I'm leaving for Switzerland in mid-August and I need to renew my passport. According to the government passport website, it'll take around 6 weeks for delivery of my new passport. This makes me a little nervous. What's the best advice for getting it in the most painless way? I'm in NYC. Thanks.

The way that's the most painless psychologically, though not for your wallet, youd be to pay for "expedited service", which costs $35 plus express mail fees. Check the link near the bottom of this page:<BR><BR>http://travel.state.gov/passport_renewal.html

Don't fret about it.It took them two weeks to renew mine last winter.Save the expediting fees for some swiss wine and cheese.

Jeanne,<BR><BR>Both Suzy and Stu are right. <BR><BR>Last Summer my girlfriend and I renewed our passports. I payed for the "expedited service" while she just went with the normal service. My passport arrived in about 7 - 10 days, while hers took about 2 1/2 weeks.<BR><BR>Granted, the normal service can depend on how busy they are but it sounds as if you'll have plenty of time.<BR><BR>Strive

But winter and midsummer are much slower times at the passport office -- June is prime time, and more likely to be delayed.

If you live in NYC I think you have to be leaving in less than 4 weeks to be eligible for expedited service. That is what they told me when I needed my passport renewed last May. <BR>You can either send it out now, or wait a couple of weeks and then you will have to go to the office in person, with you airline ticket, and take care of it. This will take at least 2 hours, plus a return trip to pick up the new passport.

The web site that I cited above describes how to do the expedited service by mail without any proof of travel required.

You usually submit your itinerary along with your documents. I had a friend that work at the passport office in DC. They break them down by date of departure if you include your itinerary. I wouldn't worry. The passport office is one of the few gov't offices that works pretty well.

I renewed mine by sending it off March 12th of this year and recieved it on March 27th. I remember the dates because I was flabbergasted that it was so fast. Good Luck.

I just got mine back after sending it in just to get additional pages, not even a renewal, and it took a little over 4 weeks. We had told them that we needed it back by June 15 (OK, we lied, our actual departure date was 2 weeks later), and it turned out that, as Dawn said, they really tried to meet that date: the envelope was marked by the postage meter on June 11, but unfortunately it didn't actually arrive until June 18! Boy, were we sweating and kicking ourselves for not spending the $35 for the expedited service, when June 15 came and went and no passport had arrived!