What is a passport? Bear with me as I start at the beginning of planning for an international trip.  If you’re a citizen of the world where they are commonplace, you’ll be wondering “Who doesn’t know THAT?”  Well, many Americans for one thing.

The United States is a large, diverse country.  People can and do live their entire lives without leaving its borders.  There’s plenty to see and do here.  There is, in fact, a large percentage of Americans that don’t travel internationally.

I’m not sure there is an official count on this.  I’ve read all kinds of statistics but a conservative estimate seems to be that 75% of Americans don’t own a passport.

So for those Americans and any others who are unclear on this, let’s get really basic… what exactly is this document? (more…)