We always keep our passport in the hotel or the room safe.. and when traveling my husband wears a carrier around his neck that he puts under his shirt.. we also carry copies of the passport.Glad to know we will need passport i.d. in Barcelona.. we will carry copies..thanks

Carrying a photocopy of your passport is comletely useless. Such a copy has no value at all. If you are stopped by the police, and the only thing you can show is a copy of your passport, then you better hope they are in a good mood, because there is always the possibility that they will take you to the police office for a few hours. In most countries in Europe you are supposed to have some kind of identification with you, and this is also valid for tourists, whereever they come from. By the way, if at the hotel desk they ask for your passport, and they keep it for a few hours, they do it because they have to register you with the local authorities.

Janis, I am not from any state, I am from Finland.

Hmm, I have not even thought about this identity theft thing. It just isn´t common in Europe. I had to do a sarch to know what you are talking about, and when I typed "identity theft in Europe", the first one that appeared ws this: http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/...cy/P116528.asp

This started to bother me, so I had to check. There is social security number also in my passport. So that doesn´t make a difference weather I carry a passport or a driver´s license.

And Robespierre, you said like this. "Your passport has a place in the front where you can write down emergency
contact information. I should think it would be the first place an emergency
esponder would look."

My passport is an EU-passport, and it doesn´t have anything like that.

i.e. in Germany, it is (of cause) no offence if you don`t carry your id card/passport with you. It is only an offence if you refuse to follow the police to have your identity checked. So as long as you have it at the hotel and stay within a few meters, there is no need to take your passport with you.

Janis -- Iowa used your Social Security number as your driver's licence number, at least up until a few years ago. Maybe still does.

I don't think that's a great idea, but considering how many places SSNs are already floating around (employment records, education records, 401(k) records, student IDs, mortgages, car loans, credit card records, utility records, etc., etc.,) I'm not sure it hurts too much. That's just me, though.

this is kind of related to the topic, should i be bringing my social security card to europe with me?

I do not know of any reason to carry a U.S. social security card to Europe. Anyone?

I wouldn't think there's any reason to have a SS card in Europe. It has no photo, no official use there that wouldn't be covered by a passport. I'd leave it at home. (Even though I don't - I always have my SS card in my wallet so I can always find it. -- See? Told you I just can't get too worked up about security.)

I what I need from my wallet before traveling, and leave the rest of it intact at home. No need to drag along a department store credit card or anything else you don't really need on your trip.

I take what I need (sheez, sorry)...

elina: Sorry for jumping to the conclusion you were from the States. I don't usually assume fodorites are Americans but you mentioned your social security ID-number and I figured you meant a US social security account number . . . .

I travel internationally about 50% of the time for business. I work for a Fortune 500 company, and we have offices globally. Our company policy is strictly NOT to carry a passport, nor business cards, nor a cell phone nor any other item that may be used against you when you are in a foreign airport, on a plane or sight-seeing. You do not want to give the impression that you are wealthy, or that you may fetch a good ransom.

I've been traveling internationally for 20 years, and have never had a problem. I can't see any reason to carry a passport. Leave it in the hotel safe.

Honestly, what would someone do with it anyway? It's a mild inconvenience to get a new one, as I learned from a friend who was carrying her passport and had her purse stolen. . .

Just my $0.02.

<Our company policy is strictly NOT to carry a passport... you when you are in a foreign airport...>

How does that work? You don't need your passport in an airport? I don't get it.

That's interesting you say you are advised not to carry a passport even at an airport. Yes, please explain. Sorry I don't agree with you as I don't feel that losing my passport is just a 'mild inconvenience'.

Besides the "no passport rule" which does not make any sense to me -- why no cell phones? I personally don't carry one on vacation (I want to get away from phones) but ALWAYS carry one on business.

Do you mean a cell phone will draw attention? Believe me - In London for example you will stand out MUCH more by not having a phone. It seems that 90% of Brits carry one. No one would give you a second look . . . .

I don't think Frequent Flyer meant he did not carry his passport in the airport or on the plane. I think he meant the other items, business cards, cell phones etc. I know of people that work for international corporations that, for security reasons, give their employees these type of instructions.

I "think" this was a mistype. It would have to be IMO. Unless there is something the rest of us don't know.

If Frequent Flyer really does work for a company with a policy of not carrying ID abroad, he needs to get another job fast.

In much of Continental Europe - including Spain - never mind really authoritarian states, it's a legal requirement to carry a passport or national ID card at all times. If his security people have created a policy of breaking Spanish law, he's got real problems.

As for not having mobile phones, especially in countries where American tourists are the only people without them...

Let's hope his employers aren't actually paying money to the lunatics who create policies this inane.

A little anecdote:
Years ago, I saw that EVERYONE in Rome had a cell phone. This was several years before they became very popular in the USA. It was easy to notice this since people would stand in the middle of a busy street or piazza talking on their phones while Fiats, delivery trucks and Vespas whizzed by them. I thought, this must be a peculiar Roman thing.

The general concensus here is to keep passports on you at all times.
Thats fine but where do you keep them when on the beach or swimming?

Just for the record, we always lock them in the safe. No probs so far.
Like elina, the only time we needed to carry them is for currency exchange.


Muck