Collect your passport stamps with pride

I dug out my old passport that expired 6 years ago today. It hasn’t seen daylight since it was cruelly made invalid with a punch by an indifferent clerk. I brought it out today to have a look at the lovely stamps and visas from the countries, I visited between 1991 and 2001.

Yes, you read it right - to have a look at the stamps. Not something I’ve ever done before, but I was provoked, you see, by a cyber bully by the name of Jorge Gobbi :p.

Jorge, who clearly doesn’t appreciate the fine art of passport stamps, published a post on his blog today mocking the travellers, who appreciate a nice stamp in our passports. “What purpose does a passport full of stamps serve?”, he asked only to proceed by suggesting that those of us who appreciate passport stamps only collect them to show off!

How could you, Jorge? Passport stamps are not “been-there-done-that” t-shirts. They form part of a traveller’s memorabilia. They are little pieces of history. Something to remember our trips by, and for those of us who are getting on in life, proof to sceptical youths that we did indeed visit that far-away country long before the horrible booze holidays were invented.

So I will not bow to bullying. I collect my passport stamps with pride, although they are few and far between nowadays as most of my travels have been within Europe lately. Who will join me in my appreciation for passport stamps?

Note: Before any fellow passport-stamp appreciator starts leaving Jorge nasty comments, please don’t! He is not really a cyber bully. This post is only meant as a little bit of fun to help me get through this Wednesday afternoon.

Technorati Tags: travel, passport stamps

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