‘Crunch time’ before summer trips means long lines in Columbia for passport applications

The combination of spring break for many students in the area and a narrowing timeline to prepare for summer trips led to unusually long lines at the U.S. Post Office on Assembly Street in downtown Columbia Friday afternoon.

Fourteen-year-old Claire Adams waited more than two hours with her parents, Ellen and Tim Adams, so she could get a passport that would take her to Europe and Cuba this summer with her Venturing Crew scout troop. Her troop, a Boy Scout branch open to both boys and girls, will be the first scout troop to visit Cuba in the past 50 years, she said.

Though the line moved slow enough that the family had time to sneak out to lunch before their number was called.

“They’re very polite. They’re lovely people,” Ellen Adams said of the post office workers. When the number just ahead of theirs was finally called, Ellen did a little jig.

Meanwhile, three or four dozen others still waited.

About 20 places behind the Adamses in line, Dea Jordan and Sarah Gardner waited patiently next to Willie Freeman and his family. The Freemans, including their 15-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, hope to travel this summer, though they haven’t decided where to yet. But they had to take care of the passports Friday when both parents were available to accompany their children.

Knowing they’ll have a six-week wait period before they actually receive their passports, Jordan and Gardner had little time left to apply before going on a June mission trip with their church to the Restoration Ranch orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

“It’s crunch time,” Jordan said. But, “we’re smiling! At least you only have to do it every 10 years.”

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 4:23 PM with the headline "‘Crunch time’ before summer trips means long lines in Columbia for passport applications."