Got a valid passport?

[mikeweil]

Always had one - no matter if it was demanded by the countries I travelled to.

But now, with regular trips to Turkey, it's mandatory.

[7/4]

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

But you could smuggle weed! A missed opportunity if you ask me...

[AndrewHill]

Mine better be valid-I just got it a month ago Will be using it in March to celebrate St. Patricks day in Dublin

[connoisseur series500]

I've lost count as to the number of passports, but I have a current US one and an expired UK/EU one, which I haven't used in 12 years. I feel no compelling reason to renew the latter one at the moment.

[Chuck Nessa]

This thread reminds me mine has expired.

[BeBop]

Always had one - no matter if it was demanded by the countries I travelled to.

But now, with regular trips to Turkey, it's mandatory.

Unitl Turkey joins the EU, eh?

[Jazzmoose]

I've never had one. I didn't need one while in the military, and haven't left the country since. Kind of sad, but then in a country this size you can do a lot of traveling without hitting the borders, I guess.

[Jazzmoose]

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?

Back in my youth (a fabled, bizarre period known as "the seventies"), a national ID was one of the big bugaboos of the extreme (and not-so-extreme) right. It was not only a symbol of an encroaching, ever-expanding big government, but also seen as a way for government to control movement of the citizens, ala the U.S.S.R. Forcing average citizens to carry "papers" in order to travel in their own country and all.

It's funny how they were so worried about liberals and Democrats doing this, when you look and see who is actually doing it now...

[medjuck]

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.

I don't think you need them to get into Canada-- however you need them to get back into the USA. (Actually I think I read that Canada did say you need them once the US law was passed. Otherwise all those Americans who came without a passport would be stranded in Canada.)

[Chuck Nessa]

Right now Americans only need a passport to return from Canada by air.

[GA Russell]

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?

...but also seen as a way for government to control movement of the citizens, ala the U.S.S.R. Forcing average citizens to carry "papers" in order to travel in their own country and all.

Thanks MG and Moose for your responses.

It's funny how they were so worried about liberals and Democrats doing this, when you look and see who is actually doing it now...

Moose, that's what Ron Paul is talking about. He is saying that the neocons now running the government are not conservatives, and that what we have now is not Republicanism.

(I suppose that this comment should be in the Politics forum, so forgive me.)

[Jazzmoose]

(I suppose that this comment should be in the Politics forum, so forgive me.)

No need; my fault.

[White Lightning]

I've never had one. I didn't need one while in the military, and haven't left the country since. Kind of sad, but then in a country this size you can do a lot of traveling without hitting the borders, I guess.

Hmmm. I've met many Canadian and Australian travelers even though their countries are rather large as well...

[ejp626]

I'm on my second. I went ahead and got one with extra pages, though I don't think I will use up all of them. I did make it to about 10 countries in a 18 month span. But I suppose we are not a typical American family, my 3.5 year old and my 1 year old have passports!

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I've never had one. I didn't need one while in the military, and haven't left the country since. Kind of sad, but then in a country this size you can do a lot of traveling without hitting the borders, I guess.

I think this is the reason Chris started the thread. I understand that only about 10% of Americans have passports.

MG

[mikeweil]

Always had one - no matter if it was demanded by the countries I travelled to.

But now, with regular trips to Turkey, it's mandatory.

Unitl Turkey joins the EU, eh?

I don't expect that to happen during the next ten years or more.

[DTMX]

I'm on my second one. My first one was filled with stamps for all of my trips to Japan. I also visited six countries in Europe and it never got stamped once.

My crystal ball says that there are some trips to India in my future so maybe I'll get some use from my current passport. I'm kind of concerned about traveling to India though. I've been watching Bollywood movies to learn a little more about the place and I fear that I'll be out of sync with the crowd if an elaborate dance number suddenly begins.

[sidewinder]

I'm kind of concerned about traveling to India though. I've been watching Bollywood movies to learn a little more about the place and I fear that I'll be out of sync with the crowd if an elaborate dance number suddenly begins.

For preparation, get eating some authentic hot curry with popadoms and naan bread and start listening to Joe Harriott/John Mayer and Amancio D'Silva.

[BeBop]

I've never had one. I didn't need one while in the military, and haven't left the country since. Kind of sad, but then in a country this size you can do a lot of traveling without hitting the borders, I guess.

I think this is the reason Chris started the thread. I understand that only about 10% of Americans have passports.

MG

A while back, I bought a few copies of a book published by Lonely Planet (tourist books publisher) called 52 Reasons to Have a Passport. I figured I'd give them away to people on the verge of embarking on their first overseas travels, but needing a nudge.

I consider travel an essential element of a well-lived life.

So here's the deal, if you're a Organissimo board regular, you want a book, you can wait until I get back to the US to pick 'em up, and you're a US resident, I'll send you a book...until I run out. Sorry about the US resident thing; just makes it easier for me - I'm a lazy 'good samaritan'.

The book is also pretty cheap to buy from the publisher.

http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/Primary/Produ...D=1201697463673

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

My wife swears by Lonely Planet. She's been to loads of African countries and says it's never let her down.

I'm a Rough Guide man myself. In Japan or Africa, it's never let me down.

Despite this, I think there is a bit to choose between them. From the reading I've done, Rough Guides are better if you're interested in the people and cultural aspects of the country you're visiting, Lonely Planet seems more focused on places and (from my wife's point of view), where you can go to see animals in the wild, and which. Though that's not to say that either ignores the other elements.

(Er, yes, we have different holidays in different places for different reasons.)

MG

[Christiern]

MG: "I think this [large country, no need to leave it] is the reason Chris started the thread. I understand that only about 10% of Americans have passports."

That's right, and the fact that now even this large country is beginning to make it a necessity to have a passport. Growing up in Europe, I started out being named on my mother's passport, but I had my own (Icelandic) since 1941, when I was ten, and I've had one ever since.

Incidentally, I have a diary kept by my great, great grandfather in 1834, when he traveled from Copenhagen to Sicily. In it he makes several mentions of having to pass through checkpoints in and within various countries. I get the impression that it was very important to have official papers of identity, so the need I sensed for a lifelong series of passports may be a carry-over from those days. What do you think, MG?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

MG: "I think this [large country, no need to leave it] is the reason Chris started the thread. I understand that only about 10% of Americans have passports."

That's right, and the fact that now even this large country is beginning to make it a necessity to have a passport. Growing up in Europe, I started out being named on my mother's passport, but I had my own (Icelandic) since 1941, when I was ten, and I've had one ever since.

Incidentally, I have a diary kept by my great, great grandfather in 1834, when he traveled from Copenhagen to Sicily. In it he makes several mentions of having to pass through checkpoints in and within various countries. I get the impression that it was very important to have official papers of identity, so the need I sensed for a lifelong series of passports may be a carry-over from those days. What do you think, MG?

Funnily enough, I've just finished this

Davidson has a long section, much of which seems to be based on a Hobsbawm book I haven't read, on the development of the nation state in Europe. This is a comparatively recent invention. I should think that, at the time your grandfather was on his travels, the process hadn't fully coalesced into what we now think of as nation states. And, of course countries like Germany and Italy WEREN'T nation states until quite some time after the 1830s. Same goes for the components of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Even within countries, as they existed then, there was considerable chafing at the "foreign" rule, which led to as much local autonomy as was possible/permitted being seized by whichever institution was locally strongest. Of course, one should not overlook the extremely practical use of these checkpoints in securing bribes from unwary travellers

It should be remembered that much of Europe was at the time, or had been in the not too distant past, police states, overrun with secret police, as remote Ancien Regime governments attempted to keep lids on either socialist or nationalist revolution; sometimes both. Checkpoints and papers for travelling were considered, mabe correctly, very useful in that effort. Most people in eastern Europe were serfs in your grandfather's time and didn't, therefore, have a legitimate reason for travelling.

These different reasons for checkpoints and travelling papers seem to have morphed into a general need for people to be able to identify themselves to all and sundry - and I'd guess that the natural desire of police and other government bureaucrats for something to make their work easier has prevailed over time.

I don't think we'll ever manage anarchism

MG

[Christiern]

Thanks, MG, I knew you would have the answer. BTW, my gggrandfather also witnessed (and describes) the arrest of an anarchist in Italy. He also found the Swiss to be exceedingly humorless. The Germans always had a change of horses ready, the French never did.

The diary is fascinating, as is another one from his trip to check out the family coffee plantations in South and Central America. Here's a photo from that trip:

[ejp626]

So I am renewing my passport, and I have to say I think this is a case where the State Department is no help at all. I think they have added a new requirement for the photo (half inch from top of head to top of photo), but then this doesn't square at all with their official sample photo, where the top of the head to the top of photo is roughly 1/8 inch or 1/4 inch at most. My photo looks almost exactly like this (ok not as much hair):

I think I'm just going to have to send it in as is and see what happens.

[Brad]

I'm sure that photographic shops (where I've had mine taken) know the proper measurements. I had no issue when I renewed mine earlier this year.