I was tidying away my desk this morning and noticed that the family's passports were out of their usual spot. Our old passports were also out and I looked at my first one which was issued in July 1974 - this was for my first ever trip abroad to Saint-Étienne in France on an exchange with French boy (called Vincent Studer). My next passport was issued in August 1984 just before Roma and I went to Paris for our first ever trip away courtesy of my winning a competition on the Gerry Ryan Show on RTÉ Radio 2. My third passport was issued in June 1994 in time for my first business trip abroad to Provo, Utah. My current passport was issued in April 2004.
The most striking thing about looking at four passports issued ten years apart is of course the photographs - in each of above I am 14, 24, 34, and 44 years of age respectively. Time certainly hasn't done me any favours! I wonder what my next one (due in April 2014) will look like!
Another difference in the passports is that the first two were the old green hardback covered Irish style - the latter two are the modern purple EU style. Also different is that all entries in my first and second are hand-written (by someone in the passport office), while the next two are more security protected with plastic sealed photos and computer readable information.
No comments:
Post a Comment