With no stamps, how do you track your trips?

[OldUser 9,944]

When I travelled to the US as a tourist in 2010s, I used to get entry stamps.

 

Nowadays, not only the US, but EU and countries around the world go stampless.

 

With US, you have I-94. But I remember one time the history there missed a trip temporarily (showed later), for which I had a stamp in passport.

 

Do you track trips in an app? Perhaps Excel sheet (I did that to track days in and out for N-400).

 

Do you ask for stamps from CBP / border authorities in other countries?

 

[WeekendPizzaiolo 118]

7 minutes ago, OldUser said:

Do you track trips in an app? Perhaps Excel sheet (I did that to track days in and out for N-400).

US citizen by birth here. I keep a Google spreadsheet. I also forward all of my ticket bookings to TripIt. I also archive all my ticket e-mails.

 

One time, I needed an exact record, so I FOIA'ed it from CBP but it took 6 months to get a response. I received my entries and exits going back to the 1990s. It even includes the lane number and sometimes even the baggage scan details. Different countries share different amounts of information, but the minimum info included is the date and time of inspection.

 

The PDF CBP sent did not include inter-Schengen international crossings for obvious reasons. Sometimes the departure or arrival airport is blacked out. The redaction reason given is usually that the information sharing agreement is not public information, but the date is there so I can work out where I was.

 

1 hour ago, OldUser said:

Do you ask for stamps from CBP / border authorities in other countries?

I used to ask for an exit stamp in some countries where it mattered, e.g. leaving a country for which I previously had a work visa. Stamping is becoming less common as the years go on. Officers often politely refuse posterity stamps. Traveling around Asia, I am noticing even the e-visa gates do not involve talking to an officer. Some say paper passports are becoming a thing of the past (see this article) and eventually they will be replaced by cards.

 

 

 

 

 

[Lil bear 4,521]

29 minutes ago, WeekendPizzaiolo said:

US citizen by birth here. I keep a Google spreadsheet. I also forward all of my ticket bookings to TripIt. I also archive all my ticket e-mails.

 

One time, I needed an exact record, so I FOIA'ed it from CBP but it took 6 months to get a response. I received my entries and exits going back to the 1990s. It even includes the lane number and sometimes even the baggage scan details. Different countries share different amounts of information, but the minimum info included is the date and time of inspection.

 

The PDF CBP sent did not include inter-Schengen international crossings for obvious reasons. Sometimes the departure or arrival airport is blacked out. The redaction reason given is usually that the information sharing agreement is not public information, but the date is there so I can work out where I was.

 

I used to ask for an exit stamp in some countries where it mattered, e.g. leaving a country for which I previously had a work visa. Stamping is becoming less common as the years go on. Officers often politely refuse posterity stamps. Traveling around Asia, I am noticing even the e-visa gates do not involve talking to an officer. Some say paper passports are becoming a thing of the past (see this article) and eventually they will be replaced by cards.

 

 

 

 

 

Pen and paper list. Easy 

[WeekendPizzaiolo 118]

3 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

Pen and paper list. Easy 

For each their own. I am not a fan of paper.

[Dashinka 25,875]

I use the pen and paper method which works well when needing to apply for a visa for some countries that ask for my 10yr travel history.

 

 

[JeanneAdil 7,083]

i have itinerary of my trips sent to email; then scan/along with copy of boarding pass to a USB for safe keeping as computers can crash

[appleblossom 4,439]

Spreadsheet. Tab for each family member, shared in iCloud files so we can all access it. Counts days out of US plus a countdown to eligibility for citizenship (for our kids, we don’t plan to apply but they are thinking of it). 

[mam521 2,519]

11 hours ago, WeekendPizzaiolo said:

Some say paper passports are becoming a thing of the past (see this article) and eventually they will be replaced by cards.

Definitely becoming a thing of the past.  In 2023 when we travelled to the UK, e-gates only, in and out.  No interaction at the airport (entry and exit) with a human.  The Chunnel wasn't e-gated yet and what a cluster that was.  Italy was e-gate when we flew back to London. 

 

IAH has had facial recognition instead of scanning boarding passes for a long time now.  Apparently there's facial recognition trials going on for Global Entry too - no need to stop at the kiosk.  Just walk.  

 

We fly to Canada next month to take Kid1 to uni so I guess I'll have a chance to check out some of the changes.  Hopefully the NEXUS kiosks have been replaced because they were a headache and rarely worked properly!

[spicynujac 70]

I travel internationally frequently, and the vast majority of countries still stamp.  If not, I often ask for stamps (many times there is a choice between electronic entry and physical processing and you can almost always get a stamp at the latter.  Physical processing will likely never COMPLETELY go away as you have special cases, babies without documents, wheelchair assistance, etc. that a human needs to eyeball).  An old passport is a great record of your memories, an heirloom for your decendents, etc.  (an uncle who recently died had a prominent stamp from National Socialist Germany when he visited in the twenties which was quite the conversation starter at his funeral!)  

 

The US Gov't generally only knows about your comings and goings from the USA.  I have several trips that the US has no idea I ever took unless they look at my stamps...  Sad that the stamps might be ending.  And I'm surprised there is not more governmental pressure to stamp so they have maximum knowledge/control.  Most countries (particularly those who are more strict with their visitor rules) still stamp, as the document becomes proof of your time in country.  But Jamaica and Dominican Republic (two VERY tourist friendly countries) this year both did not (I was in a group and didn't want to separate from them or else I would have bypassed the electronic entry line and gotten the stamp).

 

I requested a stamp the last time I went to Canada.  They warned me that they have to check my police history if giving a stamp, and if rejected they would have to deny me entry to the country versus normal automatic entry without a stamp.  I hesitated but she insisted traffic tickets etc don't count so I got the check and the stamp. 

 

I imagine the next time I renew my passport we might be using "passport card only" and then after that who knows?  But if the paper passport goes away I imagine there will be some type of imitation passport that airports or other public offices will set up, like how the US National Park system has a "passport book" for visiting their parks.  There are already some post offices that do this (got the polar bear stamp in Churchill Canada last year).

 

But the reality is in a world of 10 billion plus, it won't really be feasible to try to manually process and track the comings and goings of all of us... until we are all implanted anyway!  Kinda sad but on the other hand, passports have really only existed for *barely* 100 years... 

 

Edited Wednesday at 04:25 PM by spicynujac