I’ve received my fancy new passport card from the State Department! Complete with the disappointingly accurate photo of me, and the hidden transceiver that Obama* and the Mounties will be using to track me everywhere I go.
The fact that it’s wallet-size is handy… but a little too handy, if you ask me. It’ll be tempting to put it in my wallet, and if I lose my wallet, I’ll be trapped in a foreign country with no ID whatsoever!
You laugh, but that almost happened to me back in ’83, when my wallet was stolen from Adam’s and my tent in Edinburgh, Scotland. Fortunately I had my passport and traveler’s cheques with me, so all I lost was some cash, my driver’s license, rail card, and student ID. (I didn’t have a credit card yet… I was only 18 years and 3 months old.)
This card can’t be used for air travel, or outside North America, but I don’t see a need for that in the near future. If I find myself in a position to travel farther, I’ll spring for the full-priced passport book.
This was pretty much the last show-stopper for the ride around Superior. I need to bring the scooter in for some maintenance, but if that didn’t happen for some reason, I could still take the trip; it just wouldn’t be a good idea to risk my clutch or bearings failing in the wilds of the UP or West Ontario.
*I know what you’re thinking. That’s what they want you to think.