Passport Stamps Journal

I found this great travel journal that has passport stamps on the cover.

It gave me the idea to scan my old passports, cut out the stamps and tape them into the journal. I also want to write some details and memorable moments from our trips.

For years I had said that I had set foot in all Canadian provinces (not territories) but lately I had been doubting my story that we landed in Newfoundland when I was questioned once. Why would we land in Newfoundland? Where was I coming back from?

While looking at my passports, I got my answer. On our way back from England in 1995, we went through customs in St. John's, Newfoundland. I didn't dream it.

I love how some customs agents are meticulous in matching the outbound stamp with the inbound stamp like they did on the right side of this page, while others stamp over previous stamps.

What amazing memories to go back through the passports, even if it is just to look at them. I also like the idea of writing memories in the passport itself once they've expired.

I do have a few pages that are disorganized though so I'm happier with mine to separate the entries and scan a page twice when stamps overlap and are from different years.

Looking through, I'm also noticing that there are trips without stamps. I figured it was worth adding mention of them so that the travel journal was complete. I will hopefully find a little memento of the trip to include.

I am reflecting on the finished product before taping the scans in. Should I organize them chronologically or geographically or by type of trip (family, couple, business)? I have placed them chronologically to see how full it becomes. Even with skipping pages for missed stamps and leaving space for writing, the journal is less than half full. Continuing chronologically with future trips would be easy to add new stamps.

If I choose to organize them geographically, it would mean leaving pages blank for future trips after each geographic region. I'm not sure how I feel about empty pages between filled pages.

I like the geographic-themed journal if I had enough stamps to fill the journal but maybe I'll decide to go chronologically. If you have an idea or opinion, I'd love to hear it.

I bought the journal at The Papery at Yonge and St. Clair. It used to be my favourite store when I lived in the neighbourhood. We recently went back to this neighbourhood to reminisce and create new memories.