My passport has expired, and I’m renewing it by mail. You have to send your existing passport to them as proof of identity, and parting with it got me thinking about how cool the stamps that you get at various ports of entry around the world are. I understand that when you renew your passport by mail, they cancel your expired one and return it to you, but they don’t mention that in writing anywhere, so I decided to error on the side of caution and scan the visas I have so that I don’t loose them should the passport agency not return my original passport.
The first one was stamped when I left Boston, MA, again, when I arrived at London Heathrow, and finally when I entered Malaga, Spain. Most of our time that trip was spent in Malaga, and I have to say that I would love to live there. Parties all night, and everyone takes a nap at 11:00 AM. Need I say more?
The second one is my visas from Tanger Morocco. At the time, you could not just go into Morocco on your own. You had to be a part of a designated tour group, which was really just a way for the locals to coordinate their efforts to try to sell you things as the group made its way down the streets.
As we were on the ferry to cross the Straight of Gibraltar, our tour guide, a man who was a little sketchy looking, but spoke about six languages, came by with a trash bag and asked everyone to toss in their passports. OK, I thought, this pretty much runs counter to everything I’ve been told about how to care for my passport, but what the heck… I’m going to Africa. He came back a little later with my passport and the correct visas, but it still had me shaken up for a bit. Nobody wants to end up and the US embassy in Tanger having to explain why you had given your passport to a complete stranger.
I think your story is very hard to believe!
1.There is no such thing than having to be part of a group to enter Morocco.
2.You can’t enter Morocco with a passport near expiration. You need at least 6 months of validity
3.Your tour guide is a stranger? really? I believe you don’t speak any of his languages.
I think you should really change your mentality! Never to late to give advise!
Inan,
No offence intended. I was simply writing about my experience, which was VERY limited. I hate being part of a tour because you never really get to see what the place you are visiting is really like.
We were told that you have to be part of a group to enter Morocco. If this was true of false, I have no idea. I will take your word for it that it was a false statment.
At the time, my passport was not near expiration, so I didn’t have any problems with this. It is interesting that they won’t let you in with one that is about to expire though. I did not know that. Thanks for the tip.
Our tour guide was a stranger, in that I had never met him before. I was able to communicate with him in English, and understand a good deal of his French, but I am embaressed to say that I do not speak as many languages as I would like to. I deeply admired his ability to speak so many languages!
I’m not really sure what you mean when you say “I think you should really change your mentality!”, but I agree that having gone to Morocco without being part of a tour would have given me an experience that was much more representitive of true Moroccan culture. In many ways it seemed that the tour group was really only there to shop. I would love to go back on my own to experience the “ture” Morocco, which struck me as being very rich in culture and art.
Again, no offence intended.
Hi Cliff,
I echo your sentiments on both points!!
When my passport expired a few years back, and I had to send in my old passport, I was fearful that I wouldn’t get it back. Those little stamps mean something to me as well. Fortunately, when I received my new passport, my old one was returned to me without issue. I hadn’t thought to scan the pages just in case though – good idea !!
Additionally, I too have been asked to hand over my passport at a resort in Mexico for safe keeping. I protested and refused -call me a paranoid city girl.
I’ve been to Canada, Europe 4 times, Mexico 3 times, several places in the Caribbean and have never been asked to hand over my passport. I trust me to hold it and no one else. And no tour guild or hotel concierge is going to bully me into thinking otherwise.
In Negril Jamaica, a Concierge demanded holding on to an temporary immigration visa card that was stamped when I entered the country and needed to be presented to exit the country. They lost the card. They couldn’t find it anywhere. Fortunately, when I got to the airport they had called the immigration office at the airport and said that they found the card and they issued me a new card and let me leave the country.
My response now when someone asks to hold any official travel documents “over my dead body!”.
Perhaps I need an attitude adjustment as well, but I’ve traveled enough to know that no matter how much someone tells you it is the job and you have to hand over the document, it is perfectly in your right to tell them “NO!”.
[...] Quite a few years ago, Chucky and I found ourselves in Malaga, Spain. We were both in college, and his parents had graciously invited me along on their family trip. We spent our days in more or less typical tourist fashion, venturing around little Spanish villas, the near-by cities and even crossing the Strait of Gibraltar to visit Tangiers Morocco. [...]
Isnt traveling abroad so fun? I have been to the uk 4 times in 5 yrs. This next time I am going for 3 months. I plan to go to spain while in the uk. I have friends in wales. I believe if your going to keep going to a country over and over you need to live, eat, sleep and party with the locals . I love it and cant wait to go back. And yes Im so proud of my stamps on my passport as well and will definatly be photo copying them when mine expires
The passport in a big bag thing is typical on many Southeast Asian land crossings. For example, between Vietnam and Cambodia, you surrender your passport when you board the bus in Ho Chi Minh City and they take care of all of the formalities/visa at the border and so on. After leaving Vietnam and crossing into Cambodia, you are typically in the country for about 30 minutes for lunch while your passport is actually still at the border post going through the immigration process.
Furthermore, a lot of hotels in Vietnam (especially in smaller towns or if you stay with a family) require you to give them your passport overnight. In the rural areas, there is actually a logbook at the local police station and they demand to see the physical passport and visa for registration (copies seem to suffice in HCMC). I’ve given my passport away hundreds of times in so-called “sketchy” places and have never had an issue with it. Just be aware who has your documents and when he/she will return it to you.