Got a valid passport?

[Christiern]

There's so much talk of the need for ID these days and passports are no longer just for traveling abroad, so--having just come across a pile of my own outdated ones--I wondered how many of you have a passport.

My own collection (partial)

[Dan Gould]

I got a passport about seven or eight years ago, in anticipation of a business trip to Singapore. That fell through, and much to my embarrassment, I've yet to actually use the passport.

[Christiern]

Why be embarrassed? you still have a couple of years to make that hop to Havana!

[7/4]

I got a passport about seven or eight years ago, in anticipation of a business trip to Singapore. That fell through, and much to my embarrassment, I've yet to actually use the passport.

That's laugh riot. You should be very ashamed of yourself Dan. I don't know how you can ever, ever show your face around here again...

Bad dog.

Bad, bad dog...go to your room.

As for me...no. I haven't used one since I was a little kid and post 9/11 events dampened any chance of any travels abroad for this.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I'm on my second one.

FYI, even if your passport is valid, if it will expire in less than 6 months, they won't let you leave the country.

[king ubu]

I have my third sets of passports, I think... always had one, got a new one last year as after that the merikins would require a genetic sample (my left index finger and/or thumb, I guess) in order for me to enter their paranoid yet free country... also got a new aussie passport a couple of years ago.

And in addition (passport costs amount to almost a smaller Mosaic set) I have an ID card - many EU countries have laws that require you have an ID with you all of the time (or they'll claim your head to make an i-d, I assume...), or so I was told in Vienna this summer. Also you need an ID card to pick up parcels from the post office, of course (and those effing creeps like to do power games and even though it's wrong tell you that an expired passport or ID card won't be accepted...)

[jlhoots]

Mine is valid.

[T.D.]

I renewed mine back around '02 (if I recall correctly). Previously had let one expire and had to reapply in '92.

Recently feared it had expired (had forgotten the issue date), but checked and it's still good. Haven't traveled abroad on the current edition, but apparently I'd now need one even to go to Canada, so am happy to have it.

[Joe G]

Crap! This thread reminded me that I needed to bring mine with me today.

[clifford_thornton]

I'm on my second one.

FYI, even if your passport is valid, if it will expire in less than 6 months, they won't let you leave the country.

Good to know; mine still has a few years left.

I think it's number three.

[BeBop]

Mine's valid, but perhaps worn out. 33 countries last year.

[patricia]

I have four renewals.

My fourth one expired in '96 and I've procrastinated. But, interestingly, passport renewal fees have increased from $30 to $92 in the interim.

I find it extraordinary that passports are now expected, though not yet required for travel to the U.S. from Canada and by Canada for U.S. travellers.

I have actually delayed visiting friends that I had when I lived in CA because of the passport situation. I know it's easy enough to renew, but the implied hostility is a little unsettling.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I have my third sets of passports, I think... always had one, got a new one last year as after that the merikins would require a genetic sample (my left index finger and/or thumb, I guess) in order for me to enter their paranoid yet free country... also got a new aussie passport a couple of years ago.

And in addition (passport costs amount to almost a smaller Mosaic set) I have an ID card - many EU countries have laws that require you have an ID with you all of the time (or they'll claim your head to make an i-d, I assume...), or so I was told in Vienna this summer. Also you need an ID card to pick up parcels from the post office, of course (and those effing creeps like to do power games and even though it's wrong tell you that an expired passport or ID card won't be accepted...)

Er... how come you even WANTED an Australian passport?

I think I've had passports more or less continuously since I was fifteen.

MG

[7/4]

I have my third sets of passports, I think... always had one, got a new one last year as after that the merikins would require a genetic sample (my left index finger and/or thumb, I guess) in order for me to enter their paranoid yet free country... also got a new aussie passport a couple of years ago.

And in addition (passport costs amount to almost a smaller Mosaic set) I have an ID card - many EU countries have laws that require you have an ID with you all of the time (or they'll claim your head to make an i-d, I assume...), or so I was told in Vienna this summer. Also you need an ID card to pick up parcels from the post office, of course (and those effing creeps like to do power games and even though it's wrong tell you that an expired passport or ID card won't be accepted...)

Er... how come you even WANTED an Australian passport?

Just in case...never know when you'll need another identity.

[Niko]

only got an ID card for the past few years (which is sufficient for travel between EU countries)

(this stupid thing here is actually my post no 1000 - it's not that my job is boring in any strict sense, it's just, it makes want to do other things all the time)

Edited January 29, 2008 by Niko

[Noj]

Yes, I have a valid passport.

[White Lightning]

I'm sure that almost 100% of the non-American board members have passports, and traveled abroad many times. Whereas Americans in general tend to travel more within the States and less abroad (Tuscany, Italy and Paris, France being the 51st and 52nd states... )

[sal]

I'm on my second one, which currently has stamps from 10 countries. Will be getting my third one this year.

[GA Russell]

I got my most recent passport in 2000 when I travelled to Honduras to visit cigar factories. Great vacation! So without looking at it, I think that it won't expire for another three years.

Not to hijack the thread, but there has been a lot of discussion in the US recently about having a national ID. Seventeen states have rejected the idea. I don't understand what the objection is. Anybody know?

[Neal Pomea]

I had to get one so that I can return home from a planned trip to Nova Scotia this summer.

I don't know what's with the horror stories about long wait times. I applied for one the Monday after Thanksgiving and got it in the mail that Saturday. I guess the delays have been fixed.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Not to hijack the thread, but there has been a lot of discussion in the US recently about having a national ID. Seventeen states have rejected the idea. I don't understand what the objection is. Anybody know?

It is felt by many, including myself, that it is the supreme virtue to distrust government and to give it as little information as possible about oneself, at the same time as it is clear that there are many things that ONLY government can do. Obviously, these two points of view, which are usually held by the same person simultaneously, to some degree, have to be reconciled somehow. In view of governments' general bad behaviour (and sometimes gross incompetence), and the fact that governments are capable of behaving a hell of a lot worse than individuals are, it's felt that the compromise point needs to be a lot closer to protecting individuals' privacy than to making things easy for government.

In the last few months over here, we have had a succession of scandals involving the loss, through incompetence, of huge banks of data on huge numbers of people - tax, welfare, bank, driver and vehicle records information has just been lost. Some has clearly been chucked away; on two separate occasions, data files on thousands of drivers were found (by the same person) tossed onto the same roundabout. I leave it to you to imgine the price such information would fetch if sold to a Nigerian; all the scams would stop, wouldn't they?

MG

[Jim Alfredson]

Got mine... gonna be using it again to go to... gulp... Canada... twice... with Root Doctor.

Lame that we need passports to go to Canada.

[catesta]

Have two valid, but one is set to expire this year, so I need to renew it.

[trane_fanatic]

New passport fees on February 1st:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/jan/99809.htm

[BeBop]

I once had a Diplomatic passport. Never did use the d*mn thing. I was sure it'd get me killed.

Edited January 29, 2008 by BeBop