For all of those out there who have not yet renewed or gotten a Canadian passport and need to...do it NOW.
For those of you not aware, as of Jan 23 2007 the United States made it a requirement for all Canadians to have a passport in order to enter their country. This sucks. Since then it has been a mad rush for people who are planning to travel to the States in the next few months to get or renew a passport. This is not a huge deal for those not planning to travel to the United States anytime soon. Being the genius that I am, I decided in January that I should travel to Las Vegas this April. Unfortunately, I live on the island. But what does this matter you ask....it matters.
Victoria is the only city on Vancouver Island with a passport office, meaning that if you live in Parksville or even further up the island you must drive to Victoria in order to get a passport. Of course, you can always send the documents away to get your passport-NOT. It has been said that applications sent in on December 1, 2006 have not even been opened yet. Not to mention that if you happen to make an error (ex: forget a box) they send it back to you and you have to start all over again. Trust me, its best to go in person.
This mad rush to get a passport has resulted in horrendous line ups at the passport office. My friend said she was there at 5am and already 100 people were lined up at the door, she waited 6 hours. I figured the line ups would be better after the Jan 23rd cut off date, so I waited until yesterday to head out. Here is my story.
I woke up at 5am yesterday morning and dressed really warm, as my friend Janice said it was cold and it would be a long day. I was there by 6am and already over 100 people were lined up. The first 5 positions were filled by street people (camped out) offering to sell me their spot for $400...yeah right. I moved on. It was dark and cold and I was tired but it was a clear night and, being 2 blocks away from the ocean, smelled fresh salt water. Victoria does have a problem with street people but these days, what city doesnt? I find most of them are quite harmless and friendly and if you ignore them, they ignore you. They do rule the streets at night though and many were out in full force, taking advantage of the herd of people invading their territory, begging for money from everyone they met.
The longest part of the day was the first 2.5 hours, waiting for the office to open. At 8:30 they finally came around handing out tickets. They only hand out 200 and I was #169, the people behind me got sent home. I felt bad because many of them were from out of town but hey-the early bird gets the worm! Plus, this was the only day that I could use to get this done. Its currently reading break and I had the day off work. I was frozen long before the office opened though, my feet were solid blocks of ice by 7am. I'm glad I had my iPOD with me though, it helped to get me through the first 2.5 hours of waiting.
When the line began to move (4 steps every 20 mins) I got to know the people around me. I will always remember the 5 friends I made that day and our adventure at the passport office. Although I couldn't tell you their names, I can tell you exactly when and where they are travelling!
The lady on my right spent 8 hours in line last Friday and was 4 people from the door when they shut it down for the day. My heart went out to her. She is going to the south of France this summer to spend time in a villa with her family in celebration of her father's 75th birthday. She was really nice and gave me her scarf to wrap up in.
The lady on my left took over the wait from her husbad at 8:30 when he had to go to work. She was tiny but a talker! She wasnt travelling anywhere but her kids are this summer-she was in line for them (as most of the adults there were). She shared her gigantic ginger cookie with the 5 of us (we were all starving).
The couple beside her were elderly (60ish) and soo sweet. They are touring Europe for 5 months this summer. I am proud of how they stood up against the elements of the day because I am a healthy 24 year old and I barely made it through.
The man beside the couple was from Nanaimo and he is taking his kids to Disneyland next month. He had sent in their applications but they were sent back because of one error and he was running out of time (didn't want to chance it again) so came in person.
The 6 of us chatted and were moral support for one another, nicer strangers you will never meet. We huddled for warmth, looked after one another's stuff/position so that they could pee, get coffee or slip into the mall to thaw their feet. When we finally made it into the building, we cheered everytime one of us got called to the counter. The other people smiled at us and told us they liked our team spirit. The entire time we lived for the line to move, we 'willed it' together every 15 minutes. It was very cold and rained but we stayed dry as we were covered for most of the line and when we weren't we put our umbrellas together. Team work baby!
Although I stood in line for 8.5 hours (in the cold rain) it wasn't a bad day. It will always be a good story to tell and it was bearable because I met 5 incredibly friendly and kind people. I couldn't have had nicer people to share such an experience with. I wish them all the best in their future travels and hopefully I will run into them again one day.
