Passport Graveyard - What do you do with your expired passport?

[Warks]

Mine are somewhere in the mess that is my collected stuff of 30 or so years of adulthood. The only ones with any real meaning to me would be the first one (which I filled) and the second one I had to get issued in Nairobi as I wasn't allowed to enter some of the African countries without two empty pages (or so the rumour went at the time).

Would love to have another look at them. Also got the Checkpoint Charlie stamp on New Year's Eve 1989. The East Germans put a paper visa in there which was valid until midnight. Normally they would get it back but on that particular night I left East Berlin via a ladder over the Wall at the Brandenburg Gate. One of my favourite travel memories!
So if East Germany was still going I'd be an illegal!

 

[burmans]

I have all of mine except my first (which I hardly used). The one I treasure most is my second passport from when I lived in London for a few years, multiple European stamps (from when they did still stamp - though we had to ask a fair few time), multiple Asian stamps from the trip over and also a big trip through Africa. Had to get two sets of passport extension pages largely because at the time so many Eastern European and African conuntries required a Visa. It was a pain at the time but I do periodically look back through that passport, it certainly brings back memories, e.g. going into Romania when we spent 3 hours going though customs, they virtually stripped our VW Van, suspect they wanted a bribe but we were too poor at the time to consider that!

 

[Denali]

Hubby keeps his but Ive shredded my old one but it is nice to look at the stamps and visas and remember the trips. Hubby is very sad that a lot of countries no longer have stamps, we remember as a kid looking at them and thinking "one day" but now kids (and hubby) dont get that enjoyment. Oh, last time hubby asked for a stamp in NZ, they gave him a permanent resident visa.

 

[Cossie]

I have all mine except one that was stolen in Morocco. That I was very pee'd off about as it it had gems in it, like an Iranian visa and entry/exit stamps that had any mention of the Shah (Imperial) crossed out in biro. We crossed through Iran 2 days after the shah fled and the borders reopened.

It also included, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and various others as well. I'm still annoyed that I allowed myself to be relieved of it.
I went to the British Consulate in Casablanca as they were the representatives of Australia at the time.

With the agreement of the Australian embassy in Madrid, the British gave me a limited UK passport valid for 3 months to get me to Rome where I had a new Australian one issued. Don't think that would happen now!

I nearly filled up one of my passports on another rather long cross Africa trip, my gf (now my wife) at the time had a Canadian passport which by Nigeria was full, so she had extra pages added. No so for Australians, they would not add extra pages under any circumstances. Fortunately I just made it to the UK and had a new one issued at Australia House.

 

[SydneySwan]

I do love my old passports - so full of memories.

My favourite passport stamps are from Africa. I visited Sudan in 1979 with a visa just issued by Sudanese embassy in London with an expiry date in 1977. I crossed by land from Central African Republic where the border guards just stamped it and waved me in.

CAR was also interesting - I had a visa for Central African Empire but Emperor Jean Bodel Bokassa the First was overthrown a few days before before I got there and it became CA Republic. There were security checks at many towns and villages and I was constantly told I was illegal as the CAE no longer existed and I needed to get a new visa. It was all a charade to extract a bribe but I was a backpacker and just used to wait them out.

I still get a thrill when I go to a new country and they stamp my passport.

 

[burmans]

I do love my old passports - so full of memories.

My favourite passport stamps are from Africa. I visited Sudan in 1979 with a visa just issued by Sudanese embassy in London with an expiry date in 1977. I crossed by land from Central African Republic where the border guards just stamped it and waved me in.

CAR was also interesting - I had a visa for Central African Empire but Emperor Jean Bodel Bokassa the First was overthrown a few days before before I got there and it became CA Republic. There were security checks at many towns and villages and I was constantly told I was illegal as the CAE no longer existed and I needed to get a new visa. It was all a charade to extract a bribe but I was a backpacker and just used to wait them out.

I still get a thrill when I go to a new country and they stamp my passport.

Ah the joys of backpacking, I loved Africa. While of course love the touches of luxury I can now afford, those backpacking days are still the highlights for me of my travels, experiences you just cant get inside a 5 star hotel.

 

[Warks]

Ah the joys of backpacking, I loved Africa. While of course love the touches of luxury I can now afford, those backpacking days are still the highlights for me of my travels, experiences you just cant get inside a 5 star hotel.

I can remember getting inside 4-5 star hotels in a couple of African cities just for their breakfast buffets! For about $5 I ate enough so that I didn't feel the need to eat until the next day.

 

[Cossie]

Ah the joys of backpacking, I loved Africa. While of course love the touches of luxury I can now afford, those backpacking days are still the highlights for me of my travels, experiences you just cant get inside a 5 star hotel.

Ah yes, I spent many a night under less than desirable conditions, didn't care where I slept but I made sure that I ate well. Ice cream from the Meridien Hotel in Khartoum was a real treat.

The infamous "Africa Hotel" in Juba brings back a lot of memories, not all good. Luckily we had a tent so were able to pitch that in the "garden".

 

[Sprucegoose]

What a great question. I went through 4 64 page ones in 10 years at one point ....need to go through Sprucegoose archives one day. Good thought

 

[robd]

I have all my old passports and those of my kids. How odd when you look at your old passports now, remembering that you hated THAT photo at the time, and now think what a good photo it was of you

 

[otchi]

I keep all mine. It is interesting seeing how much more advanced the passports are theses days. Hell on my dads old passport they stuffed up his age and instead of doing a new one they just crossed it out and wrote the correct age. A few years later when he went to america they thought it was a fake passport.

 

[Major]

It's interesting to note how each passport is smaller in size than the last one. No doubt a cost cutting exercise

 

[Warks]

It's interesting to note how each passport is smaller in size than the last one. No doubt a cost cutting exercise

Or they can charge more for replacements. I guess they don't fill up as fast as they used to with the lack of stamps now.

Was it ever possible to have pages inserted into Australian passports? I asked for it at the Nairobi embassy in 1989 and was told that the Aust govt didn't allow it. I was also told passports were a money making exercise for the govt! Wish I'd recorded that.

 

[BVT]

I have kept all mine, mostly through inaction, rather than an intention to retain.

However, as others have said it does bring back great memories as you look through the old stamps and visas. Not to mention marvelling at how handsome one still is, compared to earlier incarnations!

 

[redcow]

I have kept all mine dating back to 1970 and found them great for doing the Flight Memory thing kept a lot of boarding passes for the same reason

 

[plspoon]

I also have all my passports going back to 1969. Talking of photos I like the saying that if you look like your passport photo, you probably need the holiday. I also like the one that says if you look like your passport photo you are probably too sick to travel!
my most exciting stamp is a visa renewal from Hippo Valley in Zimbabwe. No Checkpoint Charlie for me. That would be a classic.
great topic OP.