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| - It will take you wild-goose-chasing visits to at least three area post office locations before you realize that this Harris Houston location is where you need to go for passport services. Each post office will tell you to go to the next one, the out-of-date internet shows that they all have passport services, but only this location, in this area, has the walk-in passport service (hidden back behind the main post office).
It's an Orwellian, "Brazil"-like experience that will swallow your whole day, eat your soul and make you wonder if you do really, actually need a passport. Maybe it would just be easier to give up and remain a prisoner in Fortress America with no hope for escape. Give up. Go home.
It took me an hour of standing in line to get a number, and then three hours waiting for that number to be called. You're not allowed to use your cell phone, so you can't tell your loved ones where you are during this time. You can't have food or drink in the room, so you could conceivably starve to death in there and, because you can't call out, no one would know.
Get there early. Bring a book, maybe a board game. And some secret pocket snacks. Count on spending the day in this room, incommunicado.
There is no one here to answer your questions. Informational signage is non-existent or appallingly unclear. Have your forms printed out from the internet (not double-sided) and filled out before you even go. You can't use credit cards and you have to pay for "application fees" and "processing fees" separately; bring some cash. The staff is humorless; stern, poorly fed, frowning prison wardens, constantly and furtively sneaking in and out of mysterious "staff only" doors.
It will be dark and cold and rainy when you finally get to leave, no matter what the season.
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