Passport

Before I set out on this wild and wonderful year of 'education', I took the time to renew my passport (well in advance of the otherwise scheduled timeline for replacement). I wanted to ensure that I had adequate flexibility to travel - space for visas being a key driver.

I get excited every time I go to a new country and collect a stamp. Some places have an ink stamp. Others have a paper stamp like the one you might put on a postcard home. Others still give you an entire page stamp. (Side note: There seems to be an inverse relationship between the size of the stamp and GDP per capita for the issuing nation). Whatever the mark, it's exciting every time. It's more fun than the sticker collection that I had as a kid.

My American friend, Liz, has even had new pages sewn in her passport - TWICE! It almost looks like the passport is fake, since it is stuffed with so many visas and has straddled a change in passport design, such that the pages that are sewn in look very different than those that were included in the original passport. What a beautiful souvenir.

I've found myself browsing through my own passport, wondering what it will look like by the end of the year. Wondering what adventures are in store for me. As I was preparing my French visa application in anticipation of my move there in two months, I had reason to take another joyful flip through my passport. What I discovered is that my brand new passport had only a couple of blank pages remaining. With a few trips lined up over the coming two months, and an entire page required for the french visa that will need to last me until at least the end of July, that spelled a need to visit the Canadian embassy.

Sadly, the Canadian passport office will not simply sew in new pages. I will need to get a brand new passport (not so easy when you're not in Canada!) and start my collection from scratch. Again.