Registration Service Helps Americans Abroad By Jennifer Conlin, New York Times, 07/30/2006 Given recent events — bombs in Mumbai, a tsunami in Indonesia and the renewed fighting in the Middle East — the United States government is continuing to urge Americans traveling and living abroad to take advantage of its Travel Registration Service. The service allows Americans to record their trip information with the State Department and to receive assistance in case of emergency. The Web site can be found at travelregistration.state.gov. The free service, in effect since July 2004, allows individuals to register their travel itineraries or overseas residences, passport details and, most important, their e-mail addresses. In the event of a natural disaster, terrorist attack or, as in the case of Lebanon, evacuation plans, United States consular officers can then notify those Americans abroad. "About half of the 25,000 Americans that were in Lebanon were registered on the site," Janelle Hironimus, a spokeswoman for the State Department, said earlier this month, on a day when many of those Americans were being evacuated, above. A current listing of all travel warnings, public announcements and consular information sheets can be found at travel.state.gov. Updated information on travel and security in Lebanon may be obtained from the State Department at the Web site.