Trip#1 for 2023 - El Paso, Texas - Passport, Stanton House, Taft Diaz Bar and Savage Goods Coffee

My passport expired and needed a rush same day.  I was able to secure an appointment at the Passport Office in El Paso.  Trip in from Dallas was a bit bumpy with turbulence but otherwise this is an okay destination.

Passport - Yes Same Day - 6 hours from 7:30 am appointment to 1pm pick up

Not much to do in downtown so I stayed near my hotel.  Maybe in a future visit I’ll venture around El Paso.  For now it was focused on getting my passport.  I did have half a day after my passport appointment and looked around a bit.  They were able to get the passport to me same day by 1 pm so in total took about 6 hours from my 7:30 am appointment time.  I got called at 9 am for my interview number and noticed others who were ahead of me all got called at 1 pm as well to get their same day passport.

They said they would call me if it finished early which they did.  Otherwise they said to show up at 2 pm.  The El Paso Passport office closes at 3 pm.

So if you’re staying at a hotel overnight nearby the office, you don’t need to check out in the morning and have time to get back if you wanted.  For me, I could have done 1-2 more hours and chill at my hotel room at the Stanton, but chose to check out at 7 am.

Taft Diaz Bar - Night Before

I arrived the afternoon day before my appointment as I wanted to get there early morning.  I enjoyed a few drinks at the hotel bar in Stanton House called Taft Diaz.

The Japanese (Suntory Toki) Old Fashioned was $16.  I tried a regular Old Fashioned as well and the Suntory version is more pleasant.

I also tried the Al Pastor Tacos and they were good.  Each taco was $5.

I stayed at the Stanton House as it was near the Passport Office and it’s quite nice, a bit fancier than what I needed for this trip.

A few pics nearby the Passport Office El Paso in the Anson Mills building

Morning of Passport Appointment

Passport appointment was 7:30 am and it was done by 9ish.  I went for breakfast at Savage Goods Coffee.  About a mile walk from the Passport Office.  Tried the Cortado and Cappuccino.  Cortado was excellent.  Cappuccino was decent and better than most Dallas cafes.

Breakfast burrito was delicious for $6.  Cortado was maybe $4 and so was Cappuccino.

El Paso - Shopping District and Art Museum

Had time to kill so I went back to downtown and walked around the open air shopping district.  It’s several square blocks of inexpensive clothing boutiques and other goods.

I spent a half hour in the Art Museum.  Admission is free so it was a nice break in A/C.  It’s quite small, but clean and modern.

Lunch at Sabor in Hotel Paso Del Norte

If I had a choice, I would have picked this hotel as it’s across the plaza from the Passport Office, but the prices were $100 more than Stanton House.  Not worth it to pay $330 for one night.  Stanton House was $220, and cheapest nice hotel in the area.  All these prices are unusually high, but I had no choice.

I had lunch of Carne Asada tacos (steak).  Was good.  This is better than what you can find in Dallas but likely average for El Paso.  Paired it with an IPA.

Adios El Paso Airport

As soon as I had my passport in hand and checked it was all good I headed back to the airport ELP and bid adios.  City was clean and safe so I’m happy for that and everything worked as I needed to get my passport.