He reminded me not to forget my passport.

Don't forget to remind me to renew my passport.

I am lucky to have my passport. Could you please return it to me?

I am lucky to have my Syrian passport. Imagine after all that I have been through, I still have nightmares where I lose my passport and wake up terrified.

Due to my activism, however, China refused to renew my passport.

All I have in my travelling bag are a few clothes and my academic papers.

I want to go to Australia one more time before my passport expires.

I go through Nigerian security checks and my passport is grudgingly returned to me.

So ever since then, before I would go anywhere, I would call the FBI.

Upon my release, China renewed my passport on the condition that I return to the US.

Shortly after my departure I became one of the hundreds of thousands of activists wanted by various State security branches because of my political activity.

This I know intimately, because even as I travel throughout the world to listen to these stories and record them, I struggle.

Of course, in my travels I met people who legally divorced their children for being other than straight, but I also met people who were Southern Baptists who switched churches because their child was a lesbian.

Kabul is a place of hope, aspiration, warmth and hospitality, all of which shine through when Afghans saw my blue passport.

So it wasn't surprising to me that as I was traveling around the world I met so many young people who seemed to have lost hope.

I spent two months gathering all the papers I needed.

It was lunch, it was take out, it was sit down, it was buffet, it was three weeks ago, it was three months ago.

I am lucky to have a Syrian passport. You see, if it weren t for this passport, random selection wouldn t have chosen me, randomly and coincidentally, for investigation in all airports I ve ever been through.

It was a pure coincidence, among so many other similar coincidences. Please excuse me I am obsessed with identifying patterns. If it weren t for my Syrian passport I probably wouldn t have noticed the recurring pattern a purely coincidental recurring pattern, of course.

In the middle of my traveling, I turned 40 and I began to hate my body, which was actually progress, because at least my body existed enough to hate it.

I felt that the request was a test one that I was prepared to take, as I had carried maps with me in the forward air control planes.

But what's interesting is, I've never had trouble traveling in any other Western countries with my American passport, even though it says, Born in Iran. No problems.

United, American, and British Airways all know my travel patterns on their airlines, and help me manage both my past trips (and related rewards) and my future reservations.

If it weren t for my Syrian passport I would never have heard that extremely polite phrase Would you please wait on the side by the wall, Miss? , and I would not have remembered my childhood school punishments.

Upon my release, China renewed my passport on the condition that I return to the US. I have tried three times to return to my homeland, only to see China block each attempt at the Hong Kong airport.

So I had vague thoughts that I might go into space sometime in 2011 the year that Google co founder Sergey Brin is (very) tentatively slated to go.

I kept my passport in my pocket when I woke up in the morning because I sometimes have dreams that I am travelling without my passport.

That gives you the tone of our encounter. I was questioned about the purpose of my trip, the length of my trip, the reason for my residence in France, and the date of my arrival in France, to name a few.

So I had vague thoughts that I might go into space sometime in 2011 the year that Google co founder Sergey Brin is (very) tentatively slated to go. Space Adventures was pushing for 2009, but I was pretty busy.

Despite all that, I am lucky to have a Syrian passport, as thousands are deprived a passport by virtue of a political decision. Millions of others, who are not as good in marketing death as we are, or whose stories are less exciting to the audience, don t get visas to travel, so they come to you by sea. Some of them die just to cross to you, so what s four hours in the waiting area compared to that?