Ahh. How I dread going to government offices. I hate it when the time comes that I need to renew stuff. Passport Renewal. Drivers License Renewal. In the Philippines. But then, it’s what I needed to do since I love travelling, and my passport is almost expired – hindering me from leaving the country six months before it expires. So, the ultimate sacrifice happened today, as I spent my morning at the Department of Foreign Affairs building to renew my passport.
Good thing my sister was with me to renew her passport as well, for it would have bored me to tears in being alone. I remember way back, when we applied for passports, we had them done by our trusty travel agency, as we just entered the old DFA facility, signed, and left. It was that easy. But I heard and researched that companions weren’t even permitted inside the DFA main building anymore so paying extra to make it easier wouldn’t really help much. With that, I decided to book my appointment with DFA online. Apparently, DFA’s in sync with technology as they make us book online for our passport application and renewal needs, with the DFA Passport Appointment System.
My appointment was at 10 am, while my sister’s was at 9: 30 am. Silly me for not being able to realize that for every half hour, DFA allows 50 people to make an appointment. I should have just had my sister and I have the same time.
We were pretty early that day, as we arrived at 8:30 am, anticipating crowds of people. Turned out, yes, there was indeed a crowd, so off we start with our adventure!
Here are our tips, coupled with some comments and narrations from our adventure that day in having our passports renewed :
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