How to keep documents safe
 

We are planning a trip to Germany, Italy, Switzerland with our family. Any suggestions on keeping our documents(passports, tickets etc. ) safe while traveling. Should we take them with us on outings, leave them in the car or what?

Don't leave anything in the car that you don't want to lose. Check them at the desk of your hotel or carry them with you. A money belt that can be worn under your clothes (around your waist preferably) is recommended. <BR> <BR>Make copies of your tickets, passports, driver's license and credit cards before leaving. Makes replacements easier if necessary.

Marge, Nothing to add to the above, we follow the same precautions when we travel. We use Eagle Creek's security belt, and after a few days of use we feel "something's missing" if we don't have it on. One waste of money is the fanny pack, it targets you as a tourist and the "Gypsies" in Italy are especially adept at getting to it. One thing to remember, if you are using traveler's checks you will need your passport when you cash them, so plan ahead. Purge your bill fold of all but the credit cards you will be using. It's surprising, the stuff you carry that you won't need in Europe (Sam's Club, library card, etc.).

Ditto to the suggestions above. We use our waist money belts and also have a neck belt, as well. A good suggestion is to leave a listing of your credit cards with phone numbers with someone at home---if yours are stolen, you can call that friend to cancel the cards. Much easier than making multiple calls from Italy or wherever to the credit company. Carry enough money in your pocket for the days activites. Also, you may want to look at your ATM card expiration date. At the Vienna airport the machine "stole" my wife's card. The follow working the kiosh told us it was kept for "security reasons" and would not return it. I then used my card--bingo, we had schillings. The only difference was her's expired 01/01 and my card was dated 12/99. Also, forget the waist/fanny packs. It is kind of like saying "tourists R us, come an get it."

One additional note about lost or stolen credit cards. You don't have to call back to the US. Visa, Mastercard, American Express have many offices throughout Europe and list numbers to call for each country and/or major cities to report losses/thefts/problems.

Another vote for the waist moneybelt. Eagle Creek's is fine. Samsonite also makes one and is a little easier to find. Eagle Creek does have a website. One tip: don't go in and out of your money belt in public. Make a special trip to the bathroom to do this.

Another tip: Bring a plastic baggie to wrap your airline ticket in because you will sweat and you don't want the ticket to be damaged inside the moneybelt.