Carrying our passports?
 

So I know there is no such thing as a dumb question--but this is pretty close! My Mom & I will be travelling to Paris in May, and want to know if we should carry our passports around with us at all times. I don't believe that I did that on my last trip, but does anyone know if it is a)required, b)just good practice, or c)totally unecessary? Thanks in advance!
Jane

I carry a photocopy of my passport at night. But I would recommend that if it is not locked, you should carry it.

I make 2 color photocopies of my passport. One goes in my bag's lining, the other I carry with me. I hardly ever carry my passport on my person. Even in the Paris department stores, you need only your passport number to make duty-free purchases. You might need it to cash traveler's checks if you are bringing those.

We always carry ours in secured pockets. Other people prefer to leave them in hotel safes, in their locked luggage in their hotel closet, hidden somewhere in their hotel room, etc.

There's no perfectly secure way. We just trust ourselves more than we do hotel workers.

Besides, in some of the countries we've visited (France not included) you can never be sure when you might need it to get help or evacuate the country on a moment's notice.

Jane:
It's definitely up to you, but when I visited India, I always had my passport on me, just encase I needed it.. and I felt more comfortable knowing where it was at all times.. However, Paris is alittle bit more layied back than India is..I would use your gut instinct. :)

-Rachelle

I always take my passport with me. I leave a copy at home and make an extra one to take. I don't trust safes and also most likely if I do leave it in a safe I'll forget to retrieve it before leaving. But this is just my personal choice.

Hi J,

B

((I))

I'd carry it rather than leave it in the room if there's no safe.

Passport is needed most of the time when exchanging currency at banks.

Why exchange currency at a bank. Use the ATM card.

Jane, There is never 100% agreement when this question comes up on Fodor's. If you search you'll find many threads covering all the various things you can do with your passport.

For me, I carry it with me. I am not one to misplace things and feel it is important to have it on my person, not back at the hotel, should something unforeseen arise.

Technically, it may very well be "required" that you are able to produce some form of verifiable identity upon demand in some countries and that would be the passport. You rarely, if ever, hear of anyone being asked to produce the identity so many think it is just "good practice."

On occasion I have been asked to verify my identity when using a credit card in stores and have used the passport for that.

Some countries require everyone to have identification papers at all times. For US citizens, that generally means a passport. I can't remember which countries...

In my years as a consular officer, I never once had someone report their passport stolen from a hotel room.

I heard about losses due to pickpockets, purse snatchings, stolen luggage, misplacement and "must have fallen out of my pocket" every week, sometimes every day.

I carry a copy and leave the original in the hotel room. I prefer it if the room has a safe, otherwise it goes into a piece of luggage in a dark corner of the closet (paranoid). I know I should use the hotel safe or (better) safe deposit boxes, but it's too much of a hassle.

Haven't lost one yet.

I guess it depends on where you have worked, but in all my years as a consular officer we dealt with many cases of passports stolen from hotel rooms, even hotel room safes.

We haven't lost one yet either.

Consular work was in London and Abidjan.

Only place my hotel room was ever robbed was Paris. They ignored the passports and took the traveler's checks (both were left in jacket pocket).

I wonder how much passports are actually targeted bu thieves. They have been getting harder and harder to alter.