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Post by monklady123 on Aug 21, 2019 15:57:05 GMT
I've seen quite a few posts here over the years, including the most recent one about traveling to Canada, where people have asked if they need a passport for such-and-such. Canada, or cruising, or places like Puerto Rico. There is always a definitive answer, but I'm just wondering about people who don't have a passport. Is it because you just never imagined you'd be traveling anywhere overseas? is it not common where you live?
Growing up we always had them, and my mother always told me to keep one updated. Maybe her advice was because she's from another country...? But I feel like all of my friends have always had one. It's just something you do. And certainly when one of our own kids is overseas at least one parent should have an active passport in case they needed to get to the kid quickly. Yes, State will rush your passport under those emergency conditions but that's just one more stress you don't need in that situation.
I actually carry mine around sometimes even within the States. lol. Like recently I flew down to New Orleans to meet dd and drive home with her. My drivers license is set to expire in September. I know that when you travel internationally you often have to have a passport that's not set to expire within the next several months at least, so I wasn't sure if that also applied to domestic travel and drivers licenses. So just in case, I took along my passport. lol. I didn't need it but I figure it's better to be safe than sorry. I also used it at my mom's bank and with the lawyer when I was setting up all the powers of attorney... I needed two forms of ID so I just whipped out the passport as the second one. What would we use otherwise..? license and what?
Anyway, just something I always wonder about when I see people who are worried about getting their passport in time for a trip, or asking questions about whether or not they need one.
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Post by lucyg on Aug 21, 2019 16:00:09 GMT
meh. In theory, I agree with you. But mine expired several years ago. I need to renew it, but I haven’t felt driven to do it since I wasn’t planning any overseas travel.
ETA I can see why people who really aren’t planning any international travel might not have one. Don’t they cost several hundred dollars these days? That might be a large, unnecessary expense for lots of people.
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Post by aleighl55 on Aug 21, 2019 16:01:56 GMT
I had a passport once when I was 15 because I was flying to England to visit family but my mom let it expire and I've never gotten another. We don't travel much and even then, not internationally so there's never been a need to have one. It would be time and money wasted in my family. I can always pull out my license plus birth certificate or social security card if I needed more than one form of ID.
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Post by jenjie on Aug 21, 2019 16:02:22 GMT
I’ve never traveled outside the continental US except for Canada when I was a child. Never saw the need for a passport.
ETA now that you mention it, it would probably be a good idea to have one.
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moodyblue
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,179 
Location: Western Illinois
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Jun 26, 2014 21:07:23 GMT
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Post by moodyblue on Aug 21, 2019 16:02:33 GMT
I had a passport when I was in college because I spent part of junior year out of the country. It expired and I never got another one.
The three times I’ve been in Canada were all before you needed a passport or passport card to go in and out of Canada.
While I’ve traveled around the US, I haven’t gone outside of North America since college. Just the way things worked out. So I didn’t need one for many years. May look into it again, but I don’t have any major travel plans at the moment.
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Post by katlady on Aug 21, 2019 16:03:59 GMT
My mom did not have one most of her life. She just didn’t have any opportunity or desire to travel out of the country until recently. She had been to Canada before, but that was pre-9/11 so a passport wasn’t needed. She has one now and travels out of the country quite a bit.
We don’t carry ours around when in the US. I don’t see a need to. But that may change after October 2020 if I don’t get a Real ID by then.
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Post by busy on Aug 21, 2019 16:08:26 GMT
A lot of people just plain don't have the desire or money to travel internationally, so a passport serves no purpose for them. Only 42% of Americans have passports.
International travel is wonderful but it's also unaffordable for many many many Americans. Getting passports just because is also unaffordable for a lot of Americans.
ETA: Only 4% of Americans had passports in 1990 and 15% in 1997. I'm not sure how old you are, OP, but I'm in my mid-40s and grew up in a pretty privileged area but having passports wasn't something "everyone" did then.
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Post by kiera on Aug 21, 2019 16:09:36 GMT
I'll be 28 soon, and I didn't have a passport until two years ago when I was planning to leave the country for the first time. We didn't have money to travel a whole lot when I was growing up and leaving the country was definitely not in budget, so having a passport didn't even cross my mind. Then in 2017 I had the opportunity to visit Toronto for the first time, so I had to get one. Found out at the post office that a learner's permit was not enough identification, which is silly since it's a government issued photo ID, so my stepmom had to come in and sign a paper for me.
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iluvpink
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Posts: 4,291
Location: Michigan
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Post by iluvpink on Aug 21, 2019 16:09:51 GMT
We do not have them as we've never had the time/money to travel overseas until the last few years and haven't yet done so. And when we went to Canada when we were younger it wasn't necessary. As a child my parents hated flying (dad has never flown and my mom has only done so once) so we only went places we could drive.
However we are going to Mexico next winter and will get them. And I would certainly want to have one if my dd or spouse were going etc in case of emergency.
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Post by gmcwife1 on Aug 21, 2019 16:11:29 GMT
More people in my extended family don’t have a passport than do have a passport. For many people a passport is a large purchase that isn’t a necessity. The US is very large and not everyone has the means to travel, within or outside it. Travel is a luxury that many can’t afford or weren’t exposed to while growing up.
Our dd has a passport and has gone to Canada (from Seattle) twice this summer. Dh and I haven’t been out of the US in 20+ years.
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schizo319
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by schizo319 on Aug 21, 2019 16:21:11 GMT
I have a passport and have had one since I was an infant because we often visited my German family in the summer. That being said, I can't think of a single person in my social circle that would have a need for a passport at this point, most of them would never be able to afford overseas travel (it takes me 4-5 years to save up enough money and vacation time to go overseas to see my family) and being in the deep South, we don't typically run up to Canada for a weekend away either.
In my world, a passport is a thing of privilege, not necessity - I imagine that is true for a great many Americans.
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wellway
Prolific Pea
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Jun 25, 2014 20:50:09 GMT
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Post by wellway on Aug 21, 2019 16:21:52 GMT
I have had an up to date passport since my teens, being in Europe it's common for a large number of people to have and to keep their passport up to date.
Dd has had a passport since she was three months old, (getting that photo was fun!). She is entitled to a passport from a second country so she has two, up to date, passports. We travel out of the UK every year and dd has had three or four school trips to Europe so a passport is a vital document for us.
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Post by huskermom98 on Aug 21, 2019 16:37:03 GMT
I don't have a current passport because the last time I needed to use the one I got for a high school trip to Paris was my sophomore year of college. Twenty years later, the closest I've been to needing one was last summer when we were in northern Minnesota--we were a quarter mile from the border, but couldn't cross over for a "just because" trip because our passports were expired and it wasn't worth the expense to renew them ahead of time.
We don't have the funds to do out of the country traveling and none of our family lives out of the country either. So there's no need for us to get passports "just in case". If we did have them, we wouldn't carry them around because there's no need for them here in the middle of Iowa.
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Post by busy on Aug 21, 2019 16:38:35 GMT
And certainly when one of our own kids is overseas at least one parent should have an active passport in case they needed to get to the kid quickly. Only about 65% of high school grads go on to college - 2 or 4 year - and only about 10% of college students study abroad while in undergrad. This isn't an issue for the vast majority of Americans. |
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Post by Darcy Collins on Aug 21, 2019 16:44:13 GMT
I didn't obtain a passport until I needed one for work in my 20s. My parents still don't have passports. I'd say it was extremely uncommon in my area growing up - particularly as you didn't need one for travel to Canada or Mexico. I'd guess less than 10% of my extended family has a passport. For the vast majority of Americans international travel is very far from their reality.
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Post by Merge on Aug 21, 2019 16:45:24 GMT
I ever had one until five years ago. I’d never left the country before that!
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Deleted
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May 18, 2024 20:07:56 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2019 16:46:28 GMT
Growing up I didn't know anyone who had even seen a passport, much less have one. The people I knew didn't travel within the region much less out of the country. Mexico and Canada didn't require passports during the 60-70s.
I got my first passport in my 30s when the military moved us to Italy. It lapsed for a long time and I finally replaced it when my son was living in Japan but I never used it for international travel. I'll renew it because he is still living overseas and Oklahoma is not "real id" compliant so I need it to fly within the US. My co-workers all have passports but none of my family does and no one I know outside of the office does either.
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Post by librarylady on Aug 21, 2019 16:54:17 GMT
I got a passport when I was past age 40 because it was going to be my first international trip. As I recall, the siblings making the trip all were getting their first passport also. We got one at the time for DS who was a teenager.
Later when he joined the Navy and his shipmates found out he had a passport they all told him, "Only rich people have passports." We keep ours up to date because now that we can afford it we have made several international trips.
If I were not traveling, I don't think I would keep it up to date.
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anaterra
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Post by anaterra on Aug 21, 2019 17:04:23 GMT
I got a passport as a teenager because i went with our chuch youth group to Medjugore... i have kept it up to date... my dh didnt get his passport until he was 48 and it was because i wanted us to go to Italy...
We use them to cruise or go to an all inclusive every year now... i like to travel
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Post by papersilly on Aug 21, 2019 17:07:28 GMT
i have had a valid one since i was 5. i have it for a few reasons:
-travel
-proof of citizenship (see above)
-an alternate form of ID
ETA: the passport came in handy when i had to get my Real ID for flying. my birth cert is a mess so i always prefer to use my passport as identification and verification of name and birth date.
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Aug 21, 2019 17:10:28 GMT
I'm 50 years old and have never had a passport. I grew up in Illinois, we never traveled any farther than Minnesota for our vacations. Years ago I traveled ONCE for work but it was to Puerto Rico; no passport needed. Now I live in Arizona, and I still don't have one. We haven't traveled to Mexico (yet) because we just don't have a lot of time to travel. We've talked about taking a BIG trip to Europe or somewhere else (maybe Japan?) *someday* but it's waaaay down the road. Maybe if I got a passport we'd make the decision to go to Mexico quicker, but there's no sense in me wasting the $$ on a passport that I most likely wouldn't use for years. eta: the few times I've needed a second form of *official* ID, I used a certified copy of my birth certificate. I've also used (for less official purposes) a credit card, my Costco card, a payroll stub, etc. etc. depending on what they needed- proof of my name, address, etc. The US is very large and not everyone has the means to travel, within or outside it. Travel is a luxury that many can’t afford or weren’t exposed to while growing up. ^^^ yup. |
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Post by maryland on Aug 21, 2019 17:13:02 GMT
I don't fly, so no passport for me.
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Post by auntkelly on Aug 21, 2019 17:14:09 GMT
I didn't get a passport until I was in college and went on a short trip to Greece.
It was twenty years' until I was able to travel internationally again. Now we travel pretty regularly and keep our passports up to date, but for most of my life I didn't have a passport and didn't need one.
I am 59 and grew up in a pretty typical small town. It was a really big deal for anyone to go to Europe. Only a small percentage of the population of my hometown ever travelled overseas (I would guess less than 5% of the population).
When people did travel overseas, it was usually on one of those "see 14 countries in 21 days" type things. When they got back from the trip, they always had an obligatory slide show that all their friends and relatives had to come watch. The person presenting the slide show (always the dad) complained throughout the slide show about the lack of air conditioning and ice in Europe. The slide show always ended with a picture of the happy family back in the states posing in front of McDonald's, where they could finally get a real meal after roughing it in Europe for three weeks.
That is a long winded way of saying most of the people I grew up with did not have passports.
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Post by kitkath on Aug 21, 2019 17:22:53 GMT
I’ve had a passport since I was a teenager. Last time I renewed I also got the passport card. We live near the Canadian border so it’s nice to have that in your wallet instead of carrying the passport.
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Aug 21, 2019 17:23:57 GMT
I didn't have one until a 2 years ago when I traveled to Europe. When I was younger, you didn't need one to get in and out of Mexico (the only other country within driving distance of me). The one time I cruised, it was close looped, and I took the risk of having a delay getting home if there was something that caused me to have to travel by air.
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Post by FuzzyMutt on Aug 21, 2019 17:24:28 GMT
When I was a child, my (military) family lived in Germany. I was 6 months old when we left the states, and both my siblings were born in Holland. Back then, a military ID was just as good as a passport, so even though we lived there my first 5 years and traveled home a few times, none of us had a passport.
We moved back stateside and mom and dad preferred road tripping and dad had "left nothing outside of the US that he ever wanted back" so there was no need for passports then.
I joined the military as a teen, and again, military ID worked just fine for quite a few years. I got my first passport at 42 for a trip to Ireland. My teen son still doesn't have one. We go on cruises etc that don't require it. I see no reason to spend the money on something else to simply stay in the safe lol
As for the rest of my family, two siblings and their significant others (and children) as well as all cousins and Aunts and Uncles.. I highly doubt any of them have passports as none of them have ever been out of the country. I do have one cousin by marriage that has traveled once, in 26 years, to Europe. For passports to be "normal" there would be a complete waste of money LOL
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bethany102399
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by bethany102399 on Aug 21, 2019 17:27:08 GMT
I got mine in HS, when I was supposed to travel with a school group and wound up not going. Let it expire and honestly never had the funds to travel internationally so never thought about it. There has been a lot of chatter about real ID in Missouri, and needing your passport to fly even within the US so in prep for our trip to Florida this summer, the kids and I got new passports. The cost was prohibitive, easily over $300 and DH still doesn't have one. To get the kids passports both of us had to be there, we wound up pulling DS out of school for an hour as that was the only appointment that worked. It was a real hassle to get done. I can see why many Americans don't have one.
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Post by belgravia on Aug 21, 2019 17:33:31 GMT
Hmmm. I can’t imagine NOT having a passport. I’m not sure I know anyone that doesn’t have a passport.
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Post by FuzzyMutt on Aug 21, 2019 17:43:19 GMT
I got mine in HS, when I was supposed to travel with a school group and wound up not going. Let it expire and honestly never had the funds to travel internationally so never thought about it. There has been a lot of chatter about real ID in Missouri, and needing your passport to fly even within the US so in prep for our trip to Florida this summer, the kids and I got new passports. The cost was prohibitive, easily over $300 and DH still doesn't have one. To get the kids passports both of us had to be there, we wound up pulling DS out of school for an hour as that was the only appointment that worked. It was a real hassle to get done. I can see why many Americans don't have one. FWIW... although my son still doesn't have a passport.... A year ago I thought I may be taking him to Europe over Christmas break, so I was preparing to get him a passport. My ex and I live far apart and literally go years and years without seeing one another, much less being able to make an appointment somewhere lol Several years ago he got me a letter (pretty much a form letter) that was notarized giving me lots of "powers" but not a power of attorney. I have physical custody (and all the documents that support that) of our son 99.9% of the time (whole other story) but that document allows me to do just about anything that requires both parents to be present, including getting him a passport/international travel. |
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Post by crimsoncat05 on Aug 21, 2019 17:48:59 GMT
(for people who mentioned Real ID vs. passport) I got the Real ID drivers license when I updated my license with my married name... that was only- $25? (maybe?) and the process really wasn't that difficult; I found a small, local DMV office that miraculously wasn't very busy and had the last appt of the day.
My DH has a passport that he keeps updated; he got it when he traveled to Germany in HS and has just kept it up to date ever since, just "because" even though we don't do international travel.
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