The stories that a passport can tell...

Today i picked up my new passport from the passport office  - it's very new, the gold embossed crest is very bright, it's stiff and ... well, empty. I didn't really think twice when i was submitting the application - but i'm feeling quite sad that i'm no longer going to be using my old passport.
The decade just closing was one of many travels and adventures - i lived in Africa, travelling widely across the African continent and then explored Australia, New Zealand, USA, Japan and the Middle East - and whenever i pull out my passport it always prompts a moment of reflection about the adventures contained within (as well as a moment of oooh have i got a spare page?).

My passport looked after me well - and at the end of it's decade it looks well worn, well loved and only has 2 empty pages left ... it was time....

Whilst i am an absolute lover of technology and actively promote its use and application as widely and effectively as possible - i do hope that we don't move to a 'sim card' type of passport - tracking and recording our movements onto a microchip (oooh that does sound sinister) - there's something utterly romantic about having a passport physically stamped - as a record of our footsteps around the world. Seeing the different languages on each page and the visas stuck randomly about feels like a precious record.  Being greeted into a new country by the (often surly) immigration official is one of those moments of 'officialdom' that holds a slight frisson of tension - sometimes executed in silence - sometimes it's like a mini interrogation (are they really trying to catch me out?!) until eventually the imposing stamp is pounded into the pages of my passport and i'm free to explore a whole new territory. It's so simple to travel these days - but that moment is still a precious and exciting one ...

So my old passport is useless - with corners removed - i have a new 28 pages to fill - i wonder what adventures this one has in store.....

A la prochaine x