It makes me nervous to give up my passport. I feel like one of the folks in Casablanca, waiting waiting. It’s not that I imagine I might have to suddenly jump on a plane and leave the country in the middle of the night.
Probably.
But I feel as if some essential part of me has been handed off into the void. It was necessary: my passport expires in May and I already have my ticket to go back to Scotland (of course). There should be plenty of time, yet it’s impossible not to image things going awry.
I like having all the stamps that show places I’ve been: in and out of the UK, to Switzerland this year and Italy before that, back to Finland and my 2-page visa for Ireland. I want to add even more in the next one and made sure to order the thicker book.
I wish I could get a Norwegian passport: the new American ones are so hideous you’d think they were designed by someone in Duck Dynasty or some other ‘murrican sort of group. I don’t suppose I’m allowed to cover it with Hello Kitty stickers. Alas.
K. A. Laity 
I feel as if some essential part of me has been handed off into the void.
I share that feeling exactly when I have to send mine off, particularly since, in the interim until the new one arrives, I’m a Brit living in the US without a passport. Of course, I have my Green Card, but . . .
It’s unsettling! I have to fly to New Orleans and for a moment I thought, ‘Oh no! What will I do?’ and then remembered I can use my driver’s license.
Hello Kitty stickers are most assuredly a sign that you are up to no good! 🙂
Too true!
I got mine last summer. I did appreciate the mail-in option (and fretted about that shackled feeling from surrendering it) but it took FOREVER to get a competent picture around here. Still, much less time than expected, and much less stress than the last renewal, which took place when I realized my passport had expired several days before I was supposed to get on a plane to Australia. Yikes!
I almost went for the expedited version but it was already so expensive and there ought to be more than enough time…but…
And I have the worst time with photos as I always close my eyes. Now I keep them shut until they count down.