My approach is to attempt Swiss-German ("Gruezi, Guete Morge"), which generally gets a good snicker from the border police. http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...orum/smile.gif

I was unable to find anything more current than this.

Side note; for the Brits living in the US, the turnaround for a UK passport to be replaced due to expiration is aprox 1 week, however if you fedex the passport to them you will normally recieve it fedex'd back in 2-3 days...

edited to add; UK citizens renewing passports while living in the US can no longer do these at a consulate. All processing is done in Washington D.C. See: http://www.britainusa.com/consular/o...5&Other_ID=205

[This message has been edited by NickP 1K (edited Mar 06, 2004).]

I had originally posted this question some months ago, and got back recently from the trip. The only one who said anything at all about the expiration date on my passport was the checkin agent in San Francisco at departure, who said I should get my passport renewed soon since some countries required six months validity. However, none of the foreign border agents made any remark at all of the date, although I was only in three countries: UK, Italy, and Switzerland in that order (plus one car trip Italy-to-Switzerland-back-to-Italy).

So I could have played it safe and renewed a few months early but there was no need. Somehow it just seemed wrong to renew so early and lose half a year off the 10-year term! Someone remarked, not sure if it was in this thread or elsewhere, that the UK government credits your new passport for any unexpired time; if only they did the same in the US.