If you’re thinking about traveling internationally with kids and teens, among the very first things you should do is apply for a passport. It’s your ticket to the world! Our children have had passports since they were babies so we were always ready to fly when needed. A good reminder is that a child’s passport (anyone under 16) only lasts for five years and you can’t renew them when they expire; you have to do a new application each time.
For U.S. Citizens your journey begins here to apply or renew for a passport. The steps are very specific on the documents you will need for the application, so follow them carefully! We have had great success in getting all the requirements checked off and having the passports returned to us very fast.
As a quick note, and we made the mistake of doing this on a trip, ALWAYS CHECK YOUR PASSPORT EXPIRATION DATE! A good rule of thumb is make sure you have 6 months of passport validity (meaning, it won’t expire until 6 months after your return date to the U.S.). Right before a trip to the EU, we realized our children’s passports expired in four months. Technically we had enough validity for the specific countries we were visiting, but it still caused us some stress and we decided to get them new passports (remember, you can’t renew children’s passports) and expedited them. Don’t be us, just always know when your passports expire!