A travel influencer has issued a stark warning about a passport blunder that could cost you thousands of pounds.
Sabrina Escapes, self-proclaimed “Queen of Holidays, recently took to TikTok to urge her 180,000 followers against getting “novelty souvenir stamps” in their passports.
She explained that they could potentially render your passport “invalid”.
Sabrina warned: “You’re going to want to think twice before you do it – in fact, don’t even do it! It’s becoming increasingly popular to get these novelty stamps as you’re traveling to amazing places around the world.
“I admit they do look pretty cool, but if you get these in your passport – which is a government document – it makes it invalid.
“It’s like putting a fake stamp on any other document of ID you have, for example, a birth certificate – you wouldn’t be doing anything to that would you?”
The travel influencer then shared the example of British woman Tina Sibley, who was £1,000 out of pocket in 2020 after getting a souvenir stamp at Machu Picchu, Peru.
She wasn’t allowed onto her next flight to Thailand, meaning the British Embassy had to issue her a new document. The Brit also had to rebook her flights, costing her £1,000 altogether.
Sabrina concluded her video by advising: “If you want to get one of these cool stamps, maybe put it into something like a travel journal.
“Hopefully you’ve seen this in time and you don’t already have one of these stamps in your passport”, reports The Mirror.
The video sparked debate in the comments section, with one viewer questioning: “Why would anyone do this?”
Another user added: “Honestly this should be common sense, you shouldn’t be tampering with your passport it’s not a colouring book.”
A third agreed, writing: “That’s good advice.”