Passport renewed

I finally renewed my passport. It expired early last year but I didn't really have any plans to travel abroad last year or even early this year. As such, it wasn't a big deal that I didn't have a valid passport for maybe almost a year. In any case, I made use of some time off late last year to finally schedule an appointment at the DFA and work out the requirements. In fact, I made a mistake in understanding the requirements because I thought that a birth certificate was needed even for renewals. Apparently, it isn't. You just need your old passport and the filled-out form (plus photocopies of these requirements and the payment). In any case, that was also the first time I requested my birth certificate from NSO online and I have it say, it was really easy and straightforward.

I ended up spending maybe a little more than an hour at the DFA satellite office but it was quite comfortable and you could see that the line was moving at a good pace. I didn't choose to pay the Express fee of P250 since I wasn't in a hurry and in fact, I claimed my passport a few weeks after it was supposed to be ready for pick-up. (I also didn't choose the delivery option since I wasn't sure where I would be when my passport was ready - whether in the office or at home - so I thought it best to just go back to DFA). Now that I have my passport, I have started making plans to take my first international trip since 2013. Should be fun. :)