Need a Passport? Apply Now

If you’re even thinking about a trip abroad and you need a new passport, or need to renew an old one, apply now.

The State Department, which expects this year to easily top last year’s record of processing 5 million passports, says that even mail-in applications that used to take two weeks to process are taking as long as four to five weeks.

The surge has several causes, spokesmen say. One is that more people are traveling and another is that more renewals are flowing in for the new 10-year passports, which began expiring in 1994. In addition, more residents are applying for citizenship because of Proposition 187 and “once they become citizens, one of the first things people do is get a U.S. passport,” a spokesman said.

You can use a mail-in renewal application if you can submit your most recent passport that’s less than 12 years old, you were at least 18 when it was issued and you use the same name or have an original marriage certificate or court document changing your name. The fee is $55; pick up the application at county courthouses and post offices listed as passport acceptance facilities in the U.S. Government pages of the phone book. (Call the offices listed for more help.)

Otherwise, you have to appear in person at the facility with your birth certificate with raised seal, your old passport or naturalization papers and driver’s license to prove your identity. For tape-recorded information, call the U.S. Passport Agency at (310) 235-7070.

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Admission Fee at Canterbury

Tourists have flocked to Canterbury Cathedral since the 12th Century, but starting this summer, they will have to pay to enter.

Beginning June 5, visitors will be charged 2 (about $3.35) for access to the cathedral precincts, including the vast church, the cloister and the surrounding ruins and buildings, according to the Associated Press.

Admission will not be charged on Sundays, and residents and those with a “genuine wish to worship” will still be admitted free. “We will run a ‘benefit of the doubt’ policy,” said Canon Roger Symon.

Canterbury joins a growing number of hard-pressed English cathedrals that are selling tickets, including St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in London, and Ely Cathedral, 70 miles northeast of London. Church officials hope the plan will raise $1.6 million the first year, to help offset maintenance costs that run nearly $11,000 a day.

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Two Tours by Water in Boston, D.C.

New land/water tours of Boston and Washington, D.C., feature amphibious vehicles--the same ones used to carry troops and supplies in World War II. The 80-minute Boston tours take in Beacon Hill and the Back Bay area, then cruise the Charles River; the 90-minute Washington tours cover the White House, the Capitol and other sites, then launch into the Potomac. Both tours are offered through November. Boston Duck Tours (617-723-3825) are $18; Washington’s D.C. Ducks (202-966-3825) are $16.

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New Number for United Kingdom

Calling the United Kingdom? The country code has changed from 44 to 441. To place a call to the Channel Islands, England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, dial 011-441, and then the city code and the telephone number.