{"id":98883172,"date":"2016-03-04T14:57:19","date_gmt":"2016-03-04T19:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/?p=98883172"},"modified":"2017-09-27T12:51:10","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T16:51:10","slug":"exotic-vacation-without-passport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/exotic-vacation-without-passport\/","title":{"rendered":"Take an Exotic Vacation\u2014Without Your U.S. Passport!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a dilemma. You\u2019re a fan of traveling, but for one reason or another, you don\u2019t have your passport. Maybe you lost it and can\u2019t afford to replace it, OR, maybe you\u2019re one of 62% of Americans <\/a>who don\u2019t have one (we know, that\u2019s a lot, right?). But fear not, even without the little blue book, you can still take a trip or two, to many exotic locations.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n

Stick to Within the United States <\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Gary

Gary C. Tognoni \/ Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Yeah, yeah. It\u2019s an obvious suggestion, but it\u2019s still true. There are plenty of exotic spots to journey to within the 50 states. All you need is your driver\u2019s license (or equivalent state ID) to hop on a plane to see the tropical paradises of Hawaii<\/a> and Key West, the desert wilderness\u00a0of Joshua Tree, California, or the breathtaking vistas of the Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska<\/a>. No passport? No problem!<\/p>\n

Drive to Mexico\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Nadezhda1906

Nadezhda1906 \/ Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s not as easy as it used to be to cross back and forth at the U.S. borders, but there are still ways to do it WITHOUT a passport. If you live in Michigan, New York, Vermont, or Washington you can get an Enhanced Driver\u2019s License<\/a>. It costs about $30 more\u00a0than a regular driver\u2019s license, but that\u2019s because it proves you\u2019re an American citizen, and allows you to travel pretty much anywhere in the hemisphere, passport-free. If you want to head to Canada and check out the scenes in Vancouver<\/a> or Montreal, you can get a NEXUS card<\/a> for $50, which is part of the Customs and Border Protection\u2019s Trusted Traveler Programs, and essentially pre-screens you so you don\u2019t need a passport. If beachy Mexican destinations<\/a> like Monterrey, or Puerto Pe\u00f1asco are calling your name, you can get a SENTRI card<\/a>, which is the Trusted Traveler Program card for the Mexican border (and costs about $122). The big thing to remember with the\u00a0SENTRI card\u00a0is that you won\u2019t be able to fly to or from your destination, so get your Mexico road trip playlist ready!<\/p>\n

Visit a U.S. Territory<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Leslie

Leslie Ray Ware \/ Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Pretty much the closest thing you\u2019ll get to being able to travel to a foreign land sans passport. By definition, a United States territory is land under control of the American government, just like a state. So unless you plan on taking a layover in a foreign country on the way to, or from a U.S. territory, you can leave your passport at home<\/a>. So get ready to relax on the beaches of the Northern Mariana Islands, snorkel off the coast of Guam<\/a>, hike the rain-forest in American Samoa, enjoy the nightlife of Puerto Rico, or sip some rum in the U.S. Virgin Islands\u2014all without a passport.<\/p>\n

Take a Closed-Loop Cruise\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"Ramunas

Ramunas Bruzas \/ Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

The secret gem of passport-free traveling. A closed-loop cruise is exactly what it sounds like\u2014a cruise that begins and ends at the same place. And if that place happens to be within the United States and the ship doesn\u2019t leave the hemisphere, then you DON\u2019T need a passport<\/a>. What you do need is a government issued ID, like a driver’s license, and a certified birth certificate to prove you’re a U.S. citizen. That means you can take a leisurely and relaxing boat ride<\/a> to Mexico, Canada, South America, the Caribbean, the Bahamas, or Bermuda, and never even apply for a passport.<\/p>\n

Experienced at traveling to exotic destinations without your passport and have some tips or tricks for us? Leave them in the comments section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a dilemma. You\u2019re a fan of traveling, but for one reason or another, you don\u2019t have your passport. Maybe you lost it and can\u2019t afford to replace it, OR, maybe you\u2019re one of 62% of Americans who don\u2019t have one (we know, that\u2019s a lot, right?). But fear not, even without the little blue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":98883183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[325,202,286,168,391,392],"class_list":["post-98883172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-tips-intel","tag-canada","tag-caribbean","tag-mexico","tag-south-america","tag-traveling-without-passport","tag-us-territories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98883172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98883172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98883172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98890917,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98883172\/revisions\/98890917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98883183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98883172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98883172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onetravel.com\/going-places\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98883172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}