Not Everyone Can Drive the World: Distressing Truths About Passport Inequity

In the past, I considered travel to be a matter of willpower. Yes, travel requires some money. But with willpower, we are capable of making hard choices and sacrifices to free up money for travel.

At least, that’s what I thought.

But as we began to drive south through Latin America, we kept hearing first-hand accounts that caught me off-guard. For individuals we met, from both sides of the Atlantic, willpower wasn’t enough to enable travel. Something else was standing in the way of them getting where they wanted to go.

That something is the topic of my latest article on Expedition Portal, entitled “Judged by Its Cover :: Coming to Terms with Passport Inequity.” In this personal and transparent piece, I share what I’ve learned about passport inequity. From my article:

The country you are born into directly impacts how much of the world you’ll ever get to see and how much it will cost you to see it.

As U.S. passport holders, we hold the seventh most-powerful passport in the world. We can enter 186 countries visa-free or apply for entrance when we get there. But that isn’t the case for most people in the world. They must set visa appointments with unbelievable wait times, pay expensive visa fees, and often face rejection at the hands of officials who have absolute power to decide.

If you aren’t familiar with passport inequity, I ask that you take the time to educate yourself through this article. You’ll find out how to compare passport power and learn stories of real people who have faced the consequences of passport inequity–all because of the place they were born.

If you have a personal story to share related to passport inequity, then please feel free to leave a comment.

Thank you to Expedition Portal for giving me a platform to share about this important issue for travelers.

-B