Some mistakes are more costly than others.... as I learned this weekend. We have damaged passports as a result of not doing something simple- like zipping a bag they were housed in. For some reason, my husband and I decided to play with a safe and locked our passports in it - not a smart move at all. In any case, there was water damage and most of the documents were fine but the passports did not make it because I did not ziploc a ziploc(R) bag- ARGH!!
It is so frustrating to make a costly mistake like this one. Granted, my daughter's passport would not work past another 2 years- kids' passport are only good for 5 years because their faces change so much but most adults can have passports for 10 years. So, needless to say, this is frustrating news since a passport runs anywhere from $125 down to $45 depending on what your needs are. Most passport books are $100 for a 10-year booklet. Renewals are cheaper so losing the original, have it stolen or damaged really does add up - fortunately for us, we caught this before a big trip - it would not have been good to have discovered something like this on the eve of a huge international trip. In any case, it is always good practice to have a valid passport so my husband and I should at least get ours replaced. Oh, the fun things we have to do to stay .... well, valid!
