Hey everyone,

This post was meant to be written many days ago when I was in Dubai for the Expo 2020. I had been meaning to write up on my experience to help so many others who are in Dubai or are making plans to go to Dubai for the Expo 2020.

My experiences will be split up into several parts:

Part 1: The Passport

Part 2: GUIDELINES

Part 3: Pavillions

Part 4: THE EXTRAS

So this part is about the famous yellow coloured passport which can be bought for 20 dirhams at the kiosks and souvenir stores spread throughout the complex.

I had to eventually get a second passport because some pavillions stamps took up the whole page.

What to do: Tell them precisely where you want the stamp to ensure you can get all the stamps in one booklet.

Some pavillions will stamp the passport before you enter the pavillion. Others will stamp at the exit.

Unfortunately, some delegations hadn’t arrived when I had gone so I missed a few countries: Bosnia, Turkey, Uzbekistan. Others didn’t receive their official stamps in time, so they actually wrote in the passport, which I felt was rather personal and nice.

What I did observe was how some children, and adults too, were running from one place to another just to get the stamp, without actually visiting the pavillions in their entirety, which is actually sad because they miss out the huge cultural learning that is avalable.

Apart from the 192 countries, you can also get the stamps from the other pavillions who have their own stamps: Alif, Mobility and Sustainability pavillions.

The passport is a perfect souvenir to keep and it also serves as a motivation to visit as many countries as you can.

I cannot tell you the sense of exhilaration and excitement that I got to be able to meet the natives from all these countries, speak to them in their languages, understand their countries and just interact. It was the closest thing for me to be able to travel around the world.

It took me exactly six visits (10am to 8pm) to cover all the pavillions thoroughly (except Turkey, Iraq and Uzbekistan as they were closed the time I was there from Oct 3rd to Oct 18th).

Without further ado, here we go with the passport!

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