I need to get a passport.

oh, and I recommend you travel with a guy. he will be frustrated, you won't. if you travel with a girl, you will likely both be very frustrated.

actually, if you decide on Thailand, I would recommend going alone. you will never have felt so free in your life. do not go alone to India as a first-timer, young girl.

if you want more info, feel free to send me a message. I can tell you about all the SE Asia countries except from Vietnam and Burma(Myanmar)

 

I've been to Mexico more times then I can remember but I never needed a passport to get back into the U.S. Apparently they are changing this next year, though.

 

good luck with that in Asia, Africa, Europe or South America.

 

I have one.
Unfortunately, I don't get to use it much.
Oh and I mostly use ID card cause Bosnia is the only country I've been to lately and you don't need passport for that.
I have 2 ID cards though

 

I've don India...I really want to make it to Japan and Thailand, Vietnam would be incredible as well...one day! My studies and areas of interest relate more to the Middle East and North Africa, that is why I'm considering them right now

 

right on, fair enough. in that case, go to the Middle East and N. Africa! no better way to learn than first hand. good luck!

 

is your country part of the Union? once you're inside the EU, you do not need to ever show your passport, I believe, or almost never.

 

this is NO lie! I spent 5 months in india last spring...boy it is pretty much a polar opposite of the US....not necessarily in a bad way though... by the end of the first month we were all just saying "it's just india" because there is no other way to describe it. If you are going to catch a bus it may leave 10 mins early or 10 mins late. If you are in a restraunt, unless its high end, you arent taht important to the restraunt. I saw some ppl complain and this guy just say, "well leave i have plent other customers who will not complain." staring is not rude.

I was on a train once, and they make periodic stops, and pause for like 15 minutes to allow people to get on and off. Well, onece I was on a train that stopped for a good hour and a half before they got on the intercom and announced that one of the AC cars had lost AC and they werer trying to fix it... its crazy

and being a woman...can be difficult

but dont let all this underscore how amazing of a country india is and how wonderful the people are. I cant express to you how many different times i had tea with strangers id met once, after which they invited me in for tea...its a beautiful culture!

 

Got two, English and Canadian.

 

goodvibes, I think you are dead on from all I have heard, India just doesn't strike me as a good place to start exploring Asia, especially as a young woman.

a lot of that stuff is quite similar in SE Asia. Thai time is quite different from clock time, and you just have to roll with that. bus breaks down? shit happens. wait for it to be ready to go. meeting someone at 7? they're probably not going to be there until at least half an hour later. watching the laborers is funny as hell, too. out of like ten guys, maybe three will be actually working, while the rest sit around talking shit and smoking cigarettes.

if you get off the beaten track here, people are extremely generous, like you wouldn't believe. I spent a few weeks teaching at a rural school recently, and the other teachers wouldn't let me pay a single baht for anything. (until the last night when I insisted I pay for the beers) absolutely amazingly beautiful, kind people!

 

No, its not. We still need passports for most European countries.

I just don't need it for Bosnia cause I have dual citizenship.

 

This is the first time in my life when I DON'T have a passport. I lost it. I haven't gotten around to getting a new one because it's such a hassle.. I need a Finnish passport so I can't just apply for it in the post office or whatever, but have to go to the Finnish embassy and it always takes so much time as every time I've gone there I've gotten majorly lost.

Luckily I don't need a passport to travel around Europe.. yay for the EU.

 

We'll never get there

 

I don't have one either.

 

Wait, since when are you in Ontario? Which city?

And yes, I have a passport. It's marvelous except for the current picture.

 

I used to, but I don't anymore... don't see a need to get one at the moment, sometime I will though.

 

I *might* be going there in the summer, after my GCSE's, for a few weeks.

I have one passport and my parents have sent of for a PIO card which means no more visa's for India. What's the point in having two passports?

 

meh. costs too much to travel much beyond canada and mexico. as much as i'd love to go running around the world, checking shit out and irritating people with my americanniness, don't have the money. so why put up with all the bullshit at the post office?

 

I have an expired passport...

We actually have to get passports because we are going to Myrtle Beach next year when my parents rent a condo.

Apparently we won't need one because we are not flying, just driving, and we're going before June. I think the US is making a mistake with that law, they are going to lose tons of money because Canadians are not going to get passports just to cross the border to go shopping.