What fake ID looked like in the 90s

It wasn’t so straightforward getting a student discount in the days before Photoshop.

When I was doing my big trip around the equator, there was a time when all roads seemed to lead back to Nairobi.

It became something of a base to wander off to Somalia, to Rwanda and Burundi. And to pick up visas for the countries that lay ahead to the west, like Zaire, the Congo and Gabon.

And the place to pick up a fake student ID.

Back then, a student ID got you a discount on all sorts of things, from museum entry fees to tickets on trains, buses and ferries. Things, if I’m being totally honest, were already ridiculously cheap, even before any discount was applied.

As you can see, it wasn’t a really sophisticated industry back then. Just a piece of cardboard, covered in cloth, your photo and details you filled out yourself in biro.

I was pleased to see that my fake student ID had been signed by Professor Terry Heathcote.

The Prof was a fake lecturer from the University of Sydney that I’d made up earlier in the trip to secure permission from the Maldivian government to visit islands otherwise off-limits to foreigners.

For that, I cut off the letterhead from an official letter I’d got from Sydney Uni, stuck it on the top of a fake letter saying I was researching a PhD on the ‘equatorial phenomenon’ and then photocopied it to hide the join.

My friend, Sean, signed that letter for me.

The fake ID, on the other hand, was signed by another backpacker staying at Sunrays Lodge on River Road.

If I remember rightly, I returned the favour for him.