# Where is my passport? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 7, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243 "2009-01-07T17:37:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/1 "2009-01-07T17:37:09Z")
I am going to Bruges in two weeks’ time, and Istanbul in February, but Mr Passport has done a runner. Any suggestions where it is? I last had it returning from Budapest in October, if that helps. 😉 I will follow up on all (realistic) suggestions! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/2 "2009-01-07T17:38:59Z")
Look in all the obscure pockets in your luggage. Check your moneybelt, if you used one. Got a bag of souvenirs? Look there. Is it in your desk? ---
**Author:** ![Karyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/fbc32d/32.png) [@Karyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karyn)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/3 "2009-01-07T17:39:37Z")
I couldn’t find mine a few months ago and I finally found it boxed up with all of the souvenir books and postcards from my last trip. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/4 "2009-01-07T17:39:58Z")
Man, I do that to myself with my own passport! I put in in a most excellent, sensible place…then a year later, I have no idea where it is. I find it and go…Oh, Yeah, that actually does make sense. Sorry I can’t help. Just wanted you to know you’re not alone. Have you checked all of your suitcases? Do you have a special passport-sized wallet thingy that you only use for that purpose? Safety deposit box? Inside the pocket of a coat that you haven’t worn since traveling out of the country last? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/5 "2009-01-07T17:46:21Z")
Checked my luggage and coats, and the place I normally store it, in my filing box. The worrying thing is I vaguely remember seeing it kicking around the house and thinking “I really should file that away soon”. I’ve done this once before. Years later, when moving house, I found that I’d been using it as a bookmark in _Keep The Aspidistra Flying_, a book that I lost interest in and never finished. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/6 "2009-01-07T17:47:16Z")
In Bruges. Those newfangled smart ID chips built into them are smarter than you think. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/7 "2009-01-07T18:09:53Z")
> [@clayton\_e](#): > > In Bruges. > > Those newfangled smart ID chips built into them are smarter than you think. I have a credit card with a chip. It keeps tugging at my wallet whenever I pass the airport, train station, bus station, or car rental place. It wants to travel, and it knows where to start. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/8 "2009-01-07T18:16:51Z")
Knowing my passport I’d say it’s more likely to be in Istanbul drinking beer on a sunny terrace. I have a creeping horror that it’s found its way into my home office workstation thingummy, which resembles the eighth circle of Dante’s Hell. Can you buy biometric chip seeking devices? ---
**Author:** ![Ultraviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/c77e96/32.png) [@Ultraviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ultraviolet)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/9 "2009-01-07T18:19:52Z")
Completely off topic, but **jjimm** , did you ever get to Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant? I was waiting for you to post about the experience, but maybe I missed the post with the Christmas holidays. I’m very curious how it was. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/10 "2009-01-07T18:21:44Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Can you buy biometric chip seeking devices? Actually, yes. The “biometric” chip is actually an RFID chip intended to be triggered by an incoming pulse of radio signal. It uses the signal to beam back an ID number, similarly to those chips they put in pets. At passport control, they can use this ID number to do a database lookup and get all your steamy details. You need an [RFID reader](http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/security/907a/). Only $99.99! And the last time I ordered from there, the item arrived in two days! You’ll get it in time to find your passport! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/11 "2009-01-07T18:48:08Z")
> [@Ultraviolet](#): > > Completely off topic, but **jjimm** , did you ever get to Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant? I was waiting for you to post about the experience, but maybe I missed the post with the Christmas holidays. I’m very curious how it was. I did, and I have been meaning to write it up, but since there were seventeen courses, I haven’t had time to do it justice. Will get round to it soon. As a preview I will say, however, that it was without a shadow of a doubt, the most incredible “artistic” experience I have ever had. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/12 "2009-01-07T18:49:21Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > You need an [RFID reader](http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/security/907a/). Only $99.99! And the last time I ordered from there, the item arrived in two days! You’ll get it in time to find your passport! “Read Range of Approximately 4 inches”. Oh dear. And I think you have to make it yourself. Good idea though! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/13 "2009-01-07T19:02:24Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > “Read Range of Approximately 4 inches”. Oh dear. That’s one of the good parts, because it helps you localize the passport. Imagine if the reader could pick up everywhere in your house at once… > [@jjimm](#): > > And I think you have to make it yourself. Good idea though! You could always go the [expensive, professional](http://www.psionteklogix.com/public.aspx?s=us&p=Products&pID=5036) route. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/14 "2009-01-07T19:10:58Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Checked my luggage and coats, and the place I normally store it, in my filing box. > > The worrying thing is I vaguely remember seeing it kicking around the house and thinking “I really should file that away soon”. > > I’ve done this once before. Years later, when moving house, I found that I’d been using it as a bookmark in _Keep The Aspidistra Flying_, a book that I lost interest in and never finished. I think that’s exactly where mine is - somewhere I kept seeing it and saying “I should really put that somewhere” and never did. Unless I DID put it somewhere, which may be worse. I’ll need it in April. Shit. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/15 "2009-01-07T19:16:38Z")
It’s in one of you bookshelves. At least that’s were I stumbled upon two non-expired passports, just when I came back from having gotten the third. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/16 "2009-01-07T19:16:53Z")
Have you checked your briefcase? ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/17 "2009-01-07T19:42:28Z")
It is probably in the trunk of that cab with my wallet. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![JustAnotherGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/18 "2009-01-07T20:17:37Z")
Are you good friends with a vet? I wonder if their pet-tag readers could at least let you know if you were close. As for why they would do it… it would give the vet a funny story to talk about? ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/19 "2009-01-07T20:35:52Z")
I once thought I’d lost my passport. It turned up buried in a secret, deep, dark pocket of a little leather purse-sized backpack that I pretty much use only when traveling. Do you have something analogous - something that isn’t really luggage, but that you only use when traveling? Look there. If yours turns up on a sunny terrace in Istanbul, tell it to save a spot for me. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243/20 "2009-01-07T20:43:53Z")
I want to go back to Bruges. Sad face, me. Are you a beer person? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-my-passport/480243.md?page=2)