really lonely these days and looking for new and old "friends" that they definitely need in order to continue to survive. Below is another msnbc.com article showing you how important we are for the airports:
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By Harriet Baskas
The nation’s airports are feeling pretty lonely these days.
And who can blame them? As the economy worsens, the number of people traveling on U.S. airlines keeps on dropping. And if fewer people are flying, fewer people are hanging out at airports.
So it was probably a good thing that the agenda for the airport conference held earlier this week in Montreal was full of sessions on how airports can make — and keep — new friends.
Buddy up with your airport
In the old days, an airport had to be a “transportation node” with $4 hot dogs to be popular. Now, as you’ve probably noticed, many airports have gone glam and transformed themselves into community crossroads with valet parking and shopping malls dotted with wine bars, medical clinics, upscale boutiques, salons and spas. In the past, you’d never hear from your airport. Now airports are using social media tools such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to reach out and interact with travelers and invite them come over and hang out. Even if it’s just for a quick, virtual visit.
Other social media tools, most notably the micro-blogging tool Twitter, were also promoted as great ways for airports to make friends and monitor the instant reviews travelers are sharing about airport services and amenities, such as meal choices in food courts and the condition of bathrooms.
White said the Atlanta airport is still experimenting with Twitter, but many other airports are already sending out messages, or tweeting, with gusto.
Check out our rockers
I learned that first hand on a recent stop at San Francisco International. A tweet I sent out about my long layover was responded to within minutes by my new friend, “SFOgal”, who wanted to make sure I knew about all the great art and history exhibits spread throughout the airport.
Richard Walsh from Boston Logan International Airport said his airport is also finding new friends via Twitter and Facebook.
“In the last day or so we have discussed on Twitter our cell phone lot, our parking and our rocking chairs ... We post regularly [on Facebook], share photos and even posted a video from the Brandeis University Choir who held an impromptu concert at Logan while waiting for their luggage,” Walsh said. “Things like that help humanize the airport.”
While some airport administrators don’t yet see the value of spending already-stretched staff time communicating with travelers via Twitter and Facebook, Walsh said he heard a lot of buzz about the successes of those tools in the conference hallways. “There are quite a few calls being made to the home office to discuss social media.”So don’t be surprised if you get a Facebook friend request from your airport before your next flight.
Making friends by being green, artsy and accessible
Even without the latest Web sited du jour, airports are finding new ways to get chummy with customers.
Mirroring the actions of many travelers, an increasing number of airports are going green and adopting earth-friendly practices and procedures ranging from recycling and reducing programs to the installation of major award-winning solar, wind and bio-diesel projects.
Elsewhere, airports in cities such as Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Fla., and Asheville, N.C., are gaining new fans by expanding their exhibition and gallery programs that feature the work of local, regional and national artists. As a bonus, some airports are even making a little extra money by taking a small commission (much less than the 50 percent fee traditional galleries take) on artwork they help sell to travelers.
Eric Lipp, executive director of the Chicago-based Open Doors Organization, shared a low-cost secret for how airports can make life-long friends in the disability community, which includes 22 million people who together spend more than $13.6 billion annually on travel. “When asked ‘What would get you to travel more?,’ the top answer was ‘Staff who go out of their way to help.’ And that doesn’t really cost an airport anything,” Lipp told conference attendees.
And when thinking about travelers with disabilities, Lipp warned airports against assuming that only means people who use wheelchairs or travel with oxygen tanks.As the population ages, he says, many folks in the baby boomer generation are finding airports are becoming more difficult to negotiate. “Those are people who are not likely to ‘self-identify’ as having a disability,” said Lipp, so he urged airports to make new friends among the travel-savvy boomers by insuring that terminals are welcoming and accessible with easy-to-read signs and posted information about distances between gates.
Ready for anything
Sadly, this week’s airport marketing conference was taking place while the world was learning about the disappearance of Air France Flight 447.
It was more than timely that representatives of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Buffalo Niagara International Airport and Pinnacle Airlines were on hand to share notes about how they communicated with the friends and families of passengers, as well as the public, after the tragic crash of Flight 3407 in Buffalo earlier this year.
Sure, we hope airports and airlines will never need to use emergency communication plans, but it is good to know there are people who have practiced and thought carefully about what to say and do in different situations.
Even our own well-meaning friends sometimes get that part wrong.
Harriet Baskas writes msnbc.com's popular weekly column, The Well-Mannered Traveler. She is the author of the “Stuck at the Airport” blog, a contributor to National Public Radio and a columnist for USATODAY.com.
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Finding the ideal exterior shutters for you
As a woman who really cares a lot about the house where I live and the concept around it, the truth is that I am always looking forward to find the best exterior shutters that I could possibly buy around the country. Fortunately, and as you will see as soon as you visit the website above, I have already found the perfect website where I can buy them from.
7 ways to annoy those flight attendants that you don't like
have you ever had an experience where a flight attendant really messed with you? Would you like to know how to make her regret it and annoy her back? If you would, then you definitely need to have a look at the msnbc.com article just below and learn it:
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Our anonymous flight attendant has worked for a well-known commercial airline for 12 years. She dishes on what irritates her most in passenger behavior.
1. Bring your pet on the plane and then act like an animal
Over the years, I've seen a pet on a passenger's lap, a pet tucked into a seatback pocket, and a pet loose in the aisle (I nearly hit one with my beverage cart). All of this is against federal regulations. People tell me how well-behaved their pet is, but they can't follow the rules themselves! Your pet must stay in its carrier while you're on the plane. Yes, even if you've paid a "pet-in-cabin" fee.
2. Shove your bag into the first bin you see and then walk to your seat in the back of the plane
You think you're clever, I know. You expect to grab your bag on your way out of the plane, but you're selfishly inconveniencing others. I can't lie and say we flight attendants don't take some small satisfaction when we tell you, "We couldn't identify the bag's owner, so we sent it to cargo." It's a security issue, for real. Carry-ons need to stay near their owners! So don't look so shocked when we say, "The signs will direct you to baggage claim. You can pick up your bag there."
Stop expecting us to have spare diapers, formula, medicine, toys, playing cards, or batteries for DVD players or Game Boys. It's an airplane, not a 7-11. Take your kid to the restroom before you board. Leave the dry cereal and Legos at home and bring snacks and toys for your kids that won't make a horrible mess.
4. Drag on an oversize bag that's too heavy for you to lift by yourself
I won't be compensated for any injuries I might sustain if I heft your bag into the overhead compartment for you. (And other passengers shouldn't have to step up and take the risk either.) The guideline is simple: You pack it, you stack it. Try this at home as a test (and this is to you ladies, especially): After you've packed your bag, put on the shoes you plan to wear on the plane and see if you can lift your bag and place it on top of your refrigerator. You can't? Pay the fee and check the bag.
5. Gripe that you haven't been seated in a roomy exit-row seat
The exit rows weren't created as a reward for people who are tall, overweight, or just plain nice. They were designed to help passengers get out of the plane in an emergency. The people seated in an exit row must be able to see and speak clearly, open the emergency door, and help others. I prefer to see uniformed military, firefighters, law-enforcement officers, or off-duty pilots and flight attendants sitting in those seats. While the gate agent may assign exit-row seats first, the flight attendant makes the final determination about who gets to sit in them. And the quality of our choices is one of the frequent concerns of Federal Aviation Administration officials when they audit airlines for safety practices. So please don't complain. I'm just doing my job.
Someday I will be muttering "under the seat in front of you" in the old-age home for flight attendants. What is it that you don't understand? To be clear, items should not be stowed behind your calves, under your feet like a footstool, in the open seat next to you, or in your lap. It's under the seat in front of you. And it applies to everything you carry on board. Items stored carelessly can trip others, or dislodge during takeoff and get lost, or inconvenience others. And while I'm on the topic: Please don't wrap your purse (or umbrella strap) around your ankle to keep from forgetting it. What will happen in an emergency, when every second counts and there's no time to disentangle yourself from your precious bag? Will you drag it ball-and-chain-style down the aisle of a burning plane?
7. Whine about the high price of flying
When I hear people complain about coach airfares, I know they're not keeping up with the news. Fares have rarely been cheaper. In recent years, it's not uncommon for you to be able to cross the continent for under $130 each way, with a maximum of one layover. It's a bargain! At that price, you're barely paying for the fuel to get your body there—never mind the cost of shipping your 50 pounds of gear. You're already on the gravy plane. People point to first class ticket holders and want to know why they don't get the same treatment. Wake up folks: You're getting a great deal. If you want even more, pay more!
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Single parent chat room for you
Even considering the fact that I am not a single parent, the truth is that I am aware of the disadvantages and difficulties that come with being one. In fact, my friend Tom is a single parent and it is really difficult for him to find some new friends thanks to the fact that he doesn’t have much time to stay with them…
Still, I recently heard about this useful single parent chat rooms which will definitely play an important role in Tom’s life for sure! I have already informed him about this website and he was extremely excited when he first saw it because it is completely free. Moreover, the website is extremely user-friendly and easy to navigate. Meaning that it is possible to find what we are looking for in just a few minutes. Furthermore, the website is only for single parents, meaning that you will be able to find many other persons that share the same interests and experiences that you do!
So, are you a single parent who would like to meet other persons who are really similar to you? If that’s the case, then you definitely need to take some time to have a look at the website above and see with your own eyes how incredibly easy it will be to find new friends.
Before losing your passport you should know...
Have you ever lost your passport? Would you know what to do if you ever lose yours? If those are some of the matters that you really care about, then you definitely need to read the msnbc.com article below before traveling to Europe:
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By IndependentTraveler.com staff
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By IndependentTraveler.com staff
Traveling abroad? Your passport is the most important document on your packing list; protect it, and it will protect you. Having your passport lost or stolen could turn your otherwise flawless trip into a potential disaster. Read on for ideas about how to protect your passport — and tips for what to do if it's lost or stolen while you're traveling abroad.
Pre-trip planning
Before you leave home, make two copies of your passport identification page. Leave one copy at home with friends or relatives and carry the other with you in a separate place from your passport. It's also a good idea to bring along two or three passport photos; these should be identical 2 inch x 2 inch photographs taken within the last six months, featuring a front view of your face on a white background. Be sure you also have another form of photo ID and a copy of your birth certificate (or another document to prove your citizenship). If your passport is lost or stolen, having these will speed up the replacement process.
Also, if you plan to be abroad for more than two weeks, you may want to register with the U.S. embassy in the country you are visiting. For more information, see Travel Warnings and Advisories.
Safeguard your passportAlthough you may not realize it, a U.S. passport is a hot commodity. To avoid being a target of crime, don't be too conspicuous with it. Not only do you risk having the passport stolen, but your other identification, credit cards and money as well. Take it out only when you need to provide it to officials. At all other times keep it on your person.There are several travel accessories that can help keep your personal items safe. Companies like Magellan's and TravelSmith offer money belts that can be worn around your waist, slipped around your neck or stashed away in a pants leg. For the extremely conscientious, there are even hydro-safe wallets so you can take your passport swimming with you!
Do not leave your passport in checked luggage (but do leave a photocopy of it in your luggage), a handbag or an exposed pocket. If possible, leave your passport in a hotel safe, not in an empty hotel room. One person should never carry all the passports for an entire group. Never lend your passport to anyone, use it as collateral or ask someone to hold it for you.
How to replace a lost or stolen passport
As soon as you realize your passport is missing, contact the nearest police authorities, U.S. embassy or consulate. You will be asked to fill out a DS-11 form, which is the standard passport application form. You are not required to know the passport number or issuance date to apply for a new passport.
In emergencies, you may contact the National Passport Information Center (NPIC) for support. Call (877) 487-2778 to reach an operator Monday through Friday from 8 a.m until 10 p.m. ET; an automated system is also available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you want to find out the status of an application, you can now check online.
Getting some help when you move
As most businesswomen around the country, I really tend to move from state to state a few times during the year so that I can always continue to play an important role in the company, making it even more successful in the market.
Keeping this in mind, I often need the help of moving companies so that I can take the most important furniture, objects and other relevant stuff with me when moving to a new house in other state. As a matter of fact, when the move is not very difficult and I don’t take many things with me to the new house, I simply ask for a man and van service which is enough, making me able to avoid spending too much with the moving company. Furthermore, I once had to remove the content of my old house in Ohio and I really had to spend some days looking for the best removal company in the city. Still, amongst all the removal companies that I know, I would personally say that the best option for you is to definitely have a look at the website to which I have linked above and also check these removal quotes so that you can have a more precise idea of how much it is going to cost you, how easy it will be, amongst many other important information when we decide to hire a removal company.
So, are you moving soon or requiring some removal company services? In both cases, you definitely need to take some of your time to have a look at the links above and see with your own eyes how incredibly easy it is and how much money you will be able to save when hiring the services of the company just above. Personally, I can assure you that I couldn’t be happier with the services that I got from them.
4 lucky travelers missed the doomed Air France flight
Sometimes the worst happens and there is nothing we can do about it. Still, as you may tell from the news, there are 4 lucky travelers who missed the flight that would have made them disappear if they had boarded... Below is another msnbc.com story where you may read more about these 4 travelers:
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PARIS - A reservation mix-up, an overbooking and a Brazilian cabbie's passion for soccer are all that saved some would-be passengers on Air France flight 447 from the fate of 228 others who lost their lives in the mid-Atlantic.
The survivors say their relief is overshadowed by the immense sense of loss they feel for those who didn't make it.
"It feels miraculous and sad at the same time," said Amina Benouargha-Jaffiol, who tried to get on the flight Sunday night, even enlisting a diplomat friend to try to pressure Air France to let her and her husband on.
"Of course, at some level we feel lucky, but we also feel an enormous sadness for all those who perished," she said.For some it was a simple matter of arriving at Rio's airport late; for Andrej Aplinc, it was because he got there early.
The 39-year-old Slovenian sailor and father of two was spared because his cab driver was in a hurry to see a soccer match.
Room to stretch
With time to spare at the airport, Aplinc, who was supposed to take Flight 447, learned there was no seat on the plane with enough legroom for him to stretch out his bum knee. But since he'd arrived early, he was able to board an earlier 4 p.m. Air France flight, which did have a roomy seat.
"It was such huge luck that I flew with that earlier plane," Aplinc said from his home in Radelj Ob Dravi in northeastern Slovenia.
Gustavo Ciriaco was scheduled to be on that 4 p.m. flight. But he arrived late at the check-in and was told airline agents could not find his seat and the gate was about to close.
The 39-year-old Brazilian choreographer and dancer was on his way to Europe for two weeks of rehearsals for his next ballet, and had a connecting flight to catch in Paris.
Ciriaco pleaded to be let him on the plane, and finally the airline discovered the seating error and relented.
If the reservation mix-up hadn't been resolved, "I would have tried to take the following flight because I would have arrived in Paris with enough time to catch my connection," Ciriaco said.
The next flight? Air France 447.
Professional help often needed
"Survivors" like these often need psychological counseling, said Guillaume Denoix de Saint-Marc, whose father was among the 170 people killed in 1989 when Libyan terrorists downed UTA Flight 772 with a suitcase bomb. He now heads an association that helps victims of airline disasters.
"They can have big psychological problems. We meet a lot of people like that," said Denoix de Saint-Marc, who was asked by French authorities to counsel relatives of the victims of Flight 447 at a crisis center at Paris' airport.
Professional help often needed
"Survivors" like these often need psychological counseling, said Guillaume Denoix de Saint-Marc, whose father was among the 170 people killed in 1989 when Libyan terrorists downed UTA Flight 772 with a suitcase bomb. He now heads an association that helps victims of airline disasters.
"They can have big psychological problems. We meet a lot of people like that," said Denoix de Saint-Marc, who was asked by French authorities to counsel relatives of the victims of Flight 447 at a crisis center at Paris' airport.
In the case of UTA flight 772, some of the pilots and cabin crew who had flown the French DC-10 jetliner before handing it over to the doomed crew "couldn't resume their careers," Denoix de Saint-Marc said."They lost their flying licenses because of big psychological problems or alcoholism," he said.
Such traumas have a name: "Survivors' syndrome," seen often in combat and other crisis situations in which those who make it feel as though they fled, deserted their buddies or were cowardly, said psychiatrist Ronan Orio.
But being saved by the ticket counter, traffic or other caprices of life should not be considered traumatic, said Orio, who has worked with victims of hostage situations, terror attacks and airline crashes.
‘... lesson in humility and humanism’
Instead, near-miss situations should be viewed in a positive light, he said.
"People who take a plane and have a second chance win the lotto. They have the right to continue where the others died," he said.
Benouargha-Jaffiol and her husband Claude Jaffiol got a second chance last Sunday.
The couple, who live in Montpellier, France, had pulled strings to try to get on Flight 447, even drafting a family friend, a Dutch diplomat, to phone Air France and try to get them seats on the overcrowded plane.
"My husband demanded that Air France put us on that flight," Benouargha-Jaffiol said. "But nothing doing, the flight was totally full."
She and her husband finally left the airport, returning Monday after the disaster.
"This type of tragedy should give us all a lesson in humility and humanism," she said. "No one lives forever. We often forget that."
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Painting your home
As a woman who loves to travel and who really cares a lot about the outdoor furniture of my houses, I am really obsessed with the external and internal look of my house because I really want to impress everyone that passes near to it on the streets!
Do you also care a lot about your house? Would you like to hire some new services so that you could improve the concept of your house, while making it look better? If that’s the case and if you live in Birmingham or the nearby Alabama areas, then you definitely need to have a look at these Birmingham Painting services that you may hire, as soon as you visit the website above and get their contact. As a matter of fact, you can count with specialized services in areas that range from interior and exterior painting to cabinet refreshing or pressure washing. Furthermore, there is also a testimonials section where you may read what other people think about the services provided by this company, allowing you to have a better idea of the quality of the service that you will be getting.
So, would you like to paint your home while also increasing its value? If the answer is affirmative, then you need to take some time to have a look at the website to which I have linked just above.
Do you also care a lot about your house? Would you like to hire some new services so that you could improve the concept of your house, while making it look better? If that’s the case and if you live in Birmingham or the nearby Alabama areas, then you definitely need to have a look at these Birmingham Painting services that you may hire, as soon as you visit the website above and get their contact. As a matter of fact, you can count with specialized services in areas that range from interior and exterior painting to cabinet refreshing or pressure washing. Furthermore, there is also a testimonials section where you may read what other people think about the services provided by this company, allowing you to have a better idea of the quality of the service that you will be getting.
So, would you like to paint your home while also increasing its value? If the answer is affirmative, then you need to take some time to have a look at the website to which I have linked just above.
Passport rules have already changed
When considering the fact that we need to travel a lot and go to meetings in other countries as part of our jobs, the truth is that it is extremely important that we are always are of the changes that are related to the passports. Below is another msnbc.com article explaining you the changes of the passports in the US:
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By Rob Lovitt
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By Rob Lovitt
Have you heard the news? Starting today, you’re going to need a passport or other “passport-equivalent” document to enter (or re-enter) the United States.
What, you hadn’t heard? Tell me, what’s it like living in a cave?
Of course, if you’re reading this, chances are you’re already aware of the new rule. I mean, how could you not be, considering it’s been at least four years since the government announced its intention to tighten the requirements for cross-border documentation?
Then again, given the convoluted path the process has taken ever since, you could be forgiven for crawling into a cave and waiting for it all to be over.
Serial delays, shifting deadlines and a deluge of applications
Perhaps a brief history is in order.
Back in April 2005, the government unveiled the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) with the laudable goal of streamlining and securing travel between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and the Caribbean. It stated that a birth certificate and photo ID would no longer suffice for cross-border travel and that all travelers, including U.S. citizens, would henceforth need a passport or other WHTI-compliant document. It also set a target implementation date of January 1, 2007.
Well, it missed — or at least fell a little short of the mark. In the fall of 2006, the government decided that the January deadline (reset to January 23) would only apply to air travel and that the rule for travel by sea would be pushed back to “at least” January 2008 (to coincide with the proposed land-travel rule). Blame it on the glacial pace of government action or the relentless pressure of cruise-industry lobbyists, but the 11th-hour switch left many Americans asking, “Well, do I need a passport or not?”It depends, said officials, although they went on to recommend that people be proactive and get one just in case. (Hey, you never know when the rules might change again.) Given that, one would assume that the Passport Office would be prepared to handle the applications it must’ve suspected would come its way. Alas, one would be wrong.
In fact, the Passport Office was caught completely unprepared for the flood of applications that hit in the spring of 2007. The resulting backlog swamped the system, pushing processing times of three or four weeks to three or four months, prompting thousands of frantic phone calls and office visits and putting countless vacations at risk. The situation got so bad that the government actually had to set up a waiver system whereby people who could prove they’d applied for a passport could travel without one.
Oh yeah, and the deadline for travel by land or sea got pushed back to June 1, 2009.
No more snafus, no more excusesSo, here we are, four years after WHTI was announced and the question remains: Is everybody ready for the transition?The government says it is, in part due to a major investment in new technology designed to facilitate the screening process. Much of this is related to the development of the passport card, a less-expensive, wallet-sized alternative to the traditional passport book, and new enhanced driver’s licenses (EDL), which are currently available to residents of Michigan, New York, Vermont and Washington. (The card and EDLs are RFID-enabled so they can be read wirelessly, but they’re valid only for travel by land or sea, not by air.)
And experienced travelers are probably ready. Those who fly have needed a passport since January 2007. Those who cruise get warned repeatedly during the booking process that they should have WHTI-compliant ID (although, wouldn’t you know it, there are exceptions), while those who plan to drive across the border would have to be living in that aforementioned cave not to have gotten the news.
Unfortunately, though, getting the news and accepting the reality are not always the same thing. Even at this late date, it seems there are people out there who believe that they shouldn’t have to get a passport, passport card or EDL at all.
For some, the issue is that they never needed one before, so why should they need one now? Others consider it an insult that they need ID to enter their own country when millions of illegal immigrants all but waltz across the border. And still others suggest it’s a step along the road to a national ID card and a short hop to the black helicopters of the New World Order.
Honestly, I don’t know about any of that, but I do know this. If you don’t want to get a passport, you don’t have to. If you prefer to travel domestically, you certainly can. But if you plan to cross the border, do those of us who’ll be behind you in line a favor and have appropriate ID. After four-plus years of warnings, it’s not just about time; it’s long overdue.
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