When you leave the country, your passport proves that you exist. It is your best friend so never, ever pack it in your luggage or leave it in your room. You must carry this valuable little book everywhere you go. Of course, most of you already know this and will watch it like a hawk.
The tragic truth is, though, that some people do lose their passports. My wife has a teacher friend who takes students to Europe every year. She drills them about the importance of their passports, but a few years ago a particularly immature traveler lost his passport. Of course, the loss occurred a day before they were scheduled to fly home. Murphy’s law dictates that the loss will happen at the worst possible time. She and said student went to the American embassy in Madrid. She nervously blathered on and on about the lost passport. Eventually, the Ambassador’s Aid asked if the student could talk. By this time, he was terrified but managed to say that yes he could talk and he was American. The end of the story is happy. The embassy helped the student to get another passport but most of the last day in Spain was spent knee deep in paperwork.
A few days ago I ran across an article about passports. The author of the article suggested you make copies of every page of your passport, your drivers’ license, and another picture ID. You should put them in a safe place while you are on your trip. Not the same place you put your passport. Anyway, in case you lost your passport, you can take the copies to the embassy and the replacement process will be expedited. I have no idea if this would work, but it sounds like a good idea to me. I thought I would pass it along for those of you lucky enough to be getting ready to travel in Europe.
Ellery Coleman
The tragic truth is, though, that some people do lose their passports. My wife has a teacher friend who takes students to Europe every year. She drills them about the importance of their passports, but a few years ago a particularly immature traveler lost his passport. Of course, the loss occurred a day before they were scheduled to fly home. Murphy’s law dictates that the loss will happen at the worst possible time. She and said student went to the American embassy in Madrid. She nervously blathered on and on about the lost passport. Eventually, the Ambassador’s Aid asked if the student could talk. By this time, he was terrified but managed to say that yes he could talk and he was American. The end of the story is happy. The embassy helped the student to get another passport but most of the last day in Spain was spent knee deep in paperwork.
A few days ago I ran across an article about passports. The author of the article suggested you make copies of every page of your passport, your drivers’ license, and another picture ID. You should put them in a safe place while you are on your trip. Not the same place you put your passport. Anyway, in case you lost your passport, you can take the copies to the embassy and the replacement process will be expedited. I have no idea if this would work, but it sounds like a good idea to me. I thought I would pass it along for those of you lucky enough to be getting ready to travel in Europe.
Ellery Coleman
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