International Travel: "If You Stay Ready..."

As you likely already know, The Professional gets her international gangster on as often as possible. Though she loves her some Los Angeles, she considers international travel a part of the development of her personal fabulousity.

Recently, The Professional was given a ridiculousity headache by people that she truly loves. The problem? A large group of old hometown friends (yes, The Cousins) needed to travel to Canada on short notice, and no one--NO ONE, save The Professional and ONE fly girlfriend had a passport.

* pause for effect *

* and a deep sigh *

This is unacceptable.

Please let The Professional be very clear about where she stands on her standards for fabulousity. Don't ever-ever be caught dead being over the age of 25 without a daggone passport! It matters not if you don't see international travel in your forseeable future. You honestly never know when you may need to pack your bags and head the hell on out. In her own experience, both personally and professionally, The Professional has in fact herself been asked to partake in same-day international travel. "If you stay ready, you ain't got to get ready"--and you can take that to the bank (or the airport, in this case).

The point is this: You don't know when the employer--or man of your dreams will ask you to hop a flight to Paris. Do you want to get caught looking like a dummy by having to decline the offer to engage in international fabulousity? Hell no you don't.

Homeland security and a general changing of overall society now warrants that all international travel requires a passport. This includes travel to Canada and Mexico. So the thinking that your birth certificate will serve as an adequate travel document is no longer correct. Can The Professional be any clearer? Hear her. GET YO ASS A PASSPORT. When applying for one without the need for haste, your total fees will amount to only $100. Wait until the last minute like some of The Professional's beloved hometown buddies, and those costs go up exponentially.

Visit the US Department of State website to apply for, renew, or check the status of a passport application.

Consider this your warning: If you are a grown-ass adult without a valid passport in your posession, you are officially stripped of your status of a member of the club that The Professional presides over. Shameful.

Everyone, please... expand your effing horizons. Thank you and good day.