Congratulations, MadTheologian, I got my first passport in 1980 and my latest earlier this week. I still get excited about it.

When travelling abroad, I keep my passport with me (in a zipped compartment in my shoulder bag which I hang on to for dear life); I also take (and keep in a different place) a color copy of my passport, a certified copy of my birth certificate, and two prints of my 2x2 photo so that I can get a replacement passport if something happens to the original.

I don't remember my first passport. I must have been 6 months old. I think my mother has it somewhere. I was a very good looking baby.

As to where to store your passport . . .

if it's a biz trip, I keep it in hotel safe,

if it's a backpacking trip, I sew a secret pocket inside my pants, and keep all my valuables there.

either way, I also keep a photocopy of my passport

I was just looking at my daughter's first passport just last week. We got it when she was about two weeks old (we were living in a foreign country at the time) and the picture is hilarious. I had my hand clamped around her head to hold it up for the picture so you can see the tips of my fingers around her head. She was asleep with her mouth hanging open and the picture looks like something the alien just gave birth to in a bad sci-fi movie. I passed it around at her 30th birthday party and she about killed me.

I got my first one in 1969, I was 3 months old traveling from Germany to the USA with my mom.

I remember my first passport, I was 17. It was a thrill. A sense of freedom to fly outside the USA.

My passport had been expired for a long time. I renewed it when I got my job in aviation. It was still that sense of excitement when it arrived in the mail. I encourage people all the time to get their passport, it gives one the freedom to go somewhere anytime (of course, if a visa is required that may not be possible!). If an opportunity comes up and you are invited to a different country, voila you are ready and able to go!