by Anura Guruge
on June 24, 2022

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Another decade has rolled by and it is time for I to renew my beloved British passport (the only passport I have).

Unlike in prior decades, viz., 1992, 2002 & 2012, you can no longer renew your passport at a local embassy — which in my case, in the past, was the British Embassy in D.C.

Now the process is centralized, in the U.K. & it is all done ONLINE. I will admit it is pretty slick though I found it nigh on impossible to submit a digital passport photo that met their stringent standards! In the end I had to apply for a medical waiver — to compensate for not being able to have my eyes as wide open as they want. It is crazy. Well, I do have a genuine eye condition which does make me ‘squint’ in bright light IF I am not wearing shades — & bright lights are required because they abhor any shadows.

But, from what I can see they no longer demand that you submit your birth certificate & citizenship papers. Well, I am RENEWING my passport and they have already seen those documents multiple time. You do have to enter your passport number pretty early on — as you would expect.

The only thing I had to send in — to the U.K. — (as they had repeatedly told me from the get go) was my expiring passport. No different to the old system. They still insist on cutting the edges off the covers so that folks can see that it is no longer valid. Quaint. Border control use electronic passport scanners that check the passport number. Why they can’t just cancel the passport number, thus invalidating the passport for TRAVEL, alludes I. I guess they are worried that you might still use an expired passport as an ID.

So, after I had completed the online process, which only took like 3 minutes ONCE I got my photo waiver, I had to get my old passport back to Blighty. Well, I guess I could have hand carried it over, BUT it would have meant I had to stay over for 6 to 8 weeks till I got my new passport. That was not going to work.

So, I had to get it over by mail & my 4 options were: DHL, USPS, UPS & FedEx. Cost was never an issue (& that is a GOOD thing because as you will see, this is NOT a cheap exercise).

I refuse to have any truck with DHL. Way back, 35-years ago, for 3 years or more, DHL refused to deliver stuff to my house because I lived on a dirt road! [I still live on a dirt road & have lived on dirt roads during most of my 37-years in NH.] They would leave my stuff at a gas station in town & expect me to pick it up from there. Well, as you can imagine, that did not sit well with I. So, DHL was out.

USPS, the Post Office, was the nearest option & I do KNOW that they have a ‘registered’ International Service. So, I decided to go the Post Office yesterday afternoon.

TO AVOID blushes (& possible recrimination) I will NOT mention which one I went to — & just for the record I am known to frequent 4 different post offices in this area.

There were two clerks, one make the other female, working the counter. I had dealt with both of them before. They were not brand new. Once I told them what I needed done, the male clerk turned to the female and asked whether she had ever done a ‘guaranteed’ overseas shipment. She hadn’t but remembered that they had gone over it in their training. The male clerk also had not done one. That he was UNSURE whether the International Service covered the U.K. was unsettling. He only relaxed when I told him ‘England … England’. [Ah! Not the U.K., but England.]

He gave me an envelope and the form. See above. I filled everything in. He told me it would cost $87 and that USPS was cheaper than FedEx (who would be the eventual carrier). Now the problems BEGAN. He could NOT get his computer to accept the letter. He tried. He tried. He called up the Exeter P.O.! The two folks he wanted to talk to were not there. To his credit he told me that I should take my letter to FedEx — to the FedEx counter at Walmart (in Rochester). Well, that wasn’t going to happen. I was NOT going to let some pimply 17-year old kid at Walmart handle my passport.

So, USPS struck out.

I decided, after a couple of phone calls, to try a local (25 mins away) UPS Store. NOT an UPS Office an UPS Store. There was just one older lady there. She was rushed off her feet taking care of Amazon & Etsy returns. She too started grilling me about the U.K. Again, she was NOT sure whether UPS went to the U.K. [I kid you NOT.] It wasn’t good. I walked out AFTER thanking her.

It was now past 5pm & I was DONE.

So, UPS — albeit an UPS Store — also struck out.

That left FedEx. I like & trust FedEx.

There is an actual FedEx Office — a Ship Center — in Gilford. (See below) I have used them, very successfully, for the last 20-years. I trust them. That is where I should have gone in the first place. It is just that they are 45-minutes away. I was trying to SAVE TIME — & that cost me.

Went to Gilford this afternoon. Got there around 1:45. I was the only customer there at that time. ‘Michelle’ was OUTSTANDING. She did EVERYTHING on the computer. I didn’t have to fill in any forms — just sign four (4). It cost me $92.03. It was worth every penny. What service.

It hasn’t gone to the U.K. as yet. (SMILE) It is supposed to get there on Monday, 6/27. Well fingers crossed.

So, that is the story.