very nice of them

Just noticed in my U.S. Embassy paperwork that my payment for that emergency passport means I don’t have to pay again for the new permanent one. Very civil of them.

It takes 10 days to get one. They actually ship all the materials back to the USA, create the new passport there, and then send it back to Egypt for me to pick up. This system was apparently instituted in 2002, replacing the old one in which new passports were created on the spot.

Even though I don’t plan to leave the country in the next 10 days, it always gives me a vaguely queasy feeling to be sitting in Egypt without a passport of any kind.