WASHINGTON (AP) Seeking a valid U.S. passport for that 2023 trip? Buckle up, wishful traveler, for a very different journey before you step anywhere near an airport.

A much-feared backup of U.S passport applications has smashed into a wall of government bureaucracy as worldwide travel rebounds toward record pre-pandemic levels with too few humans to handle the load. The result, say aspiring travelers in the U.S. and around the world, is a maddening pre-travel purgatory defined, at best, by costly uncertainty.

With family dreams and big money on the line, passport seekers describe a slow-motion agony of waiting, worrying, holding the line, refreshing the screen, complaining to Congress, paying extra fees and following incorrect directions. Some applicants are buying additional plane tickets to snag in-process passports where they sit in other cities in time to make the flights they booked in the first place.

So grim is the outlook that U.S. officials arent even denying the problem or predicting when it will ease. Theyre blaming the epic wait times on lingering pandemic -related staffing shortages and a pause of online processing this year. Thats left the passport agency flooded with a record-busting 500,000 applications a week. The deluge is on-track to top last years 22 million passports issued, the State Department says.