'It's been incredibly frustrating': Would-be travellers face long line to renew passports in Victoria
CTV
Destiny Lewis was waiting, hoping, praying her passport would be finally ready as she stood in the line-up out the passport office in Victoria Friday, just days before her scheduled Hawaii getaway.
"I was told I'd have my passport in my mailbox by April 7,” said Lewis.
It never came, so she paid to get it expedited.
She took two days off of work and travelled to Victoria from the Comox Valley, with no guarantee the passport would even be here.
"It's going to be a pretty stressful situation if I have to start rebooking hotels, rebooking flights because my passport didn't come in on time,” said Lewis.
Hundred-person-long lines, like the one at the passport office in downtown Victoria, are what experts call the new travel normal.
Friday morning’s line-up reached around the top floor of the Bay Centre.
"This is my fifth attempt at trying to get my passport renewed,” said Kim Meadows, as she stood in the line-up.
"It's been incredibly frustrating and the line-ups have been insane.”