Do you have a passport?

[Mizzougrad96]

I went to Europe for the first time when I was 6. Several years later, I went to London with a passport that had a picture of me when I was 6. That got some strange looks at customs.

 

[bigpern23]

Mine's due for renewal this year. I've used it to travel to Thailand and Guatemala. Hopefully, I'll have some more stamps in it soon.

 

[TeamBud]

Didn't get one until I was 44 and was going to do some traveling for work. I've used it a few times for work travel and a couple times for personal trips. About to renew it because I have a trip planned for August and it is going to expire in November. I regret not making a travel bucket list sooner and finding a way to make it happen.

 

[MTM]

Got one when we had to travel to Russia to adopt our son. That was seven years ago and I haven't used it since.

My wife had one as a child, as she was a military brat, and she renewed it for the adoption trips.

Our son has a Russian passport.

 

[TrooperBari]

Filled one passport (not as impressive as it sounds; full-page visas chew up space real quick) and working on a second. It was nice of the State Department to send back the cancelled one as a keepsake of sorts.

 

[KJIM]

I went to Europe for the first time when I was 6. Several years later, I went to London with a passport that had a picture of me when I was 6. That got some strange looks at customs.

Were you 11? The minor ones are good for five years, right?

I see a lot of infant and child passports. I wondered how 3-month-old Barrett will look two of his mom's tours later, when he's 5.

I'm thinking about getting my niece one for her 14th birthday so that she can come visit me (that part would be the gift from her grandma) but it seems that getting a passport for a child of single parents requires a heck of a lot of paperwork.

And I am thinking that of all the years in a girl's life, age 14 is not the one you want to have frozen in photos for any length of time.

 

[MileHigh]

Mine expires this year. Have used it only a handful of times.

 

[SpeedTchr]

Have had one for 40+ years. It was painful using a passport with a picture of 10-year-old me when I was 18.

 

[Smokey33]

Got one a year ago for a trip to Europe. I'd been to Mexico/Canada plenty of times previously.

When you're a poor college student, then a poor journalist making 22k/year, there's no money to go overseas.

 

[Amy]

I'm thinking about getting my niece one for her 14th birthday so that she can come visit me (that part would be the gift from her grandma) but it seems that getting a passport for a child of single parents requires a heck of a lot of paperwork.

And I am thinking that of all the years in a girl's life, age 14 is not the one you want to have frozen in photos for any length of time.

KJIM, I was 13 when I got my first passport and the picture is fine. I got lucky and long hair was the fashion then. I can't say the same for the one issued when I was 21. The perm is not a classic style.

I can't make myself throw out my old passports.

 

[KJIM]

There is no way I'd throw out an old passport.

 

[Dyno]

I got my first one at about 5 months old (not sure if it was my own or if I was just on my mom's) and have had one ever since.

I had a hard time at the French border when I was 20. My photo was a few years old and in it I had very short hair. By 20, I had gone through a growth spurt and my hair was much longer. The first border guy didn't believe it was my passport and called over a second guy, who was also skeptical. Thankfully, my drivers' license had a more recent photo and they eventually believed me, stamped my passport and let me in.

Isn't the old joke that if your passport photo is good, you don't need the vacation?