Passports: questions and Band 8 answers

Yes, I do. In fact, I renewed it just a couple of years ago because the old one had expired. I made sure to get a ten-year passport so I wouldn't have to worry about the hassle of renewing it again anytime soon.

Not as often as I'd like, to be honest. I usually only travel abroad once or twice a year, mainly during the summer holiday. The last time I actually took it out was for a short city break to Lisbon last autumn.

Fortunately, no. I'm quite paranoid about misplacing it, so whenever I travel, it stays tucked away in a zipped inner pocket of my rucksack. A friend of mine once left his on a train in Italy, which sounded like an absolute nightmare.

At home, I always keep it in a small lockable metal box in my bedroom wardrobe, alongside other important paperwork like my birth certificate. That way, I know exactly where it is and don't risk leaving it lying around.

Not particularly! Passport photos are notoriously unflattering, aren't they? You're not allowed to smile, and the harsh lighting makes everyone look a bit washed out. Still, as long as it gets me through border control, I don't mind too much.

I suppose so, eventually. A lot of airports already use electronic gates and biometric scans, so switching to a fully digital system on our mobile phones seems like the next logical step, though I imagine older travellers might find it a bit daunting initially.