Buried in a folder of papers, I found my passport. It expired in 2008, and I've been meaning to get a new one...just in case I ever have the money to visit England again. So that's now on my "Ginormous To Do List" that is currently being composed in Microsoft Word.
I set the passport aside on my kitchen counter, because I'll probably need it to apply for a new one. A few minutes ago, I sat down and started flipping through it, marvelling at all the stories it has to tell.
On the inside cover is a Polaroid photo of a 20-year-old Meg, hair pulled back, cheesy smile on her face. My signature back then was much neater and more legible than the scrawl I use today that comes out, pretty much, as Mg-- Coope--.
On page 5, in my sometimes-neat printing, is the "bearer's foreign address" I lived at while teaching in England in 2004-2005. How lucky I was to have such a lovely place to live, with lovely people. It wasn't just a room to live in, it was a home.
The visas start on page seven. There, stamped haphazardly, is the stamp from London Heathrow dated 12 Jan 1999. This was the first time I ever stepped foot in England, as a heartbroken 20-year-old college student. The few months before this passport stamp had been rough--a lot of drama and loss of friendships--but 12 January was the start of a new world for me. I grew up a lot that semester. I learned that the world is much bigger than just Chico State, or my hometown in Folsom. And I fell in love. Not with a boy, but with a city, a country, a culture. I've never been the same.
Page eight bears two stamps. The most prominent is dated 20 April 2005, and bears a little image of a train and the words Paris Nord. This was my arrival in Paris with Mom and Dad, who had come to visit me for my Spring Break. They'd seen England a couple of times, so we decided to do something new for this trip. Paris and Normandy proved to be excellent places to visit, and I was so happy to see my parents and spend lots of time with them for the first time in four months (I had last seen them at Christmas).
Below that stamp is a very faint stamp from 23 April 2003. This was when I flew out of Fiumicino. A name like that can only be from Italia (I'm totally typing this with an Italian accent). In 2003, I had a wonderful time visiting Rome for 10 days with a group of colleagues from my first teaching position. We ate a lot of pasta, drank a lot of vino, and even got blessed by the Pope. I'm not even Catholic, but that was still a thrill.
Page ten is the most interesting page in my passport. It was page 10 that the British Consulate office in Los Angeles chose to adorn with my Work Visa. There's a picture of 26-year-old Meg, much chubbier than 20-year-old Meg, and fancy script granting "U.K. Entry Clearance" for me to work at St. Peter's High School. The sticker takes up the whole page; at the bottom, the customs official stamped it on 24 August 2004. How happy I was to finally go back to my beloved England!
Opposite that, on page eleven, are three stamps. One, from 20 April 2005, I can't make out, but it is from my Spring Break trip to Paris. Upside-down at the bottom of the page is a stamp from Heathrow, dated 3 January 2005. After a wonderful Christmas in Folsom, a crazy move to Washington, and my first-ever trip to Seattle, it was back to England to carry on with my teaching assignment. I was so sick when I arrived back that I had to miss the first day back at school. A friend saw me a day or two later and said, "I was worried you'd decided not to come back!"
Next to that is another train station stamp from Paris. It's very light and difficult to read.
Page thirteen bears the arrival stamp from Fiumicino (more commonly known as Leonardo da Vinci airport) dated 13 April 2003. Page 14 bears a bright red stamp from US Immigration, dated May 08, 1999. This was my return from London Semester, a bittersweet day, as it meant my grand adventure was over...but also that I was back home.
After that, my passport is curiously empty. There is no evidence of my return to the United States in August 2005. As I recall, they stamped the card I'd filled out on the airplane, but not my passport document. All I know is, I'm here legally! There are no stamps from Canada, or Ireland, both which I've had the opportunity to visit while using this particular passport.
The back cover of my passport bears several security stickers from Virgin Atlantic Airlines. They add this sticker when you check in. Only one of the stickers has a date--19 December 2004. After four months of teaching in England, I was so ready to see my family and my Millie for a couple of weeks. How happy I was to spend a weekend enjoying Christmastime in London before boarding a plane to be home for the holidays.
Coming back into the United States is always a funny experience for me. It's always full of questions like, "Are you bringing any livestock back into the country with you?" Tell me, friends, just where would I hide a chicken or a duck or a cow? But I know better than to be a smartass to Customs officials. Just answer the question so you can get through to Mom and Dad, who are waiting to drive you to the nearest Mexican restaurant (because after months of living in England, one does need an authentic enchilada) and then home to a much-needed shower and a comfy, familiar bed.
Not to mention the sweet little cat you left behind, who waited so patiently for you to get this whole adventure out of your system and return to her.
Butchart Gardens of Victoria, British Columbia. (2006)
Drinking honest-to-God Irish Guiness in an Irish pub. My expression tells you what I thought of it. (2005)
Throwing a coin in Rome's famous Trevi Fountain ensures that you will return to that lovely city again. (2003)
The famous Louvre pyramid. (2005)
Britain's famous red phone boxes. (2004)
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