jay | (no subject)

Current Mood: slight headache

(no subject)

Working on a paper, due tomorrow... settling down.

Half of my boxes made it to Resolute yesterday. Need to check on the gravity meter.

Received my health clearances for Canada, as well as Spain, Germany, and Japan... they gave me a standard travel-meds kit. And I picked up my new official red US passport from the counterintelligence and export control office.

Back to the paper... 1000 words to go. Hopefully not an all-nighter tonight.

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Why is your passport red?

Have fun writing :-)

you beat me to it ... that's my question, too :)

Blue covers are for regular passports, red ones identify you in other countries as an agent on the US Government and say either "Official" or "Diplomatic" across the top in gold letters.

It helps if you get in some kinds of trouble abroad, but hurts in other ways (makes one a target for bad guys, and many governments require visas who wouldn't with a blue passport). I have to get a visa for both Spain and Japan, for instance, although the latter will be valid until the passport expires.

Theoretically, with a red passport once can refuse US Customs (inter-Agency privliges)but NASA instructs us to not do so except in emergencies. It does let one use the special diplomatic line in places like NYC when entering the US, which is often shorter.

Makes sense - I just never really thought about it before, and I'd noticed that different countries had different colors, so I assumed all US passports were blue.

I learned my fact for the day. That should mean I get to go home now :-)

On top of that, the "Official" and "Diplomatic" covers are slightly-different shades of red... If I were going to stay in Spain continuously for more than 30 days, instead of going back and forth to Germany, I was told that I'd have to get one of the latter instead.

Quite fascinating, actually. I didn't realize there were different colors of US Passports.

Do you have to forfeit your blue one to get the red? It would be kind of spiffy to be able to have both, and use the blue when you're going on vacation and such, or just don't need/want the extra attention of the red.

(nods) that's exactly what I do, as I have a blue one as well.

Would you get diplomatic immunity too? *grin*

Finish your paper and let's have lunch!

*hug*

Glad to hear that half of your boxes made it...is that half of what you shipped, or all of the first shipment?

(btw, still working on the Spain travel arrangements for me)

Depends on the issues involved... (grin)

None of mine, just Georgia Tech's boxes.

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