Archive for June 2011
Securing A Passport For Aruba Doesn’t Have To Be Painful
On January 8, 2007, all travelers to Aruba and other Caribbean destinations will need a U.S. passport for air travel. The change comes as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security attempts to alleviate travel concerns about border security under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. Unlike previous years when passports were not required for travel to Caribbean beach resorts, this upcoming season has added potential for traveler headache. As many tourists that have planned their Aruba family vacation or scheduled a wedding may not be aware of the new rules, there could well be a rush on new passport applications near the end of the year. Also, because the program will be in its first season, there certainly exists a possibility of delays beyond the outlined timeframes for passport applications.
So, as you plan your activities for your Aruba wedding or vacation, you should also organize your materials for your passport application. Currently, the State Department claims that passport applications take 4 to 6 weeks to process. As backlogs are certainly expected this season, it is recommended that you either apply for your passport now as a couple of months remain before the legislation goes into effect, or apply as soon as you know you are going to travel.
To alleviate some of your concern, here are some additional recommendations to secure your passport as quickly and easily as possible for your Aruba vacation and even an outline of what to do when you don’t have enough time to apply for a passport via traditional methods.
Regardless of how you plan on applying for your passport, the first thing you need to do is obtain proof of U.S. citizenship, usually in the form of a birth certificate. If you have an expired passport in your possession, that can also serve as acceptable documentation. Next, you will need to have a pair of passport pictures made. This is one of the easiest steps as many businesses such as drugstores and copy shops offer the service. Then, carefully complete the passport application available on the State Department website, or obtain an application from any post office or government facility.
Now you have to determine if you have enough time to wait 6 weeks or possibly longer for your passport to return. If you have ample time, prepare the necessary payment and mail through one of the accepted locations. To find a location to apply and pay for a passport in person, visit http://iafdb.travel.state.gov/.
If you are in a bit of a time crunch, you must determine what method will be the most effective for expediting the completion of your passport. Your best choices are expediting the application directly through the State Department or working with a third-party service. Though only the Passport Services Office of the State Department has the authority to issue passports, companies such as Passport Express and Travisa work directly with the government to secure passports in as little as 24 hours.
Either way, if it is your first passport or you have lost your expired passport, you must go to a passport acceptance facility with your passport photos, proof of citizenship and photo ID to have your application validated. The State Department lists about 7,000 locations, including courts, post offices, libraries and government offices.
At this stage, one of your options is to remit payment and mail applications from these approved locations. When mailing directly to the Passport Services Office, you will also have the ability to pay $60 for expedited shipping. Though this method doesn’t guarantee passport completion for immediate departures, it can be useful if you are traveling within 3 to 4 weeks to ensure you receive your passport.
In lieu of submitting your application directly to the Passport Services Office, your alternatives are to have your materials approved for mailing via the aforementioned third-party expediting services, or to make an appointment with one of 13 regional passport agencies. The regional offices serve citizens traveling within 2 weeks and can usually provide passports within 2-3 business days. After making an appointment at such an agency, you will need to provide proof of travel within the allotted timeframe. Yet, because these offices are located in only 13 cities, the third-party companies serve as more convenient methods for simplifying and expediting your passport application.
It is also worth noting that a Passport Card, or PASS Card, program is in development for land and sea travel to and from the Caribbean. When approved for use, this credit card-sized passport alternative could eliminate the need for a traditional passport if you were to travel to Aruba via cruise from the U.S. without any international air travel.
Free Advice on Choosing Car on Rent
Rental Car in unknown city is always hectic thing we every face as we don’t have any ideas on what the cheapest way to avail car rental in unknown city. Here I mentioned some free advice on choosing car rental in Paris.
1. Car rental is possible under certain conditions – you are over 21 years in some companies, the requirements of 25 years, you have a credit card and international driving license.
If no credit card, then it is theoretically possible to pay rent cars in cash, BUT! As a rule permitting only a small local offices to rent a car , which implies that the level of service will be much lower than in large companies, for example, if the car breaks down on the road, it will be solely your problems, while the giants rolled all efforts would take.
Or is there an easier but more expensive way, you can apply even in France, the agency providing assistance in renting a car in Paris France, for example, Carrental8france.com.
2) Making a contract, ask the manager to explain to you in detail every item of it, especially the section Coverage.Check the filling of the graph. Make sure that the car and have insurance in case of an accident. However, insurance is issued by the companies to rent a car, does not apply to car theft. And if you have a hotel without an internal parking lot, we really do recommend insurance to cover expenses in case of theft.
3) The final settlement takes place on the return of the vehicle. This takes time! Therefore you should not arrive at the airport for half an hour before departure in the hope that you will be free in a few minutes. The company must inspect the car for damage and sign the appropriate paper, and only then take money from you and will close the deal.
By the way, most companies require that the car is returned with the same amount of fuel, which was taken as well as clean inside and out. In another case you can deduct the cost of cleaning and the missing gasoline.
SIGNIFICANT NOTES
1) First, recall that in the summer of France, the place is quite hot, so choosing a car take the car only with air conditioning! Do not skimp on the conditioner, or after each trip you\’ll feel as if you were carrying a machine on him but it is not you…
2) Following important nuance: when renting the car, choose the car convenient and compact, but not beautiful… On the whole island is a problem with parking – the less you take the car, the easier it is to find a parking place, with a large machine can hover for a long time in search of a suitable size parking space. However, if you are going to travel by car further than to the sea and back again, look for a car is convenient – you do not feel \”tight\”, i.e. for example, SMART better in this case to refuse.
3) If you plan to arrive or come to a town on the island, and sent back from another city – in advance see if the place of origin is a point of that company to rent a car, where you took the car to leave at the end did not have to frantically look for another car.
4) And again about parking – we do not recommend to park car in prohibited places – in the best case, the penalty will be discharged not less than 100 Euros, at worst – car taken away, and then you\’ll be running around and trying to figure out where is it! Do not be confused by the presence of vehicles in prohibited areas – they meet the same fate in case of failure. So do not park in the prohibitory signs, and if Pri-park the blue lines – buy parking tickets.
5) Be very careful with parking cars! Park next to the hotel, bar or beach etc., or day-of paid parking better – not blue stripes, and enclosure with the caretakers. Because unfortunately, car theft is perhaps the only, but rather a real danger in France, although of course there are exceptions – almost all small towns, where almost everyone knows each other, the cars leave even kilometer to the house. Or close to tourist attractions parked near the sights you can leave safely, though more often here, dispose of unofficial caretakers, who on returning to the car usually leave a trifle. Hijackers in places where there are caretakers do not even look.
If it is possible – try to stay in hotels that have their own parking.
6) In France, many cars are charged with a diesel engine – taking a car, ask about the necessary fuel, which drives this car with a gasoline car is faster, and with a diesel engine usually drives more miles.
7) As a general rule, the price of rent per day is reduced, depending on the period for which you take the car, i.e., more days – the less the price.
And finally – if you want to feel like celebrities then you can hire luxurious cars like a Ferrari or Lamborghini – it is also possible of course, the price will be different, but fun and get incomparably more. But for that you need to search on internet.