ray seva

My wife & I will be going to France and Finland next month. Do we need to carry our passports with us everywhere we go, 24/7? A friend says we definitely do; I disagree, saying it's too inconvenient/doesn't make sense...that passports are better left behind at a hotel's safe-deposit boxe/lockable locker. Any opinions? My friend seems to think that there are police and/or soldiers crawling all over the place, and that if we're stopped without our passports we'll both be thrown into the Gulag Archipelago or somewhere similiarly harsh.

lynn

Ray - <BR> <BR>Technically, you should. But, if you really don't want (I know it can be a pain worrying about it all the time), just carry a copy around with you and keep the real thing back at the hotel. <BR> <BR>Also, make sure you also give a copy of each of your passports to someone at home that you trust in case of emergencies. Also give them your credit card numbers and phone numbers (again, someone you can really trust), so if they get stolen, you have all the info at the ready but not on you. I never carry that info with me because having the number is the same as having the card these days. <BR> <BR>I've never been to Finland but have spent 2 separate weeks in Paris and did not have any problems at all. Never even thought for a moment we were going to be "carded" or "papered". <BR> <BR>One word of caution, don't always trust the safes in hotel rooms. We've used them in Paris and in Bangkok but always knew we were taking a risk. Better odds than the street, perhaps, but not a sure bet. <BR> <BR>While in Paris (assuming you'll be there), don't miss the Pere Lachaise Cemetary, St. Chapelle, the Catacombs, and the Salvador Dali museum. <BR> <BR>Have fun. <BR

Ben Haines

Fodors <BR> <BR>I agree with Ms Rath, and add that I prefer hotel safes at reception to hotel safes in bedrooms. (Indeed, the sort of cheap places I use have no bedroom safes). <BR> <BR>If you use ATMs (bank cash machines), credit cards, and 4-digit PINs you can draw money at a good exchange rate and without taking your passport out of the safe. To cash travellers cheques you need your passport. <BR> <BR>You might ike to look into htp://www.pariscope.fr/, under, for example, "Musees" and "Musique classique". It's a better site than any we have here in London. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines <BR>

Inky

Sounds like your friend is a complete a-hole. Go get a better friend and tell him/her whilst you're at it that he/she should really visit Europe sometimes and stop watching CNN to glean all his useless information from. I cant even believe in this day and age that you even thought your friends opinion was in any way accurate.

Louis

Unless you're using your passports to validate train tickets or travel on them, or are registering at a hotel (some hotels don't even ask anymore) the best place for your passport is in your in-room hotel safe, or other similarly safe place. The only other time I've been asked for my passport was when I had to prove to a bank that an ATM card was mine because some clown tried to steal it.

yoohoo

Inky---get a grip and learn some manners

yourfriends

Inky, you're back! I see your release to the halfway house means you once again have stopped taking your medication. Remember, dear, Thorazine is your friend.

steve

I always carry mine with me. However, 30 years ago, it was common for the hotel to ask for your passport and hold it at least overnight, so I can't see that it would ever be a problem, especially in western Europe

Diane Moll

We always carry our passports. They don't require much space (especially with a money belt) and every time we go to a bank to exchang money, they are required, not to mention that they are a good form of identification.

s.fowler

Passports carried under your clothes in some version of a money belt are enormously safer than any other lcoation. A lost passport is "A Very Bad Thing" (tm) The end.

hans

We just ordered and received a couple of nice neck pouches from letravelstore.com

elaine

I always carry mine because I can't think of ANY place I would want to leave it. <BR>Also, I find that I need it with me at currency exchange desks, banks, and at some stores re VAT refunds.

Christina

If you think you won't lose it, might as well carry it, but in fact, they aren't really REQUIRED to exchange money, etc. It depends on the mood of the person in the booth. So, it isn't true that you HAVE to have it to cash TCs; I always carry only a Xerox copy of mine for ID and have always had that accepted at a Bureau de Change in Paris dozens of times over 10-12 years that I've been going there frequently until once last year in Paris when one guy suddenly refused to accept it AFTER I had already signed my name on the travelers' check. This was the same place I'd cashed TCs a few days before with only a Xerox copy. Luckily, I knew how to argue with him in French and got him to change his rules, whereupon when he found out I could argue in French, he was willing to accept any legitimate ID with my photo on it, and took my drivers' license as ID. As I said, in 10 years, that has been the only time a Xerox copy was not accepted, but it can happen. Other than that, I've never once been asked for it in Paris or anywhere else I've traveled throughout Europe. Don't know about Finland though but can't imagine why police would be walking around asking you for your passport randomly. In some countries where there ARE police walking around more where I've been, they sort of require you to leave it at your hotel desk or something (which always makes me nervous), so that's kind of odd, also. I know they did in Egypt and Greece when I was there. Anyway, I don't carry it around in France, usually.