Losing a travel friend

I had to turn in my passport yesterday in order to get it renewed, and I’m a little broken up about it. I’ve never been the person to publicly thumb through the pages of my passport to show off—but privately, I look them over to serve as a quick reminder of where I’ve been, what I’ve seen and how I’ve grown.

I’ve finally gotten to the point where I don’t even have to open the passport up to fill out documents. I know the number, the issue date and the expiration date by heart. And all but half a page is filled with country stamps. The only exception is the Machu Picchu stamp I had to add, probably due to my lightheadedness and how overwhelmed I was when I visited the amazing Incan city a few years ago.

I know I’ll get it back, but with two holes punched in the front so I can never use it again. I’ll have to get used to a new passport number, a blank set of pages, and the radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip in the cover. While I’m looking forward to filling those empty pages, I’ll miss my old passport buddy. Rest in peace.

Posted by | Comments (2)  | December 17, 2010
Category: General


2 Responses to “Losing a travel friend”

  1. Lori Says:

    My husband just went through the same thing a few weeks ago. It’s hard!