Passport…It’s Been 10 Years

I’m planning a trip to Amsterdam and Germany for August and I realized my passport expires in June. I started filing out the paperwork and then the time came for the blasted photo.

I’m not photogenic. I’m just not. But looking at my photo from ten years ago I started seeing my youth fade away.

Do I really look like that now?

It’s funny really. I remember going to Walgreens and getting my passport photo ten years ago. Excited about getting the little blue book to go on a cruise. I booked the cruise and had a blast. I even stopped at a gift shop and had my passport stamped in Honduras to at least say it was stamped. So this was the first time out of the country and first time on a cruise.

Then a year later I decided to celebrate by 30th birthday and go to Italy. I couldn’t find anyone to go with me so I made the journey with two suitcase, a backpack, iPod full of music and God.

I was nervous flying over because a few months before my lung has spontaneously collapsed for no reason and I was nervous about the cabin pressure and altitude. But I had no issues. Flew into Madrid and got my passport stamped for the first time officially.

I experienced my first layover in a foreign country surrounded by strangers speaking a language I took in high school. I was on cloud nine…but still nervous. Then the time came to fly to Venice.

I landed into another country, followed the crowd and before I knew it I was out of the airport. I was a little panicked because I didn’t go through customs in Italy. I thought I somehow snuck through the airport without going through the proper channel. I was freaking out. I kept walking back and first into the airport to find where I was supposed to go. (I later found out that I didn’t break any rules. I went through customs in Spain. Who knew?)

When I travel I’m always nervous until I reach my hotel. In Venice there are no cars. Only boats. So I found my water bus and headed to the island of Lido. I was mesmerized with the fact that less than twelve house before I was in Chicago waiting to get onto my flight. And now I was looking at the beauty of Venice that I had been researching for years through the pages of any travel book I could check out from my local library.

I roamed the mazed paths, getting lost at about every turn, but it was okay. That is the fun of traveling. It’s not the destination…it’s the path getting there.

I eventually left Venice and hopped through Italy on random trains until my final stop of Italy.

So my second experience with my passport included water taxis and the European train system.

I will never forget that trip to Italy. Roaming through old cathedrals, marveling at the statues of Christ, trying to grasp the emotions of Mary and his followers. It was in Italy where I fell in reverent awe of Jesus’ followers and their struggle in watching Jesus die on a criminals cross.

I sat baffled on many wooden pews and took in the silence of the little churches scattered through Venice. I felt like I was breaking into many secret buildings in Rome as I walked through the dark, candle lit, stained glass walls alone. I prayed a lot. I would open up my iPad and read a random scripture passage and sit and commune with God. Then I would leave that little church and walk down a few streets until another door beckoned me to walk through it.

I’m odd. Most young people would go to clubs or other places to meet other people…I wandered through empty cathedrals.

I went on a few more cruises and had the privilege of spending a week and a half driving around eastern Canada with my parents. This was the first time I got to drive through customs and get my passport stamped from the people with the maple leaf flag.

I had a good trip traveling beyond Niagara Falls and experiencing Ontario. Traveling further up and entering the French speaking province of Quebec. I still laugh at the time we went to Pizza Hut and my mom asked for marinara and they couldn’t understand her so they brought her ketchup for her breadsticks. I still think they understood because I overheard the waitress speaking good English. They probably thought, “Silly Americans.”

But it was interesting driving a vehicle and watching the signs change from English to French. We journeyed upward and stayed on Prince Edward Island and drove the entire length of the island finding random lighthouses or their famous pink rock beaches.

Most people don’t have the luxury of traveling with their parents, or the want to, but I would take them anywhere they would want to go.

So with this stamp of the passport I got to experience driving in a foreign country and watching my dad try to order supper in Quebec.

I am one blessed guy. Blessed with good family. Blessed with good memories. Blessed beyond measure.

Then my travels continued. I got to get my passport stamped multiple times when I went with my sister and niece to Europe. We got our passport stamped in England, France and Ireland. The first time I got multiple stamps on one trip.

My sister only had one week off from work so she didn’t get to experience Ireland very long. This was the first time I got to rent a car in a foreign country. And not only rent, but drive on the opposite side of the road. So my niece and I dropped off my sister at the Dublin airport and we took off for a week long adventure around the entire island. This was the first time I got to travel one on one with someone else besides my sister. I have many good memories with my niece on that trip.

This was also the first time I got a flat tire in Ireland when I hit the curb on the tiny, narrow roads. Luckily my niece was there to find the secret piece that allowed me to change the tire. Another first time with my passport.

A year later I returned to Ireland with only my mom. This was the first trip I had with just her. This was also the first return trip with my passport. We had many good times on that trip. Getting lost a time or two. Going to bed hungry a time or two when we discovered these little villages shut down before 6 pm. Learning to buy snacks at the convenience store so I wouldn’t be hungry all the time. Another good trip with my passport.

A few months later I returned to Italy with my mom and my sister. The first trip the three of us took together. Another good memory with my passport of eating pizza in each city, getting caught in a hailstorm in Rome, watching my sister fall asleep in an opera, and sharing the good memories I had years ago with my beloved family.

I’ve had a great 10 years of travels. I still have many more memories, but these were the firsts with my passport.

So, hopefully I will have another first this August when I will travel for the first time overseas with my other sister and niece. This will be the first time five of us will be going somewhere. Hopefully we will have many good memories with my fresh new passport book.

Here is to the next 10 years.

May God bless us with good memories…but a passport isn’t really required for that. It’s not the destination that matters, it’s the journey and the people around you.

So journey on.

Peace

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