My first passport, 21 years ago!
Kelly and I took the kids to the post office this week to get their passports renewed. We were hoping to have them in time for our upcoming trip to Orcas Island, so that if we had some time we could cross the strait and see what it’s like to riot in Vancouver. Okay, not really, but it’s always good to have an up-to-date passport.
While we were waiting for the paperwork to get done, I recalled that it was about this time of year that I got my first passport. It was July 5th, 1990 and I was serving in the Navy during that time – my ship, the USS Elliot (DD-967), was visiting Hong Kong that week. I remember the humor of celebrating America’s Independence Day while docked in a British colony.
He's 21 and already knows everything!
At the time, the days of Hong Kong being a British colony were numbered, and a huge line of Chinese were lined up at the American Embassy in an effort to get out of the country. As American sailors, my shipmates and I were escorted to the front of a line that stretched for blocks – just so we could get our passports for a sightseeing trip into China (looking back on it now, I realize it’s the only time I’ve ever seen the Chinese form a line. Heh.)
In spite of these efforts, I missed my early wakeup and overslept the day of the tour, missing my (first) chance to see China. Over the next ten years, my passport collected just two stamps for London Gatwick and nothing else. I wouldn’t get back to China until my business trip to Beijing in March 2007.
A long way from home
Already, our kids have seen Italy and spent a night in Paris. Who knows where else we might travel?