Marianne Braly
Managing Director

Orange County Register 2006
Travel Card offered as alternative to Passport

Just when travel agents thought they had persuaded customers to get their passports this year, another option comes along.

The passport might not be necessary for many travelers now that the United States is planning to introduce a new "travel card" similar to a driver’s license that would allow U.S. citizens to visit Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

"I’ve been telling everyone to get their passports by the end of this year," said Marianne Braly, owner of Now Voyager Travel in Huntington Beach, Calif.

"The deadlines have changed a few times, but I tell my singlewomen clients: ‘You never know when you’re going to meet that guy who wants to take you to Cancun.’ "

Now those clients could get by with the travel card, at an estimated cost of $50. But at that price, they might as well get a passport that’s good for 10 years, Braly said. A U.S. passport costs $97.

"It makes it as simple as possible," she said. "Everybody in the rest of the world carries a passport."

Instead of the new $50 card, Braly suggested that the U.S. government offer a one-time discount this year, reducing the passport price to $60 as an incentive for everyone to get one.

Return to "What People Are Saying About Us! Page