Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 8 hours ago, Alpo said: I not only am normal, but I am the standard by which normal is measured. Everyone out there that is like me is normal. The rest of y'all, who are not like me, are abnormal. If you take your brain out at night and leave it in a container so you can rest better, make sure that Eye-gor isn't anywhere near around. Yerazz!!!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painted Mohawk SASS 77785 Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Let myself & wifes passports expire last year, no intention of renewing ...there is still a lot of Australia to see & that's hopefully what we will do. Cruise ships & planes are now a no go as well..trapped in incubators for whatever ailment is on board....YMMV 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watab kid Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 kinda how i feel , daughter is not so active in the olympics so ill not be needing to travel and im inclined to visit this country here ive not been - lots to choose from here and so far i dont need a passport to do it , 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Yes. Both the booklet (actually a fascinating li'l thing) and the card. I've been to Mexico and Canada when passports were not required; I'd like to visit Canada again. The main reason I broke down and got a passport when nearly seventy years of age was the "real ID" requirement. Living in california, I was unable to get a "real ID" because the last name on my birth certificate differs from that I grew up with, and from every other official record of my life. To acquire a california "real ID," I would first have to legally change my name to... my name. And, whereas in other states that can be a relatively simple and inexpensive procedure, in california it is a fairly protracted and pricy process best done by hiring a lawyer. However, for passports, the Feds have a simple solution to the problem - notarized forms completed by two people stating that you are who you are and done. Ironically, the passport qualifes as a substitute for the birth certificate in applying for the california "real ID." Doh! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finagler 6853 Life Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 I've had a passport since college. Went on a trip of Europe with a group of students and had to have one for that. Just kept it current over the years for business travel. Need it for travel in and out of Canada (ya hey?) and Mexico these days. Mom and I want to go visit my sis and BIL down under one of these days. It is a good form of identification as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowCatcher Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Have had one for decades, and have used it every few years. Planning to use it again in 2025 for a few months. Love traveling to Spain, UK, France, Germany and soon Italy. SC 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forty Rod SASS 3935 Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 On 1/17/2024 at 3:39 PM, Texas Joker said: You can leave you just can't get back in Why not? Damn near everyone else gets in when ever and where ever they want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caprock Kid Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Guess my question isn’t ‘why have one’ but more like ‘why not’? Never know when an opportunity might appear. Had family win a free cruise. No one else could go because they didn’t have passports and not enough time to get them. We did. My kids travel and if anything happened to them, I want to be able to get to them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watab kid Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 12 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: Yes. Both the booklet (actually a fascinating li'l thing) and the card. I've been to Mexico and Canada when passports were not required; I'd like to visit Canada again. The main reason I broke down and got a passport when nearly seventy years of age was the "real ID" requirement. Living in california, I was unable to get a "real ID" because the last name on my birth certificate differs from that I grew up with, and from every other official record of my life. To acquire a california "real ID," I would first have to legally change my name to... my name. And, whereas in other states that can be a relatively simple and inexpensive procedure, in california it is a fairly protracted and pricy process best done by hiring a lawyer. However, for passports, the Feds have a simple solution to the problem - notarized forms completed by two people stating that you are who you are and done. Ironically, the passport qualifes as a substitute for the birth certificate in applying for the california "real ID." Doh! im not going to get on a soapbox here but , you have to jump through hoops and pay through the nose as a citizen , those that enter illegibly get handed drivers licenses and i think they will be voting in our upcoming election , tell me how this is right ............... your [and me] paying a lot for them to be here and legally vote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 9 hours ago, Caprock Kid said: Guess my question isn’t ‘why have one’ but more like ‘why not’? Never know when an opportunity might appear That is an interesting way of looking at it. You figure $130 for the passport and another 35 to get it cut, so that's $165, but it's good for 10 years so that's less than $20 a year and what's that - chump change. But having one just because you might need it makes about as much sense as having a tuxedo. If I'm rich, having a passport makes sense because I might jump on my private jet and fly to Sweden, just for the hell of it. Or the halibut. And if I'm rich having a tuxedo makes sense because I might possibly be going to lots of black tie parties with all my rich friends, so I need a tux. But if I'm me - not rich - having a tuxedo just because I might get invited to a formal party, or I might have to give my daughter away at her wedding or I might be going to play baccarat at Monte Carlo is sort of foolish. If a time shows up where I do need a tux, I can either buy one or rent one depending on how I feel about wearing other people's clothes. And if the time comes up that I need a passport, I can get one. But having one "just in case"? I -remember, not rich - can think of many things I would rather spend $165 on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 2 hours ago, Alpo said: But if I'm me - not rich - having a tuxedo just because I might get invited to a formal party, or I might have to give my daughter away at her wedding or I might be going to play baccarat at Monte Carlo is sort of foolish. Heck I don't even own a TIE. Okay, I take that back. I just looked and I still have my old Marine Corps uniform tie. I just hadn't SEEN it in twenty years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Joker Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Some people think a backpack full of MRE's and camping gear is a bug out bag. I like a bag with 10K and cash and a Passport. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowCatcher Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Somewhat surprised to see the amount of emotion on this topic. You get a passport so that you can enter a foreign country and then return to your own. Traditionally this was enforced as a rule of law, and it may well be again in some (hopefully soon) future. If you know that you will never travel overseas then that's fine - you never will need one. If you can travel then so much the better. One thing I learned in my travels is how damn good we have it in this country, and how important it is to preserve that. Some of us learned that courtesy of Uncle Sam, some of us learned it from other opportunities. Just walk through a grocery store or other commercial outlet in a foreign country and compare prices and selection. Boy howdy we really are a rich nation. Travel doesn't require wealth, just choices. $800 r/t from west coast to London, $30 per day in a hostel, food costs what you spend at home anyway, so if you wanted to do it on a budget you could do it. Here in the US we do a lousy job of teaching our history and civic lessons anymore, not like it was 50 years ago. When you go to Europe and other lands, often you can walk amongst the ruins of history, and see and learn from it. Having done that many times, and acquiring a taste for history, I'm now excited to be going back to the east coast in a few years, and re-visiting the Revolutionary War sites, and the founding of this glorious nation. Travel broadens the mind, and it's fun. YMMV SC 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpo Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 3 hours ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said: my old Marine Corps uniform tie I thought that was a field scarf? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 54 minutes ago, Alpo said: I thought that was a field scarf? No, we have neckties. We tie our shoelaces too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Slade Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 4 hours ago, Texas Joker said: Some people think a backpack full of MRE's and camping gear is a bug out bag. I like a bag with 10K and cash and a Passport. 10K? Sounds' like a 1970's bug out bag! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 10 hours ago, Alpo said: And if the time comes up that I need a passport, I can get one. But having one "just in case"? I -remember, not rich - can think of many things I would rather spend $165 on. A lot of very ordinary folks of ordinary mean travel outside the country from time to time. Over the last 40 years, we have done so many times. It all depends on what one's level of interest in foreign travel is. That's all. It makes sense to renew the passport before the ten years are up, because you can make travel plans sometimes on the spur of the moment, and renewal can take time. And if you live in a border state it's useful even for local travel, because international is local then. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 32 minutes ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said: A lot of very ordinary folks of ordinary mean travel outside the country from time to time. Over the last 40 years, we have done so many times. It all depends on what one's level of interest in foreign travel is. That's all. It makes sense to renew the passport before the ten years are up, because you can make travel plans sometimes on the spur of the moment, and renewal can take time. And if you live in a border state it's useful even for local travel, because international is local then. My wife just got back from Panama. Her friend had bid on a silent auction for five to go and won the bid. Two of the people who were supposed to go did not have passports and could not guarantee they could get them in time, so my wife and her friend (who both had passports) got a 10 day all inclusive girls trip for $100 and airfare. Just one example of a time critical need for a passport in hand. Regards Gateway Kid BTW while mine is not inches thick it has more filled in pages than empty and have never regretted having it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frederick Jackson Turner Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 I am certainly not rich, by the standards of the day, but I do like to see what's over the next hill. Or across the river. Or the ocean. So I keep mine current, and handy. The upcoming April issue of the Cowboy Chronicle will contain a few more details on this topic. Seems we're not the only ones who enjoy this cowboy action stuff. Cheers, FJT “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” ― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rip Snorter Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Yes, I have a passport in preference to Real ID which, to me at least, is on the edge of "Papers Please." Geheimestatds Poleizei is a little too close Homeland Security for my taste. Irrelevant, since I won't go anywhere where my permit isn't good. And flying? Not any more, and I flew solo as a child on DC3 a Super G Constellation, marvelous to have flown in the golden age. Watching the diminishment of air travel is grim. These days the busses I travelled as a "starving student" are probably superior to air. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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