The good old British passport was dark navy with a gold coat of arms on it and I loved it. Now we have the rather boring burgundy coloured EU passport which many of us do not like much...so much so that we have bought covers in in the old style and slip the offending EU passports inside. I do love Europe very much but I think our passports should express the individuality of each nation..if that is possible.

"I've been to Portugal, Italy, Canada, and France in the last few years and no one has stamped my passport. Did I miss something?" <BR> <BR>In general, European countries (except the U.K.) seem to have stopped stamping passports. This has to do largely with the creation of the EU, in my opinion.

Elvira, as usual you are the funniest! LOL vanity passport covers! <BR> <BR>To add to the blue vs. green US passport controversy - my passport is green, and it was issued in '93. So they have been issuing green passports for a while (and I didn't request it). And no, I am not a diplomat!

"In general, European countries (except the U.K.) seem to have stopped stamping passports. This has to do largely with the creation of the EU, in my opinion." <BR>There is a common immigration zone (called Schengen)in Europe consisting of all EU countries EXCEPT the UK and Ireland PLUS Norway and Iceland. Passports are only checked and stamped when entering / leaving this zone. For travellers from rich countries, they often don't bother to stamp the passport. But try to enter Schengen with a Sudanese passport and you will certainly get your stamp!

Yeah, designer passports, cool. Maybe one with Brittney Spears' picture on the front (Oops, I traveled again) or maybe the Teletubbies or a collector's Mr. Blobby passport with places inside where all the immigration people can stamp "Blobby" when you blobby through the blobby blobby. <BR> <BR>Or how about Visa or MasterCard passports, where you can swipe it at customs and they only charge you a couple of bucks to get in the country, or maybe you can get free miles every time you pay duty on your miniture Eiffel Towers or McVitties Digestives?

Angela, you're right, I travel on a pretty limited budget, and I had no right to assume others would find an additional $300 or so to be significant to their travel plans. It was a stupid question.

Mariarosa, I have a green passport issued in '93 also. It was a special one in honor of the bicentennial of the U.S. Consular Service. It’s explained on a page inside the back cover.

300 bucks huh, cool! <BR> <BR>anyway, mine is green, got it in 93 - I understand that they went to green for a while, but then back to navy blue. don't know if they will go back once again. <BR> <BR>having a different color passport from most folks is kinda cool - makes ya wonder what country they think I am from. <BR> <BR>I also shudder when I say that - cuz didn't they use the passport color as a criteria to single out that poor Navy SEAL, Robert Stetham if I remember correctly, on that hijacked plane 10-15 years ago - and dump him out on the tarmac? (in other words, they gathered all passports & picked on the Americans.) <BR> <BR>ugh. that story still makes me shudder.

Hi JP and Beth! Thanks for clearing up the mystery of the green passport! For our next trip, I can surprise my husband with one of those "hey-do-you-know-why-my-passport-is-green" trivia! Cool!

The US also has dark red passports. I don't know their overall purpose, except that when military are posted overseas their dependents get free passports in this color. They may be issued to other people too. By the way, my last passport was issued last year, and it's blue. There does not seem to be any consistency, does there? Another symptom of the US government?