O Canada and Your Efficient Passport Office

Woo-hoo! My passport has arrived... I'm good for another 5 years.

It took about 3 weeks. My application was executed meticulously.

Here are some things I learned, as a recap for the Canucks:

• Your guarantor may be a family member. My father was mine. The only restriction is that they must have a valid 5-year passport.
• Passport Canada's website and/or phone service has good information, including processing times. They said 4 weeks for me. I called them upon receipt and one woman said "call us near 6/13 to see how it's going". It arrived today on 6/9.
  
• Resident Canadians should definitely look into the express service which is even faster.
• Obviously, triple-check the list they give you to make sure everything is in order. That said, I think my eye colour was different on my app versus my driver's license (hazel versus green). Ah well... what's a hue among compatriots!

Happy day... In other news, I called Geico, the insurance for the guy that hit my car. They were very courteous and are getting me hooked up with a repair shop and rental: the works. The timing is not ideal (June is crazy busy) but not much we can do.