Frost's Passport has ARRIVED

Leading up to our departure next week we are still waiting on two passports - Josh's from the US Passport Agency and Frost's from the Australian one. Although Frost has a US passport, the Australian government requires him to enter Australia on his national one (which had expired). Josh had lost his US one after our last trip 4 years ago so both had to be replaced.

Josh submitted his on February 24th and his passport is still not listed as being in the US Passport Agency System. I waited on hold for 20 minutes yesterday and was finally told that his passport had been entered on March 3rd but was "backlogged" and so no updates were posted. It has not been completed yet but should be made by late next week. SHOULD. Thankfully, Josh is leaving 10 days after us so there is still time for it to arrive. However, if we had believed the 3 week processing time he was told on receipt, we would be very anxious right now.

Meanwhile, Frost's was submitted on March 8th in San Francisco (via Fedex) and has just been delivered to us on the 16th. That took them 8 days to create and deliver a passport from interstate. I consider that pretty impressive.

I suppose to give the US Passport Agency their due, they are trying to equip a nation of non-passport holders who are only now requiring what they call "passport BOOKS" How big are these things? Almost all Australians get a passport when they become adults. There is nowhere else to go without a passport unlike US Americans who, until recently, could roam Canada and Mexico on their drivers' license. Actually, this is only what I have been told... I still cannot believe it.