I got my passport what seems like long, long ago - way back in 2002 :). Passports are generally good for 10 years, and 7 January 2012 has been my closely approaching expiration date. In Asia, you can't go many places with less than 6 months to go on your passport, so time to get a new one.
This past week, I went to our U.S. embassy in Singapore. My expectations were low. I figured it would be an international DMV with security and my day would be sucked up. I can very happily report that my experience was the complete opposite. I arrived at 11:30, half an hour before closing time, and was out in 20 minutes or less. I even had to get a picture in that amount of time.
While I did not achieve the 30 countries by 30 target that others have, I did achieve my personal goal. When I studied abroad in Spain, I started a wonderful friendship with mi amiga Sara. We decided that we wanted to get our passports filled up before they expired. That gave me about 10 years, so similar to the "30 by 30" goal. I probably cheated a little by getting a few different one page visas (usually it takes at least 4 stamps to fill a page) and my little blue book filled up quickly! I was very disheartened to learn that when it's full though, you just get more pages! So a couple years ago, I got more pages and my hopes of filling it before expiration became quite lofty.
All in all, I made good use of those 10 years. I hear when I get my new one, I'll get to keep the old one. Lots of good memories there. Here are some highlights to share.....
This past week, I went to our U.S. embassy in Singapore. My expectations were low. I figured it would be an international DMV with security and my day would be sucked up. I can very happily report that my experience was the complete opposite. I arrived at 11:30, half an hour before closing time, and was out in 20 minutes or less. I even had to get a picture in that amount of time.
The U.S. Embassy. Snapped right before I saw the "no pics" sign :). Not the prettiest of buildings.
While I did not achieve the 30 countries by 30 target that others have, I did achieve my personal goal. When I studied abroad in Spain, I started a wonderful friendship with mi amiga Sara. We decided that we wanted to get our passports filled up before they expired. That gave me about 10 years, so similar to the "30 by 30" goal. I probably cheated a little by getting a few different one page visas (usually it takes at least 4 stamps to fill a page) and my little blue book filled up quickly! I was very disheartened to learn that when it's full though, you just get more pages! So a couple years ago, I got more pages and my hopes of filling it before expiration became quite lofty.
All in all, I made good use of those 10 years. I hear when I get my new one, I'll get to keep the old one. Lots of good memories there. Here are some highlights to share.....
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