Since January of this year, passport offices in Canada have been in turmoil from opening to closing each day. Since the US requires a passport for air travel as of 2007, Canadians have been scurrying like rabid wolverines to get their travel documents in order before leaving for destinations in our neighbor trading partner. It is estimated that Passport Canada receives an average of 20 000 passport applications a day. The US requirement isn’t strictly enforced but to avoid hassle, they strongly recommend travel with a passport. Almost on a weekly occurrence, I hear about stories in the newspaper and television about people who need their passport urgently or else they can’t attend weddings, funerals, or other time-sensitive issues. What I don’t understand is if these events were that important as they claimed, why didn’t they give themselves much more time and apply months in advanced? I knew I was going to the San Francisco Bay area back in January so I applied for my passport in November. There were crazy line-ups already back in November but I was able to by-pass most of the people there because I filled my application on-line. It’s human nature to leave things to the last second and I’m guilty as any other person for this but don’t be calling up the local newspaper to bitch about the system when it was your lazy-ass nature that put you in this situation. There’s a local couple in greater Vancouver area who are waiting for their passport because it is the only bottleneck to their wedding bliss in Texas. Their $3000 honeymoon in Mexico hinges on the passport as well. The 23 year old groom is planning on starting a career as a plumber after the honeymoon. Four hundred people are invited and everything is paid for and there are no refunds, yada yada…..

A wedding of this magnitude needs anywhere from two to twelve months to plan so why didn’t they apply for their passport then? I guess plumbers aren’t the authority when it comes to planning and only are experts at plugging holes.