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Issue date: 4/25/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: Tim Lester, Photographer Current regulations for traveling by air include having the necessary documentation to go to exotic locales around the world. As of January 2007, it was decided that a passport is required to travel to Mexico and Canada and in 2009 will be needed for cruiselines.

Summer is coming up and that means one thing for most people: traveling. With the recent problems among flight companies and new passport laws though, getting to that exotic locale should be thought of more carefully.

Nancy Hearne of Horizon Travel here in San Angelo said that those traveling by air are now required to have a passport unless going to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and Hawaii.

"If anyone is planning on doing any traveling, I would suggest they get a passport," she said.

Not all college students do a lot of traveling though.

"I don't really travel much," said junior Samantha Burns. She notes that when she does travel, she doesn't fly but takes a car.

The new requirements of the passport being required for the countries that border the U.S. has not really been a problem this year, Hearne said. She did say that when this started last year, passport agencies could not accommodate all the requests for passports, meaning customers had to re-book or cancel their flights.

Getting a passport on time is important and it is never too early to purchase this item.

Passports are good for ten years and Hearne said that anyone who has any idea that they will be doing any traveling should get one as soon as possible. The length of time to receive a passport can be anywhere from six weeks to four months and costs around $90-95.

Another option is to get an expedited passport, which means someone can get it faster but it costs more money.

"It won't be long before you have to have one [a passport] to get on a plane domestically," she said. This means that someone would have to get a passport to travel within the U.S. as well. By doing this, the country would be following in the steps of places such as Europe and Asia.

Hearne said that September 11 was a big wake up call for the travel industry and its safety precautions.

Continued...

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