The State Department of the U.S. announced that you can now renew your passport online with a few simple steps as outlined here:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/renew-online.html

This is awesome news for anyone who hates the old way of submitting paperwork and waiting for whatever time it takes to receive, process, and send you your updated information. I no longer dread the process I’ll need to do in just a few years.

Most people should be able to qualify for this type of renewal and there appear to be very few exceptions that apply to common folk. It is an awesome advancement and I hope they follow suit with other routine federal processes, but that is for another blog.

Yesterday marked two weeks until we will be heading to Scotland. The reality of the trip has finally come into better focus and I have started to get excited.

I always find that it is best to reserve these feelings for the last few days leading up to the departure, but in this instance, I simply can’t help myself. It’s the first time either of us will have traveled internationally in years, and the idea has the power to send my imagination off on tangents all day long. We haven’t traveled together internationally since 2006, so we will both be bringing entirely new perspectives and sets of experiences to the table.

This will be an easy way to test the waters of our future travels together and establish our rhythm as a pair in novel circumstances. Travel has a way of putting a lot of undue stress on the individuals and on the relationship itself. Navigating that stress joyfully adds a rich layer of appreciation that you get to keep well after returning home.

For my part, I intend to dedicate my attention fully to the experience while documenting the events for storytelling purposes. I am ready to enjoy it all with her, as well as provide needed support in times that are anxiety-inducing.

I’ve decided to make use of some recording equipment to host a travel-related podcast as another means to tell my stories of adventure with my literal voice. As I’ve started to tackle the bear that is my epic travel tales from Southeast Asia I have come to realize how much more oomph these stories would have if I could narrate them. Plus, it’ll be a riot to do.

I have an existing podcast that was used for my more esoteric monologues but I think travel will have broader appeal. I will also sneak in little bits of my life’s philosophy because travel is one of the threads that make up the tapestry of my life so far.

I will post the stories to read in the traditional fashion here and also narrate them there if you’d like to hear how it all went down. There are some hilarious tidbits that I tell far better in an audio format so it will be a real pleasure to create.