Decoding Your Passport

For many travelers their passport becomes a sort of trophy. It is a symbol of all one has seen and done. However, few ever really investigate passports enough to extract all the information they offer. When traveling in Europe, individuals have the opportunity to acquire all sorts of stamps in their blue books. European stamps create almost a storybook of an individual's wanderings if you know how to read them. I have provided a guide containing much of the information available from looking at European passport stamps.

The stamps from all countries in the European Union follow the same basic structure. They are a rectangle sometimes with rounded edges. In the top left-hand corner you find an image of a circle of stars. This circle is taken from the flag of the European Union. In the center there will be one or two letters, which indicate from which country the stamp comes. Typically this is the first letter of the country in its native language. For example, a stamp from Spain has an E in the center of the circle of stars, which stands for España. In the top right corner of the stamp, there is a smaller box. Inside this is a picture of a plane, a train, a car or a boat. This intuitively tells you by which mode of transportation the individual entered the country. At the bottom left there is another small box. In this box there will be either an arrow pointing to the left or an arrow pointing to the right. An arrow to the right indicates that the individual was entering the indicated country. An arrow to the left indicates that they were leaving the country. The date on which the passport was stamped is in the center of the stamp. It is indicated in red whereas the rest of the stamp is black. Directly following the date are two more numbers in red. I'm not sure what these indicate. Underneath the date and to the right of the entry/exit box you will find the name of the city, which has set up the passport control. Underneath the city name there is a code consisting of one letter followed by three numbers, that has also served to elude me.