So... my passport is coated in massage bar.

September 29, 2013 11:23 AM

It's a long story how, but a Lush massage bar melted in the drawer where I keep my passport. The barcode and picture are clear, but it is sort of waxy feeling and every page appears to be coated in wax/cocoa butter. I am in Canada and am planning to travel from Vancouver, BC to Seattle, Washington by train in two weeks. Should I pay the exorbitant fee to get a rushed passport, or hope that they won't have a problem since the picture and barcode are clear?
posted by torisaur to Travel & Transportation (23 answers total)

I think what you should do is call the passport office, give a self-deprecating chuckle to lighten the mood, and explain the situation to them as you've done here. Make sure to explain that the bar code and your picture are both clear and readable. They should be able to tell you what to do. (I imagine they've seen or heard of much, much worse.) You might even have to go show someone the passport in person for them to make a judgement, but that's still probably much less of a hassle than ordering a rush new one.

My gut says you'll be fine with your cocoa butter passport as is, but just call on Monday to make sure.
posted by KinoAndHermes at 11:40 AM on September 29, 2013

Try saving your passport by sandwiching it between thick paper towels and pressing it with an iron on very low heat, hopefully removing most of the wax/butter. It could take a few hours to do all the pages, but that'll save you some money and trouble.
posted by wutangclan at 11:44 AM on September 29, 2013

Oh and remember to clean the iron thoroughly before using it again on your clothes.
posted by wutangclan at 11:44 AM on September 29, 2013

I think what you should do is call the passport office, give a self-deprecating chuckle to lighten the mood, and explain the situation to them as you've done here.

But the Canadian passport office can't really predict how unreasonable US Border Control is going to be about the situation. It may not be an issue getting back into Canada, but I think there is a decent chance that some jackass at the US border will make a fuss about it.

I would probably get a new one myself, and be grumpy about it the entire time.
posted by elizardbits at 11:57 AM on September 29, 2013

But the Canadian passport office can't really predict how unreasonable US Border Control is going to be about the situation. It may not be an issue getting back into Canada, but I think there is a decent chance that some jackass at the US border will make a fuss about it.

It just seems like a simple place to start to me, that's all. They may say the same thing, but they might be able to give a number for the U.S. Border Patrol office to call and ask the question. At the worst, a few minutes or an hour is wasted. I don't know how much it is to get rush passport in Canada, but down here in the States, we had to do it for our boss recently and it was kind of an expensive pain. He needed an unequivocal renewal, but since replacement is still up in the air here, I say do a little asking first.

It may need to be replaced in the long run, but with two weeks before border-crossing, maybe see first if it's possible to get by with the the cocoa passport for just this trip.

And definitely don't hold on to grumpiness if it has to be expensively replaced. I think I'd be more grumpy with myself if I didn't check first and had that lingering doubt.

Of course, if it's really not that much to replace it, then just do that, but I don't think this question would be here if that was simply the case.
posted by KinoAndHermes at 12:10 PM on September 29, 2013

Sort of coming at this laterally but what is the wait like to get an enhanced ID which would get you over that border by train? I have one where I live in Vermont and it's been handy to have. This way the Canadians would be dealing with your glucky passport (for ID purposes to get the EID) and they might care less.

Also corn starch might be helpful getting some of the oily residue off of your passport.
posted by jessamyn at 12:16 PM on September 29, 2013

My US passport has pages that aren't exactly paper, they're some sort of hyperindestructible plasticated something. If this is the case with yours also, you might have some luck de-gluckifying it by sprinkling dry detergent on the pages and then scrubbing at them with a damp washcloth.
posted by KathrynT at 12:18 PM on September 29, 2013

Even if you do wutangclan's thing with pressing it with an iron between paper towels, you may get out most of the goop but you're unlikely to get it all out --- and the waxy residue left will prevent ink from soaking into those pages (ink from stamps or ink from pens).

I'm sorry, but I think your trip across the border will go smoother if yeah, you pay the exorbitant rush-job fee.
posted by easily confused at 12:19 PM on September 29, 2013

You should probably specify whether this is a Canadian or a US passport.

Anyway, we traveled with a passport that had gotten chewing gum stuck in it and was rather nasty. There was no issue at the border (in this case, to/from US and a country in South America) in either direction. Generally if the photo is visible and the machine readable portions are intact you will get through.

For the US citizen, this has some answers about damaged passports.
posted by rr at 12:21 PM on September 29, 2013

I think there's probably no way to know how the border control people are going to react. It might be fine, they might not let you in, they might question you for hours. I feel like land crossings are generally more tolerant of this kind of stuff than air travel (I've never done the train but have gone by car and bus) but still you might have a problem.

My last (US) passport got a little bit water-damaged and the blue cover showed through onto my picture page but I was able to travel on it successfully for like five years (because I was too cheap to pay the "damaged passport" fee and I think at first it was too new to just do a passport renewal). It never stopped me from getting in anywhere but I did get some stern talkings-to from US border control personnel (and this is as a USian, if you're Canadian it might well be worse). Oh also an Air France guy gave me trouble about it but let me on the plane anyway.
posted by mskyle at 12:25 PM on September 29, 2013

If you're just going from Canada to the US, I wouldn't pay for the rush passport, but I'd go with Jessamyn's advice and get the enhanced ID (called the US Passport card here in the states). They're way cheaper for what you need right now. If you cannot save your passport and need to travel farther in the future, then you can get a new passport at your leisure and pay the less expensive (read: not rush) price for it.
posted by patheral at 12:32 PM on September 29, 2013

I've gone swimming in the ocean with my Canadian passport, and kept the same passport for several years after that.

If it were me I would try to clean off the goo from the passport, and bring some extra ID with me (bank statement, drivers license, Care Card, letter from Revenue Canada, car insurance) to prove who you are.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:41 PM on September 29, 2013

Thanks everyone. I am going to try some of the ideas to clean off the plasticky cover and page with my identification on it, at least, and bring some other ID with me. The enhanced driver's license is a great idea, but the wait time is six to eight weeks.

I'm hoping that, since they don't need to stamp it, it won't matter too much that the pages are coated in cocoa butter. Then I can replace it when I get back.

It smells nice, at least.
posted by torisaur at 1:07 PM on September 29, 2013

I used to work for an immigration lawyer, and have seen all sorts of legal passports from all over the world in all kinds of stages of messed-up-ness. I think you will be fine.

Wutang's plan is good. If I were you I'd use paper grocery bags instead of paper towels between all the sheets, and put the whole thing inside a paper bag and iron over that. The kraft paper is really, really good at absorbing the fats and oils.
posted by phunniemee at 1:31 PM on September 29, 2013

"Try saving your passport by sandwiching it between thick paper towels and pressing it with an iron on very low heat, hopefully removing most of the wax/butter. It could take a few hours to do all the pages, but that'll save you some money and trouble."

All of this is a really good idea except for the iron part, THAT IS AN EXTREMELY BAD IDEA. If your passport isn't pretty old, it will have sensitive RFID electronics in it that will be a lot more suspicious than cocoa butter if disabled by heat, also the materials that hold your passport together are somewhat heat sensitive and you really don't want them to melt.
posted by Blasdelb at 1:59 PM on September 29, 2013

Canada only started issuing passports with RFID chips in them to the general public in July.
posted by one more dead town's last parade at 3:22 PM on September 29, 2013

If your passport isn't pretty old, it will have sensitive RFID electronics in it that will be a lot more suspicious than cocoa butter if disabled by heat

As you have observed (and I can corroborate independently) those Lush bars melt at heats easily reached in a hot room. (Keep them in your fridge, kids!) Maybe try paper towels or kraft bags inside a hot car or warmed by body heat?
posted by salvia at 3:53 PM on September 29, 2013

...inside a hot car or warmed by body heat?

Heating pad or thermacare/handwarmer, maybe?
posted by clerestory at 3:57 PM on September 29, 2013

My ex's husband was in a water accident. His photograph was un-readable (you couldn't tell it was a face, from the water damage). But, it scanned - and so he travelled with it for 5+ years.
I'd say you should be fine, if you get hassled make sure you are dressed well and make fun of your silly accident.
posted by olya at 10:13 PM on September 29, 2013

If your passport isn't pretty old, it will have sensitive RFID electronics in it that will be a lot more suspicious than cocoa butter if disabled by heat

As others have said, Canadian passports only started getting chipped a coupla months ago. 99% of passports in circulation won't be chipped. Besides, the chipped page is heavily laminated and would be impervious to that putrid Lush stuff.

also the materials that hold your passport together are somewhat heat sensitive and you really don't want them to melt.

The pages of Canadian passports are bound with cotton stitching.
posted by wutangclan at 12:08 AM on September 30, 2013

My US passport has moisturizer soaked into the photo page, leaving a mark on my picture and generally making the passport a little messed-up looking. I was worried but US, Australian, and Canadian border control didn't flinch when I used it. When I went in for Global Entry interview recently the Homeland Security agent didn't mention it or even inspect the damage. I think that if it's readable and doesn't look tampered with (i.e., the front page it pulling apart or looks doctored) you'll be okay.
posted by Bunglegirl at 8:22 AM on September 30, 2013

Yeah, don't iron anything that's been laminated.
posted by glasseyes at 10:35 AM on September 30, 2013

Could ironing it too well make it look fake-y? That might be a problem -- so embrace the disaster and try to enjoy the scent that accompanies your interaction with U.S. Customs & Border [Odor?] Control.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:51 AM on October 1, 2013