I am currently on my 3rd passport and have done a fair bit of travelling over the years. My first international trip was to Canada, and living in Seattle, I’ve gone to Victoria and Vancouver more times than I can count. I almost don’t count those trips. It wasn’t until the 80s that my first true international travels began.
Honduras – spring 1987
Honduras – spring 1988
Panama – spring 1989
These trips occurred while serving in the army and only for a couple it weeks each. As a result I consider them non-canonical.
When I met the woman who would be come my wife, it was at her going away party – she was on her way to Beijing to study Chinese (long story, I’ll have to get into it sometime). I went to visit her, and that was the occasion to get my first passport. Over the years I’ve put that passport (and the subsequent one) to good use.
Beijing – June 1994
Taipei & Hong Kong – Feb 1995
Hong Kong, Beijing, Trans-Siberian railway, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam – Summer 1995
Italy – Christmas 1997
Buenos Ares – July 2002
Japan – April 2009
Ireland – Feb 2010
Because I was uh… briefly experimenting (for lack of better term) with some facial hair at the time of my initial passport photo, the visa for my entry into Taiwan came with a warning.
I could tell you stories about how that passport caused me trouble when we traveled around the world, or how that warning caused border delays, but I will eave those for another time.