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Time to say goodbye to a faithful travelling companion. My passport is about to expire and already is in the 6-month dying phase in which a lot of countries won’t accept it.

So, I’ve filled out the form to get a new one. In a flimsy attempt to update the whole process, the Passport Service has put the application online, but can’t print it out yourself. Once you’ve filled it in they print it out themselves, and then post to you for signing so you can post it back.

Pathetic.

Anyhow, I’m reluctant to lose the stamps I’ve collected over the last couple of years, so I’ve scanned them all for safekeeping. There are a few obvious ones missing, China being the one I most regret. I managed to get in through the diplomatic channels there, which cut the three-hour process down to 30-minutes but also meant I have no record of ever having been there. I guess good contacts are not always a good thing.

Estonian passport stamp, courtesy of a short trip across the water from Finland on a very fast catamaran.

Hong Kong. One of my favourites, and a trip that was far too brief. And too hot.

Japan. Entry at Narita airport in Tokyo and exit through Kansai in Kyoto (an anagram of Tokyo and the ancient capital of Japan). Kansai is a beautiful airport, but it’s sinking.

A Korean stamp. I have mixed feelings about Korea. I made some good friends on that trip, but the food made us all very ill.

Lithuania is undoubtedly my favourite place. There’s loads to see, it’s not too far from home, it’s still a bit out of the ordinary, and the people are very very friendly.

America. Hmmm. The dullest stamps in the whole passport. Two trips to Seattle, one to Boston and one to Cincinatti. I’ve never understood what the WB that the immigration people scribble onto each stamp means.

Macau, where our guides were convinced we were going to be kidnapped by the Chinese mafia. I won $400 in the casino and was too afraid to cash in my chips until the very end of the night.

One of two stamps for Prague. This is the earlier of the two, and features a propellor plane. The second one, collected a couple of years later, had been updated to show a small private jet.

This stamp from Taiwan is pretty much the only thing made in Taiwan that doesn’t have Made in Taiwan stamped on it. Memories of Taiwan? Being stuck in an 12th floor toilet and rescued my a man who edged along a narrow ledge on the outside of the building.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2003 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Picture story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.