[useful]

Near the end of last year, I had to renew my passport that had expired. I had to travel and was in a sweet spot window where I couldn't renew it and get it in time and I couldn't just go to a passport office and get one.

I ended up having to drive to El Paso, which was the only passport office that was open in the entire United States! I had to wait until a few days before my flight. There were people from all over staying in a hotel waiting for their passport. They had standby flights to leave once they got it. I met people from California, Arizona, Michigan, New York, and Florida. It was totally ridiculous.

[ghaff]

Last year wasn't exactly typical. (I haven't needed it but I was very glad I renewed my passport pre-pandemic given that it was nearly out of pages even though it had a few years left.)