A New Passport, Sad or Exciting?
Yesterday I lost my companion of 10 years, almost exactly to the day. My trusted friend, jam packed with extra pages, was set to expire today, the 12th of February 2013 … the same day I am boarding flights to Italy and Russia.  When I picked up my dear friend a decade ago it was on the 13th of February, a few hours before boarding a Virgin Atlantic flight to London from Boston. The cover was stiff, the pages crisp, a blank canvas, as I said goodbye yesterday the cover was warn, the corners frayed, the pages covered in stamps so many times it needed two extra sets of pages added.
Now as I head to the airport with my new passport I don’t know if I am excited to break in a new passport or sad that I don’t have my old friend with me, my constant companion. The new passport doesn’t quite fit right in my Bellroy Travel Wallet, it is slimmer than my old friend, its spine is squared not rounded, although I am sure in time it will make its own marks in its new home.
The new passport is stiff, it is empty, when I open it and look inside I sense it is lonely … but in the next 69 hours it should receive five stamps of its own … hopefully my new passport becomes a new friend and lives up to the legacy left by its predecessor.
For now, I cannot decide if I am excited to take my new passport, my new friend, on the road or sad that my old passport, an old comfortable friend, is no longer with me as I head out to make my way through the world.
Below is a photo of my new passport, my empty passport full of possibilities and my old passport, my old trusted friend.
Happy Flying!
wow not only extra pages but 8 stams per page
I’m surprised you waited until the last minute.
Lots of countries want at least 6 months of life left in them.
That said, I’m about 2 years away from a similar parting. One extra set of pages nearly full, and I’ll probably need another set. I think the thing I’ll miss most is the visas that have been glued in by various countries.
Be happy the USA offers 10 years!
What a pain in the butt to get a new passport after 5 years in countries like Canada (heard they may finally catch up with the real world and issue 10 year e-passports this year…remains to be seen).
Be thankful for 10 years!
Why is there a stamp from re-entering the US at NYC? I didn’t think one’s passport was generally stamped in their own country. (certainly Canadian passports aren’t)
Always a sad day, but I still have two of my three previous passports to help relive memories. The other, unfortunately, was stolen in the Brussels railway station. I lost a number of good stamps that day (Portugal, Greece, Austria come to mind).
Brad,
US Passport control frequently stamps US passports reentering the United States. Canada rarely stamps US passports, but I have been stamped into YVR and YYZ as well.
Happy Flying!
-Fish
CBP does not frequently stamp US passports. They are not supposed to anyway as a matter of fact.
Also Hong Kong will discontinue use of stamps starting in March and will instead staple a printed slip in your passport.
My now expired passport has dozens of stamps from US airports, JFK, EWR, BOS, LAX, ORD, PHL, IAD, HNL, MSP
Happy Flying!
-Fish
Just now getting down to business about renewing (?)/obtaining a current passport after my first one during college expired a VERY long time ago. 🙂 I’m hoping getting a new passport will edge me on the way to making that dream trip overseas with my wife.
In the meantime, the last few years as I’ve traveled THIS country working disaster events, I started using a little moleskin pocketbook to capture USPS postmarks in the cities and towns I visit! It’s great fun and I get a lot of enjoyment filling my little books and showing them off. So far, in the last three or four years, I’ve filled just about seven little books with the postmarks!