May 24 2007
Passing Ports
It’s another installment of Flashback Friday, Friends!
(I’m SO gonna end up in Guantanamo for this post. See why I use a nom de plume?)
I was digging through some of my old stuff the other night and came across my passport from when I was a teen. I was 12 when I got it, it expired when I was 17.
This wasn’t just any passport. I’ve had a million passports (okay, probably not QUITE that many…) but this one…
THIS ONE was….
Illegal.
I needed to clear that up, lest there be any confusion.
Okay, okay. Illegal is perhaps too strong of a word. Technically, it’s against the law to have two active American passports (unless you’re Jason Bourne, apparently) and this was my second passport–I already had one that I was using, and continued to use the whole time I had this second one. My acquiring a second passport was necessary because in order to get into some of the Arab nations surrounding the country of Israel, you aren’t allowed to have ANY HEBREW IN YOUR PASSPORT. Which pretty much SUCKS if, say, you flew into Tel Aviv first and they happened to stamp your passport, as is the norm when you land in any country! Then let’s say you were planning to travel to, say, Amman, Jordan.
Which I did. And I was.
And so in a little American Consulate in East Jerusalem, my shady passport was concocted. I’ve been an unconvicted felon ever since.
*snicker*
Even with the new shiny passport, getting into Jordan was no easy feat. Tensions were so high in the region (imagine that!) that even though Amman is only about an hour’s drive away from Jerusalem, the border was closed. So, naturally, being the adventurous family that we were, we snuck in.
Okay, okay! Again, I’m being a bit over dramatic! We didn’t “sneak” in, in that we weren’t doing anything wrong. The four of us (my older brother, my parents, and I) woke up early in the morning and took a taxi to the southern end of Israel and from there we walked across the border into Egypt. Once in Egypt, we boarded a rickety old bus that took us across the Suez Canal and on to the Red Sea. From there, we took a commuter’s ferry to Aqaba, Jordan where, since we were coming from Egypt and there was no Hebrew in my passport, no one was suspicious that perhaps we’d been in Israel just hours before. And we were let into the country without a scene.
What could have been an hour’s drive was a 24 hour ordeal.
Anyway, the stamps in the passport include Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Germany, Austria, Italy, The U.K. (multiple times!), and, of course, the USA.
Not bad, considering the passport was technically illegal.
you are a rebel… a whole FAMILY of rebels.
and while you’re over commmenting and commenting (and commenting)on my blog - here I am…. amazink innit??!
Rebecca,
It is amazing! We were thinking of each other at the very same time! *sniff*
What an exciting youth! I’m a bit jealous of the world view you got to experience, you criminal, you!
I didn’t have a passport when I was in the middle east, but I did have a machinegun… a real big ‘un.
I’ll be by later to take you to Gitmo.
Well, it all does sound a little suspicious to me after all.
I mean of course the comment about the “bumps” on your face, not the sneaking around borders with illegal documents thing. Dude, you were a cute little pre-teen. Just admit to a little bit of acne. please? Make me feel better about the BIG ZIT I am currently sporting on my cheek at 41 years old.
Wow. I had a passport once. It has one stamp in it. Aruba.
Boh-ring!
I adore my first passport. It got so full that I had to get a new one before it expired. Sounds like you had an adventurous childhood- making you very lucky. I’m not dragging my kids all over the globe for nothing…
What an ordeal. It’s ridiculous that a country would say you can’t come here if there is one particular language in your passport. It’s a crazy, crazy world.
Your childhood certainly wasn’t the norm. What a great perspective it must have given you!
You’re not a felon, just resourceful.
Ok, a resourceful felon.
Haha, Brillig the Resourceful Felon!
You’re only a felon if you get caught, though.
I have never had a passport. And even if I DID, it would have no stamps. I’m SUCH a loser.
Reminds me of when I had to switch passports at the flying into Lebanon so they wouldn’t stamp my US one. The US state department wasn’t allowing US citizens to travel to Lebanon so the counsulate american there told us (under the table) to all go and get Lebanese citizenship–which we did. We then did the switcheroo thing everytime we came into the country! I got detained in a very gross room once and had to pay the officials 50 usd to get out of there because my Lebanese passport had no visas from France where I was coming from at the time–yeah the visa was in my US passport! I didn’t want their paws on my precious US passport!
It’s always the one you least suspect.
That Brillig, she was such a NICE girl. Shame she was a criminal.
Tsk. Tsk.
a whole day to travel four miles, it sounds like crossing the san francisco bay bridge. guantanamo may be a bit too country club for someone like you. they may just send you to naru.
Nanette,
Well, criminals have all the fun, doncha know…
Gunfighter,
Haha. In my experience in the middle east, a machine gun is a LOT better than an ol’ passport any day. And I’m packing my bags for gitmo. I shoulda seen that coming.
Jenn IH,
HAHAHAHA. No, sorry. It really was a stamp. The zits didn’t come until a few years later. Hahaha.
Janet,
Well, see I DON’T have an Aruba stamp in any passport, and from all the reports about Aruba in the news over the last couple of years, it sounds like Aruba is anything BUT boring!
Jennifer,
No, you’re not “dragging the all over the world for no reason.” It was the greatest childhood. And your gorgeous little boys are lightyears ahead because of it.
Sugar Kane,
I know! Isn’t that crazy? We learned about an awful lot of similar craziness in the middle east! Things there are just…. crazy.
Okay, you bear an eerie resemblance to my best friend.
Like…freakily weird.
Super Des,
Well, as long as I’m a RESOURCEFUL felon, it’s all good, right?
Butrfly,
Hahaha. Yeah… you are one of those people who seems to attract adventure right in her own backyard! (Don’t believe me, Gentle Readers? You MUST go read her ongoing Punjabi series. SERIOUSLY!!! She’s got all of her loyal readers HOOKED on this epic and terrifying adventure! And she only gives us pieces of the story at a time, the little stinker…)
Casmee,
Holy Crap. Yes, it sounds like you have lots of Middle East adventures yourself! Wow! Well done! (Will you be my cellmate in Guantanamo?)
Whiskeymarie,
I know–I really don’t LOOK like a criminal in that pic, do I? When they haul me off, you can be the person that they interview who ALWAYS says something like that. “It’s always the one you least suspect.”
Andres CS,
YIKES!!! I hadn’t even CONSIDERED Naru!!! But you’re right, Gitmo sounds WAY too tame for the likes of ME!
Kimberly,
Wow. She must be GORGEOUS!!!!
My first passport, almost completely full of stamps from China, Europe and South America was stolen by gypsies on a train in Italy. Mean gypsies. Now my passport only has stamps from France,England, the US and Mexico. But I’ll have to post a picture of it because the picture was taken the morning after the robbery and I look HOTTT.
And your non-sneaking in? TOTALLY sneaking in. For the record.
Reading this post makes me realize how boring my childhood actually was! Geez! My passports are full of stamps from going to Denmark to visit family…and that’s it!
If they send you to GTMO, you can come visit me!
Very interesting story! For some reason, your story brought to mind Midnight Express. lol Stay away from the Hash!
You are definitely well traveled. DH and I were supposed to travel after we got out of school, but we had kids. Those plans will have to wait.
Kateastrophe,
DARN THOSE GYPSIES!!! I actually have no idea where some of my favorite passports are. But I can guarrantee that I always have that “hot” look in my passport pics. hahahaha. As Erma Bombeck says, when you look, in person, as awful as you do your passport picture, it’s time to come home.
Cate,
Well, you’ve certainly made up for it in adulthood! Seriously! Allergic to the sun? AND the cold? And being, as you call yourself, a “bald woman?”! I’d say we all look MIGHTY boring in comparison!
Lene,
Excellent! Will you bring me cookies when I’m locked up?
and now all of us are implicated by association! Ah, what can you do, most really interesting people have broken the rules! I have had this problem as well (same solution, shhh).
I’ll bring you cookies when you’re locked up just so I can say I’ve been out of the country!
very excellent flash back. My one covert operation involved this organization: http://www.witness.org/
Totally illegal where I was at the time and still covert cause people I know are still there. My part was small, short and easy, but thrilling in how illegal it all way - and me a married lady with a toddler at home at the time!
Lady Mcleod,
I can’t picture you as a felon like me. You’re SUCH a Lady. Oh well. I’m sure we can make room for you in our cell too.
Shauna,
EXCELLENT! I would suggest you bring chocolate, but you might just end up eating it all… I know you, Miss Pass the Chocolate.
Karen,
Oh.My.Goodness. I’m DYING to know your story now. I just checked out the website and my mind is flying with all the possibilities of your covertness. I’m positively intrigued.
I’m glad you cleared up the confusion about the bumpy face. I was actually worried about your adolescent self for a minute there ;-). I think I had that same hairdo once upon a time.