ID papers
 

I'm traveling to Paris and Slovenia this summer and am wondering what papers I need to carry with me while out and about. When I was in Costa Rica last year we just copied everything, put originals in a safe, and took the copies with us. Will that work in Europe?
I will have with me my driver's license, insurance card, passport and medication list. Will I need a birth certificate or any other documents? Your answers would be most helpful.

Thanks

Do you think you really need your checkbook? And a nice way to waylay your fears, is to copy your Passport, your list of medicines or at least the labels of your must haves and the front and backs of your credit cards. Scan them and email them to ourself. Just remember that if you have to refer to them on a public computer...to make double-dog sure you "sign out, or "off" or whatever gets you outta the computer.

If you are in a situation where you need your passport, a copy doesn't do it.

The gestapo has gotten a bit lax in recent years---your passport will suffice.

Unless you are driving you don't need your license and insurance card - leave them at home. We always carry our passports - for safety - but mostly a copy will do.

You don't need your birth certificate, etc and I think it's dangerous to carry it around - since it's such a bear to replace.

No you don't need a birth certificate or drivers license. Only a passport.

for virtually all purposes, apart from driving, your passport will suffice, and that you will only need when going through passport control etc at the airport, when checking into a hotel, or if you want to buy something with a credit card in a shop in Spain. [not in restaurants].

that really is it.

To be on the streets of most of continental Europe, you're legally required to have an ID card or passport. To drive, you need a driving licence and in some countries (which may include Slovenia, but doesn't include France) an International Driving Permit if you haven't got a licence from an EU/EEA country.

I can't see why foreigners make such a fuss about purporting this is unreasonable and insist on faffing about with making photocopies.

Just bloody well obey their laws. Is that really such an impossible thing to expect?

There's no need to carry anything else other than a passport and driving licence. In practice, some European states pander to this criminality (unlike the US, where they imprison foreigners demanding to see plain clothes policemen's ID and think that's a reasonable way for their fascist thugs to behave: http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Arch.../msg01317.html)

The French police probably won't behave like the unaccountable pricks Americans allow to "police" their streets. But is there really some reason you think it's OK to disobey your hosts' laws?

We weren't driving on our trip to Italy, but took both driver's licences and passports and it was a good thing, too. At the airport, the nice TSA lady (yes, there WAS a NICE TSA lady) noticed we had neglected to sign our new passports (new being relative, but they hadn't been used since renewal). She could not let us sign them there unless we produced ID. Driver's licences to the rescue!

Later, on our travels, you had to leave your ID if you wanted to take an audioguide. I sure wasn't going to trust my Passport to the unguarded clerk's booth. Driver's licences to the rescue!

I carry all my papers (passport, driver's license, credit cards, IDP when I have one) with me at all times for two reasons: the commercial establishments where I stay generally do not have room safes. But the other reason is that when we do car touring, we have to carry those documents with us from one stop to the other, with stops in between to visit various sites or stop to eat or just stretch our legs. So 50% of the time (or more) we have to have our documents with us, and these are not necessarily safer times than when we stop for a few days in one location, giving us the opportunity to place our documents in a safe. In my mind the risk or lack thereof is constant. And should someone mention the higher risk of pickpocketing in Barcelona (a frequent topic on this board), there was a warning not to stop in isolated rest areas on the highway between Zaragoza and Barcelona because of robberies (or shall we call it banditry because it is on the open road?) when we drove that stretch of road.

Basically, unless you travel on the metro without paying and plan to say that you do not have money to pay the fine if caught, I cannot think of a single instance when you might need to show identity papers.

No a copy of your passport isn't id, but doesn't it help ALOT if you have to go to the Embassy to get a new one to go home?

I have read a copy doesn't really help in that circumstance. Do you know differently for sure?

A photocopy helps if the original is lost because it has the passport number, the date of issue etc. on it which you surely won't know by heart, so it is easier for the embassy to find your data. That's all a photocopy can do, though. It is not a legal document of identification.

If you lose your passport you are screwed. Having a copy makes it a little easier to trace and replace.

I always carry a license - but we mostly do road trips. But I leave a lot of CC and all sorts of other papers at home. I DO bring my health insurance card - as proof I'm good for the cost if anything happens. (We don;t do travel insurance - DH's company has a blanket policy that covers employees and immediate family.)

I agree with what flanneruk has posted above. If you are on the streets, you may be required to produce some type of identification, at least in France. A passport always works but any ID will probably be accepted. It´s not necessarily an immigration issue, only one of proving who you say you are.

Thank you for such great replies. It sounds like all I will really need is my passport and health insurance card, credit card and some euros. I have also purchased travel insurance so I will probably need something from them. I had a friend who had her appendix removed in Croatia and travel insurance helped her a lot. I seem to remember when I went to Costa Rica I needed 2 id's, thus a driver's license to board the plane. Is that not necessary in Europe? Also we may rent a car while in Slovenia. I will probably make copies of all and keep separately just in case. No, I didn't plan to take a checkbook, but I do carry one at home. If you have more advice I'd love to hear it.

Check to make sure you don't need an international dr.lic.for Slovenia. It you belong to AAA they probably can tell you.