happytoes

or should you leave it in the hotel room and carry a copy with you?

We have our drivers license as photo ID as well

cfntmpn

I lock my passport up in the hotel room safe. I've never needed any id at all, though I do keep my drivers license in my wallet with me

fmpden

I always carry my passport. About the same as carrying my driver's license each day To me it is not a big deal but some people think it is. But in 15 + years of travel no one has every asked to see it other than ports of entry.

Travelnut

I always carry it, since it is the one article that I need to return home.

janisj

whether you carry it in a money belt or locked in the hotel safe is up to you. But do not just &quot;leave it in the hotel room&quot;. A room safe <i>might</i> be OK - but not just in your hotel room un-secured.

djkbooks

We leave them in the room safe and carry copies.

Sometimes you need to present it for large purchases, etc., but a copy is sufficient as they only need to check off that they've seen it and record the number.

Marc_David_Miller

In Russia and most former Soviet countries (except the Baltics), tourists (and residents) are required to have their passports on them at all times--not a photocopy but the original.

gard

Hi

I think it is best to keep the passport in the hotel safe. I'm not sure about the rules but I would think that another photo ID is sufficient.

Regards
Gard
http://gardkarlsen.com - trip reports and pictures

hanl

It depends on the laws of each individual country (and as far as I know, such laws apply to everybody in the country, regardless of whether they are American, tourists or residents).

In France or Belgium, for instance, you are supposed to carry official photo ID with you at all times. If you are involved in an accident or some other incident where the police are called, they will ask to see your ID as a matter of course.

In the UK, as far as I know, there is no such requirement. There is no national ID card in the UK, and people are not expected to carry around their passports.

As for other European countries, I have no idea what the particular laws and regulations are, so it's probably best to check before you leave.

BTilke

In Belgium, as a resident, I had to carry my ID card issued by the government. At all times and a photocopy was not acceptable. Now that we're not full time residents of Belgium anymore, whenever I'm in that country, I carry my passport. The original, not a photocopy. Belgian law requires you carry official ID at all times. A drivers license isn't an acceptable substitute for a passport or national identity card.
In the UK, where we live, I don't carry my passport, it's not required to carry ID, but I do carry a photocopy of the page from my passport with my UK visa showing I have indefinite leave to live in the country. Just in case.

Occasionally, while traveling, I have been asked to show my passport and not just at borders, but usually because of special circumstances. In Germany, for example, police went through an ICE train as it neared Nuremberg asking to see everyone's ID. They didn't explain why and they left the train in Nuremberg.

quokka

Shops, at least in Germany, may require some kind of photo ID (drivers licence will do) when paying with a credit or debit card. Some check at random, others check everyone.

In Italy, there is a law that everyone found without ID can be arrested for 48 hours without apparent reasons. I've never heard of this happening to anyone, but according to my Italian teacher the law exists.

Mimar

I've read about a lot of thefts from room safes. (Too many employees have access to the room safes.) If you're going to leave it in the hotel, leave it in the hotel safe at the front desk. Personally I just keep it in my money belt.

annhig

hi, happytoes,

being a brit, I rarely carry any ID, as we're not used to it. on holiday, I put the passports in the hotel safe, and carry copies. I've never been asked for ID except in Spain when buying a present with my credit card. I didn't have my driving licence on me, so only my passport would do. luckily I had it on me, as it was the last day of our stay and we had already checked out of the hotel.

I am much more worried about my passport being snatched, than I am about the hotel safe being robbed.

regards, ann

flanneruk

The simple answer to the question is that a number of continental countries - including Holland as well as those mentioned - require everyone to have either a national identity card issued by an EEA country or their passport on them at all times. That means the real document.

Life's too short to try to remember where it's mandatory and where it's just occasionally requested. So the easiest thing is to carry a passport all the time, and I really can't understand why people get so het up about it.

If you misremember what rule applies where, you might get away with a photocopy in Holland if they're checking papers. Or you might have to spend a few hours down the police station while you sort things out. Since the last time I was stopped in the street in Europe, the carabiniere had a nifty machine gun pointed at my tummy throughout the conversation, I'd just as soon have the passport in my pocket as find out the hard way whether he'd remembered to keep the safety catch on.

danon

In more than 30 years of traveling through Europe, I have never carried my passport around, never have been asked to show it while in the country ,never had it stolen from the hotel room.

sandi_travelnut

I always carry it. I've had things stolen from hotel rooms before and am just wary of that. I make sure it's in an interior, zippered pocket in my bag that has a strap that goes across my chest.

suze

I always carry my passport. But seems people are divided 50%/50% here on the forum about this topic, from many past threads. It's not that I &quot;have to&quot; carry it legally, it's that I am most comfortable having it on my person at all times. In case of some kind of emergency, I don't see what good my passport is to me locked up back at the hotel.

nytraveler

I always carry my passport since I want to know where it is at all times (not find it missing from a hotel safe 3 days after I put it there).

You are not required to carry it at all times - but, unlike, in the US, in many countries you may be required to officially identify yourself at any time. (Presumably the lic would work unless it's a real legal issue and then you could have your passport retrieved for you.)

llamalady

Hey, make it simple - buy a small cloth
money belt - the kind that pins inside
your waist. Put your passport and an
extra ATM/credit card inside. Zip it
up and forget about it until you need
it - which is seldom. No big deal.

Guenmai

It depends...I used to leave it locked in the safe in my hotel room and then take a copy of it along with me until one day I returned to my hotel and found the laundromat next door on fire and wasn't allowed to enter the street not less the hotel for quite some time. So,after that exerience I went back to plan A and carried it in my money belt. Happy Travels!