Travel influencer Sabrina Escapes has warned her TikTok followers about a common mistake some people make with their passports as it can end up costing you thousands of pounds
A travel influencer has issued an urgent warning over a passport mistake that could leave you thousands of pounds out of pocket.
Sabrina Escapes, who calls herself the “Queen of Holidays, recently took to TikTok to urge her 180,000 followers against getting “novelty souvenir stamps” in their passports, explaining that they can potentially make your passport “invalid”.
Sabrina said: “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 travelling around 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?” Sabrina then shared the example of Brit 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. She 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.”
Reacting in the comments section, one viewer asked: “Why would anyone do this?” Another wrote: “Honestly this should be common sense, you shouldn’t be tampering with your passport it’s not a colouring book.” And a third said: “That’s good advice.”
