The Expiration Date is not the Real expiration date. . .

My Passport was expiring in 3 months and I thought I could go spend 11 days in The Bahamas and get it renewed when I got back, but no...you cannot travel to The Bahamas (and most other countries) if your passport will expire in less than 6 months.  So, I had to go do a rush request for to renew my passport.  I am glad I live in a big city that has an office for emergencies so you can get a new passport fast.  I had to show my plane tickets to them and pay an extra $60 and they did it 5 days (counting the weekend).   Now,  I am all set to go!  Do you need to check the date of your passport?