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This morning, I had to part with my beloved passport. You see, it is expiring in early-May 2013, and most countries don’t want you entering with a passport that will soon expire.
I finished my last international trip over Thanksgiving weekend (Istanbul with an overnight layover in Amsterdam). My next scheduled international trip is in February 2013 to Israel (assuming peace prevails), and a month later, I’m going on a little trip to Tokyo, Japan on an inaugural 787 Dreamliner flight. So, now is the time for renewal.
The prior passport was not the usual navy blue, it was green – the special Ben Franklin commemorative passport. That prior passport bore lots of stamps, including a Visa from the Netherlands for the year of legal study at the University van Amsterdam, and the 1999 Visa from China for a most amazing adoption journey, when my sister and I returned with her beautiful daughter in her arms (OK, my niece was ill and puking all over us when we were transporting her to her new home, but she still was, and is, beautiful).
I leafed through my current passport many times in the past few days, experiencing what can only be described as anticipatory separation anxiety. The passport has been with me the better part of the past 10 years. I traveled in my mind as I looked at the three visas – Turkey, El Salvador and Brazil – and the many stamps from Greece, France, Sweden, Panama, Belize, Argentina, Spain, Canada, Taiwan and other countries and the many entry stamps from the United States of America. I think also of the many international races I’ve run – marathons in Paris, Barcelona, Panama City and Montreal, and a half marathon in Rio de Janeiro. Could it be? Did I really go all those places? I am so thankful for travel.
So, I carefully followed the U.S. Department of State’s instructions for passport renewal. I assembled the renewal application, the passport, a $110 check and an ugly passport photo, and placed them into an envelope addressed to some post office box address in Philadelphia. I stopped by the U.S. Post Office this morning on my way to work. I quietly said my goodbye and handed the envelope to the friendly (OK, I’m joking) Post Office employee.
Suddenly, I’m landlocked! I can’t jump on some sudden deal or mistake fare. I feel like I’ve just taken the last ferry to a small island, with the alarming knowledge that I can’t leave till the boats start up again tomorrow.
And so, I miss the passport already. I wait for the arrival of my new passport and anticipate all the glorious places it will go with me.
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A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
I am almost in the same boat for my kids. We have one more trip at the end of December to Jan, and it expires in April 2013. I was a little worried about the expiration date, but I figure it is only Mexico! so hopefully they won’t even notice that there is not 6 months left on the passport.