Ron, a fellow blogger (Retired in Delaware), is planning a trip to Canada this summer so he’s working through the bureaucracy of obtaining a passport. This put me in mind of my own.
I got my first passport in 1975. I needed one because I was going to Europe for an overseas study term during my freshman year in college.
I’m not sure whatever became of that passport. I remember what it looked like. They were slightly larger then and the cover was a grayish-green color. I can’t imagine I would have thrown it away but neither do I know it’s whereabouts. I never renewed it. Passports were valid for five years in those days and, by 1980, I was no longer a student and overseas travel would not be an option again for a long time.
By the 1990’s I was able to do some travelling again but Americans did not need passports to travel to Canada nor most of the Caribbean. Since those were my only ventures outside our borders, I had no need of a passport.
Passport
1997
By 1997 I had met and become smitten with Harper’s Other Dad. He was attending a conference in Bermuda and so I tagged along. It seems strange that a passport was required to visit Bermuda. I’d been to the Bahamas without one previously. They have the same queen on their currency so the rules should be the same, right? Perhaps I didn’t actually need one. Maybe I just obtained one because carrying it made me feel like a jet-setter. The only people I knew who’d been to Bermuda were Mary Haines and her mother so I thought I was ‘all-that-and-a-bag-of-crisps’ for going there. By 1997 American passports were smaller and navy blue, as they are now. They were also valid for ten years instead of five.
By the time I needed to renew that passport the world had changed. In the 21st century, post-September 11th world, passports are needed to travel anywhere outside the country.
2006
I obtained my current passport in October 2006. My old one did not expire until August 2007 and I can’t recall why I renewed it early. We went to Costa Rica in February of 2007. Perhaps it had something to do with that. I remember being happy I had gotten it done early because, with all the new travel requirements going into effect at the time, passport applications and renewals were taking months to process.
When I applied to renew by passport in 2006 I had to send an application, my old passport, and a new photo. I suspect there was probably a check involved too. I had the photo taken at a Sears store. I don’t know why I went to Sears but it wasn’t expensive, they did a fine job and I wasn’t really going for a glamour shot anyway.
When I received my new passport they also returned my old one with a two holes punched in the front cover and “Cancelled” stamped on the inside. It is in the safe deposit box at the bank. Why I save an expired, cancelled passport, let alone keep it under lock & key, is beyond me. I suspect the reasons harken back to some deep-seated psychological insecurities, probably arising from my toilet training. But it doesn’t take up much space in the box. Sometimes Socrates is wrong. Life is worth living just fine without being too fully examined.
Harper's Valley 
The trip to Bermuda , unfortunately, did not have the effect that Mary’s mother intended. If only she had applied “Jungle Red” at the beginning and dealt with those women who belonged in a kennel.
And no matter what you do, where does it get you? On the train for Reno!
All of mine are saved too;-). Probably with some misplaced desire to see how I haven’t aged;))
Passports the modern picture of Dorian Gray. 🙂
“By 1997 I had met and become smitten with Harper’s Other Dad.” – awwwwwwww!
you have not changed much, you handsome guy! 🙂
Ah yes passports after 2001, sad comment really. The USA imposed the passport requirement on CDNs and if you fly you also have to register in advance all manner of personnel information with Homeland. I do not buy into the whole security mumbo jumbo and find it sad that neither the US nor the CDN government could come up with a better solution. BTW our Sovereign is not exactly the same as that of Bermuda which is still a colony whereas we in Canada are a Kingdom. See you in August.
Would you believe I’m STILL wait for the copies of birth certificates I ordered from the Pennsylvania Department of Records last MARCH 23rd?! Unbelievable. I finally took my ONLY copy of my birth certificate to the Rehoboth Post Office this past week and gave it to them. They assured me I will get it back in “six to eight weeks” in a “plain brown envelope, separate from my passport.” Hey, I’ll believe it when I see it. Hopefully I’ll have my passport in time for my trip to Canada in the later part of August. Talk about bureaucracy. And by the way, the terrorists have won. All this “security theater” nonsense (along with taking shoes off at the airport) to prevent terrorists from entering this country. We truly do live in an Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Tea Party era now.
Ron where are going in Canada and for how long?
We are hoping to meet Ron and Pat in Toronto on Monday before we meet you guys on Tuesday. I suggested they might want to make a day trip over to Stratford if their schedule allowed.
That sounds good let’s see if it works out.
I’ve not had the need to get one. But I will need one soon. Thing is – the photo – all they have to do is troll my flickr site or facebook and there are PLENTY of pix of me on both.
Now you have me wondering where my passport is. It is certainly expired. I think the last time I used it was to Caracas. I too used it for Bermuda in 2000. (the water was so cold there)
You didn’t age a bit in those ten years.
Actually I think an expired passport was recently considered valid proof of residency for employment purposes.
Somewhere around here I have my Mother’s passport from around the 1970’s. She loved to travel and the photo is from a time in her life when she was healthy enough to do so. She has what her children recognize as her classic “Don’t mess with me Buster!” expression. I believe that this is cross culturally recognized and understood to that it probably ensured a quick and uneventful crossing at many borders.