Wheels Up!

The State Department says I can leave the country again, and they’ll actually let me back in

Well, that's one the State Department got wrong.  

Anyone who's ever traveled to a foreign country knows that in order to get in and out, you need to have a passport.  It's not all that difficult to get one...you fill out a form, get your picture taken, turn over some documents proving that you're alive, write a big fat check to the government, and when the government is darn good and ready, they send you your new passport.  Thrilling!

It's akin to getting a new driver's license, in that it's always interesting to see just how badly your picture transferred to the pages of the book.  The downside of getting a new passport to replace your old one is that you have to give the old one back, and you lose all of the little stamps you got from every foreign country you went to in the 10 years since you got it.  

Well, my passport expired not that long ago, so I got to go through this rigmarole to get its replacement.  I had to wave goodbye to my stamps from France, Japan, Poland, Germany, England, and a couple others in favor of blankness.  It was a little sad, so now I have to go somewhere to start my new collection.  Where to?