I am headed to the Philadelphia Regional Passport Agency this morning to have additional pages inserted in my passport. I’ve had to rush a bit since I procrastinated. I do not have time before my next trip to mail in my passport, so I have to appear in person and pay an expedited fee.  I considered processing my passport through an expedited service website, but I was worried about the turnaround tim,e and the expense was astronomical. I was not able to confirm an in-person appointment until my flight was confirmed and the trip was less than two weeks away and, luckily, everything came together this week.  I’m hoping it’s a speedy process and I can be out of the office, pages in passport, in less than 30 minutes.

I got my first passport in 2004, in preparation for my study abroad semester. In the past eight years, I’ve traveled extensively enough to fill my passport pages; and as I discovered while flipping through my passport last night, the little booklet is truly the best souvenir one can have. As I paged through and looked at each stamp, I reminisced about all of my experiences, which ranged from hostel stays in Europe to business-class flights and 5-star hotels in Asia. Stamps and visas overlap, and I tried counting all my re-entries back into the United States and London (where I studied abroad), but I lost count as countries have stamped over each other time and again. My passport tells quite a story, and it’s grown with me as a traveler.

I’m only adding pages. My passport does not expire for another two years. I think it will be quite the nostalgic day when I apply for a new passport. I know one thing is certain: I will hold on to that first passport forever.

— Kimberly Krol, managing editor