From a Yellow Passport to 90+ Countries: How an Expired Dream Turned Into a Life of Travel
A Summer Call That Changed My Destiny
It was the scorching summer of 2000 when my father called me for something unusual. I walked into the room, clueless, only to find him sitting with a man I had never met before, Saxena Uncle. He was my father’s old colleague from a cement company, now living in Kota, the city that had a passport office. Back then, applying for a passport was a serious affair. There were no online forms, no instant appointments, and no shortcuts.
To my surprise, my father wanted to apply for mine.
I was confused. Why would a jobless engineering graduate need a passport when I couldn’t even get a decent job at home?
But my father saw something I couldn’t. He carried a quiet belief that I would fly someday, that my future extended far beyond the boundaries I could see at that moment. Sometimes, your future does not depend only on luck, marks, or education. It depends on a parent’s vision and their prayers. That belief becomes invisible wings long before you learn how to use them.
At the time, it felt unnecessary. Almost illogical.
But that decision would later give birth to the story of my passport and why I call it yellow passport will be explained later.
The Struggle Before the Take-Off
The early 2000s were a tough time. The dot-com bubble had burst, jobs were scarce, and fresh engineers like me were stuck between unpaid internships and fading hope.
Yet my father carried a quiet belief that someday his son would fly abroad. While I slogged through a one-year apprenticeship for experience, he and Saxena Uncle took care of the paperwork. The passport process took nearly eight months — long enough for me to forget about it completely.
Little did I know that small blue booklet would one day change my life.
My First Passport: A Symbol of Hope
By the time my passport arrived in 2001, I had already moved to Noida for my first sales job, selling telephone machines door to door. My father called excitedly and said, “Your passport is here.” I told him to keep it safe.
Life moved fast, from Noida to Mumbai and that passport quietly gathered dust.
It wasn’t until the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that I began thinking seriously about working abroad.
In 2009, destiny played its card. I got a job in Qatar, and that decade-old passport finally received its first stamp.
Lesson: Sometimes what feels like a delay is just the universe setting up your runway.
A Yellowed Passport, But a Golden Beginning
My father had kept that passport safely, though years of heat slowly turned it yellow with age. Just imagine, a passport issued in 2001, but technically used only in 2009. Nine long years resting in the dust of Morak quietly transformed a white passport into one with yellowed pages. That is why I call it my yellow passport.
And yet, despite its age, it carried no stamps, as untouched and hopeful as my excitement when I finally landed in Qatar on February 14, 2009. Old on the outside, brand new on the inside. Just like the journey that was about to begin.
My first visa and first residency permit brought a thrill that is hard to describe. The following year, I visited Dubai, and suddenly that forgotten document became a book of dreams.
Three pages filled. Fifty-seven more to go.
When a Friend’s Tease Sparked My Wanderlust
Years later, when it was time to renew my passport, I met my friend Vivek in a parking lot. Seeing my excitement, he joked and asked why I looked so happy.
When I told him it was expiring, he smiled and said:
“Count your passports by pages used, not by expiry dates.”
That line hit me hard.
I decided right there that I would never let a passport expire half-empty again. That was the day the traveler inside me was born.
Travel changes your mindset because it is not just about places — it is about perspectives.
A Mentor, a New Job, and My First Schengen Visa
After a few years in Qatar, life took another turn. My three-year contract was coming to an end, and I knew it was time to move forward. I wanted to change jobs, but at that time, switching employers in Qatar was not easy. That was when someone recommended Mr. Arif Mahdi.
More than a recommendation, he became a mentor and a big brother. He helped me move to Dubai. In truth, the desire to work in Dubai had already taken root during my last visit there as a tourist.
What felt like a limitation in Qatar quietly became my landing path to Dubai. Sometimes, rules don’t block you, they redirect you. What you think is resistance is often the universe guiding you exactly where you are meant to be.
Arif Bhai(as he became like brother) sent me to Germany for training, which meant applying for my first Schengen visa. But he did more than send me on a work trip. He encouraged me to explore beyond the agenda, to step into a few more countries while I had the chance. That was the moment my caterpillar years quietly ended. I was preparing to fly.
To be honest, the opportunity alone was not enough. He gave me the push, the belief, and the permission to dream bigger. If travel gives direction, mentors give wings. Germany may have been the destination, but that encouragement became my takeoff.
When that visa was stamped, it was more than permission to enter Europe. It was my official entry into the world of international travel.
From Düsseldorf to Paris: The Tourist Turns Traveler
Landing in Düsseldorf was nerve-wracking yet exhilarating. During training, I explored the city in the evenings, soaking in its rhythm and charm.
One evening on a tram, a girl noticed my excitement and asked if it was my first time in Germany. I smiled and said it was my first time in Europe. She asked where I had been so far, and I admitted—not much. She casually suggested a few places rich in history and nature, the kind you don’t find on itineraries.
I replied, almost instinctively, “Next time.”
She smiled, looked at me, and said something that stayed with me:
“Don’t wait for next time. Explore now. Who has really seen next time”?
That sentence changed how I travel. It taught me that journeys don’t wait for convenience. Moments don’t reschedule themselves. If curiosity shows up today, it deserves action today.
That line stayed with me.
After training, I spontaneously took the Eurorail to Belgium to visit Alok, my college friend working in Brussels and then continued on to Paris to finally see the Eiffel Tower.
Two quick selfies before my BlackBerry died and in that quiet moment, I transformed from a tourist into a traveler.
Never wait for the right time. The right time is when you have the chance.
The Transformative Power of Travel
Today, I have filled eight passports, visited ninety plus countries, and inspired my family to travel as well. Together, they have covered forty countries themselves. Travel taught me more than any classroom ever did.
It built confidence, empathy, and resilience. It taught me to manage time zones and temperaments, adapt to cultures, and find comfort in the unfamiliar.
The benefits of travel go beyond movement. They include broader perspective, greater creativity and adaptability, stronger relationships, reduced burnout, cross-cultural empathy, self-awareness, and the reminder that the world is vast, yet deeply connected.
Coming soon: I am writing a detailed blog on the life-changing benefits of travel, with stories, tips, and real-life lessons from my 90+ countries journey.
Final Thoughts: Don’t Wait, Wander
My first passport may have aged before its time, but it became the foundation of my global story.
If there is one thing I have learned, it is this:
Do not wait for the perfect plan or the perfect moment.
Sometimes you apply for a passport with no destination in mind and end up discovering the world.
Before You Go
Before you close this page, pause for a moment.
Did you apply for your first passport with a plan or like me, with just a dream waiting to take flight?