Application

• Any legal resident of the United States is eligible for a passport. The application can be found online and must be turned in at your local post office or passport agency. It must be returned in person and you must provide identification, a birth certificate and the application fee. It is also necessary to provide two passport-size photos, which can be taken at a number of locations such as a department or drug store.
  
  

Travel

• When traveling to foreign countries, make sure you have your passport before boarding the plane. Provide this when showing at all security and boarding checkpoints your boarding pass. Make sure everyone in your party has a passport because no one cannot enter a foreign country without a passport.
  
  

Copies

• Passports can be lost or stolen in unfortunate events. Make sure you travel with copies of your passport in every bag you travel with. This means you should have a copy in your carry-on or any luggage you check. If your passport is stolen, you then have copies to provide at the U.S. Embassy of whatever country you are traveling to. Be sure to check in at the local embassy upon arrival as well in case you run into any problems.
  
  

Stamps

• Collecting stamps on your passport is a special experience for people who are traveling for the first time, and it is a souvenir of places you have traveled. Not every country will stamp your passport upon entry, but you can ask any customs to do so. It is a good idea to get a stamp in case you run into problems leaving the country, as well. You then have proof of when you entered the country because the stamp has the time and date on it.
  
  

Canada and Mexico

• One of the biggest changes in passport travel in recent years is that citizens of the United States must provide a valid passport when traveling to Canada or Mexico by any means of transportation. As of June 1, 2009, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative went into effect with those requirements. Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the country's security increased to protect citizens from potentially dangerous people entering the country.