Tips re mobile phones and passports
2 May 2024
Mobile phone tips:
This is a great article about limiting the problems you may encounter if you lose your phone. I think we should all assume that we will lose our phone, at least temporarily, at some point.
I recommend using AirTags, Tile or the FindMy app to tag things that you don’t want to lose, including mobile phones, keys, remote control, purses, luggage and cars. I also recommend testing them every so often to make sure they work and to remember how to use them so it won’t be a big deal if something gets lost. For fun, I use them when in a big parking lot (find my car) or when out of town (find keys or luggage). I have not tried them on pets but do remember searching and worrying about lost cats and dogs in the past - perhaps this would have helped.
Passport renewals:
I just got my passport renewed. This seemed important to me:
Make an appointment at the post office and have them take your picture. The appointment was for the next day - they said they didn’t take walk-ins. It cost me $15. Walgreens cost $18 but the photo was rejected because I was wearing glasses.
For a normal renewal, I think it has to be done by mail. I mailed it by regular mail on 15 March 24 and received the new passport on 25 April 24, 6 weeks later. I did not do “expedited”. It took a little longer because they rejected my photo, so I went to the post office the next day and they took the photo, but they didn’t have a digital version. So a friend took a photo of the photo, cleaned it up and I emailed it back to the Passport office (they gave me an email address when they rejected the photo), which they accepted.
If you travel overseas, you must renew it when you know you won’t need it, which may be tricky. I renewed it at the beginning of my longest period with no overseas travel.
You can check on the passport status online.
Overall, the process worked pretty well.
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