Two weeks before my then-fiancé and I went to Europe last year, he casually mentioned, “Looks like I’ll need to renew my passport before our honeymoon.”  Keep in mind, this happened in September, and our honeymoon was going to be the following May.  “Wait, so when does it expire?” I asked.  “Relax,” he replied.  “It’s good until December.”

This was seriously how the biggest fight in our 5+ year relationship began.  I freaked out and shrieked, “BUT… THE SIX MONTHS RULE!!!”  Aaron had no clue what I was talking about.  Then I freaked out some more that he didn’t know what I was freaking out about.  Let me just tell you, it wasn’t my best moment.

After polling our friends about whether the six months passport validity rule was common knowledge, I will now publicly admit that it isn’t since about 50% of our friends had no clue what I was talking about.  (I’m sorry, Aaron.)

Alright, the basic gist is that some countries won’t let you enter unless your passport is valid for at least six months.  Other countries have the same rule with just three months.  One such country was Denmark, and Aaron and I were heading there in just 14 days and his passport was going to expire in less than two months.

The moral of the story?  If your passport is going to expire within a year, make sure that you aren’t heading to a foreign country that requires six or three months passport validity.  And if you need to get a new passport (or just a renewal) in a hurry, it’s really not the end of the world.  All you’ll need is a little extra money and an appointment at a Regional Passport Agency.