Passports, Are They Needed?

Since 9/11 the amount of security and scrutiny that goes into travel has grown to an all new high. Most Americans in the past had found as long as they were travelling in North or Central America they could get along just fine with their drivers licenses. Increasingly, however, passports are becoming a necessity for every traveler. And since we can still get by on some limited travel without a passport, the questions is always raised, “Do I really need to invest in one?”
If you are planning on keeping you travel restricted to American Destinations, then I would have to say that you don’t really need a passport. However, if you are going to any foreign country you definitely need a passport. Even if the travelling you are doing is on a cruise. I know. You can get by on your Drivers license and a birth certificate. They will let you on board but,is that the best plan for a trouble free vacation? 1. The passport is the ultimate identification. This is the hands down, no-holds barred master of the identification world. This document says the United States government vouches for you. You will garner far more respect in other countries using a familiar form of identification than you will whipping out your Oklahoma State Drivers License. (No offense Oklahoma.) People in other countries trust a passport. Everything else is suspect. 2. It literally is your permission to travel. Americans are used to crossing state borders. And with just a few exceptions (California being one of them) we are never stopped and it is unconscionable anyone would ask us to prove who we are. In other countries that is not the case. You do not enter or leave a country without a valid passport. Period. Here’s the problem. Let’s say you took that cruise to the Southern Caribbean. And, you’ve decided  paying all that money for a passport is for chumps. Now, while Bungee Jumping at Ricardo’s Adventures in Antiqua you found out the hard way that a budget operator does not have the same safety standards the more expensive ones do. Splat, you land hard into the ocean. That trip to the hospital just caused you to miss your cruise ship. Now, you’ll need to catch your ship at the next port, except you can’t, you have no passport. Want to go back home? Sorry, you have no passport. Your Drivers License and Birth Certificate has no bearing when travelling by air between countries. Now you are stuck in a foreign land and completely at the mercy of the American Consulate. 3. Having a passport means that should any emergency arise that takes you out of country or any fantastic travel deals come up you’ll be ready to go. This was particularly true for my wife and I. One day while surfing the web, I stumbled upon a travel deal to London that was so cheap I just could not pass it up. Luckily, we had passports in hand and did not have to scramble to obtain them plus pay all of the expedited fees that go along with getting a passport in a hurry. Additionally, the first time we went on a cruise in 2007, I got passports for all of us. Funny thing was that I never really expected to use them again. Since then, we’ve found need for them nearly every year. Recently, I gladly forked out the money for renewals on the kids passports. I know I’ll get my money’s worth from them. The answer is yes. If you plan on travelling abroad at all, you need to make this investment. And once you get bitten by the travel bug, you’ll be glad you did.

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