It's definitely a personal thing, but I keep my passport in my moneybelt at all times. And even in Italy where the hotels want to keep it, they accepted a copy while I kept the passport.

There's no absolute answer on this one and seems opinions run 50%/50% on this question here.

I carry mine.

I'm usually pretty careless with it -- I tend to leave it in my bag in the hotel. But lately I've taken to carrying it with me whenever I can remember. It's useful for VAT refunds.

My worst experiences have been to walk into a shop and to see that I've enough to buy to claim a refund and then realize that I don't have my passport with me.

I tossed up on what to carry and what not to carry. On one side someone could rob your room and steal everything. On the other some street rat could snatch your bag and leave you empty handed. Somehow I really dont want to wear this under my shirt!

Thank you for the confusion! It does seem to be 50/50. As a woman, i plan on carrying a bag (strapped over my head through the shoulder.) I guess I'll carry our plane tix (argh, gave me paper ones) and my hubby can carry the copies in his money belt. And will scan it in as well - what a smart idea!

Staying in very reputable 4-5 star hotels. but still, there are thieves everywhere. With all this theft talk - is it common for thieves to just ask for your whole bag - or is it just pickpocketing I should be concerned with? I don't plan on walking down dark alleyways without a sole (except maybe in the gothic district where we'll be during Christmas.) I grew up in NY (the 80s) so naturally, I'm a bit neurotic about muggings....

thereadbaron ~

Please, please, please! Don't do to yourself what I did to myself before I left for Spain this past September! I kept reading all this theft/security threads and by the time I left I was absolutely convinced that we were going to be 1. mugged in Madrid, 2. pickpocketed throughout every other part of Spain, 3. gypsy women were going to tackle us in the streets of Seville to get our belongings, and 4. all hotel staff were ruthless and not to be trusted.

My boyfriend tried his best to allay my fears, but I just knew we were going to be left standing beaten and penniless and without our passports in some remote alley.

I should have listened to him and ignored 95% of what I read here. Common sense and an awareness of our surroundings was all we needed. And that is all you will need. Just don't obsess and you will be fine.

That is exactly what I was thinking. My husband speaks fairly fluent spanish, and i was thinking that was what was going to get us out of a bad situation. Did you carry a backpack? A purse? Shoulder bag? would carrying a Coach bag look like i had something of value in it? (even though it's a knockoff.) just dont want to look like a target.

Do many spaniards wear jeans? No, I wont be wearing T-shirts that say "I love NY" or a fanny bag or a camera across my chest. I just want to look, um...like i belong. thanks!

If I am in a country that requires me to carry my passport I do so. (I suspect that Spain is such a country.) If I am in a country that does not require me to carry my passport and if my hotel room has a safe I will often use it. There is no absolutely secure place for a passport so I go for comfort in not having it in a secure pocket or money belt.

I <i>agonized</i> over the type of bag I would bring with me, and I think I went over something like 5 or 6 before settling on a simple, regular shoulder purse with a long shoulder strap that could go across my torso. (I bought it from Target for about $20) My boyfriend had an old backpack of mine from when I used to go to college that he used only when we were really touring.

Credit cards and cash that I would be using that day were in my purse. If I walked into a crowd of people, I simply swung the purse in front of me and kept my hand on it. My boyfriend never, ever kept anything of value in the backpack other than the camera. He brought his regular wallet (minus any extraneous cards he wasn't going to use), and kept it in his front pocket. But....he put a rubber band around it. Simple enough trick, but the rubber from the band provides just enough friction to not allow a man's wallet to freely slide from his pocket. Also, it's cheap (free, in most cases), and not a whole lot of bother. Funny, the rubber band broke our last night in Spain!

Not sure about a Coach knockoff being a &quot;target&quot;. I think a pickpocket is more interested in ease of opportunity. If a purse is left unattended and is easy to grab, it's not going to matter what the brand name is. There might be something of value in it.

Jeans were worn all over the parts of Spain we were in. (Extremadura, Andalucia, La Mancha, Madrid) In that regard, it was like we'd never left home. Even t-shirts with funny sayings - well, funny to some one who speaks English, but only on teens/20-somethings. We also saw lots of denim jackets, for some reason, on both men and women. But, yes, jeans are popular in Spain.

My husband forgot his Green Card in Denver -- and couldn't leave Paris until he got travel papers from the U.S. Consulate when we were there in September. He sat in line for 5 hours with other people who had their passports lost/stolen, including from their hotel rooms.

Personally, it is the most important document I own when I'm overseas. I keep it in a moneybelt (not in your wallet or other place that can be picked) on my person at all times. In France, it's the law. In other places, it may not be, but it makes good sense.

Happy travels,

Jules

I don't know about Spain, but I can tell you from personal experience, that you must carry your passport in Hungary. I got stopped near a Metro station. The police were rounding up illegal immigrants. The police will not allow you to go to the hotel to get your passport. You need to think about the following:

1. If you leave your passport in the Hotel safe, will the hotel allow someone else to get your passport from the safe?

2. If you leave it in a room safe, do you have someone else to go to your room in the hotel to get your passport? Do you want someone else going through your personal stuff in the safe?

3. Is it ok to spend aroung 4 hours at the police station?

Denis, your information is valid in the general sense, but the OP's concern is for travel within Spain. I just returned from there a month ago. Except for presenting my passport at check in for hotels, we were not asked for them the entire 2 1/2 weeks we were in the country. (Though we did carry copies with us.)

I just think that with so much confusion surrounding this issue, it's important to keep things as simple as possible.

No way am I leaving my passport, credits cards, and lots of cash in a hotel safe. Its in a neck pouch I carry with me the whole time.

neck pouches, money belts, bags that strangle you? Yikes. Make the copies (leave one at home with somebody you can call if something happens) and/or scan it and email it to yourself. I normally leave the copy on the safe and carry the passport with me. Then forget about it and have a great trip.

Are there many news stories about people getting strangled by their passport carriers? I'd be interested to read the details.

Is that question meant to be funny?

Ok...thanks for all the responses. Will so many opinions, I no longer feel so ignorant for asking!

Going to carry on my person in a zipped up travel wallet, in my fake coach purse slung over my body. will leave a copy in the hotel safe, and a copy with my mum, and a copy posted online. That should do it...I really need to travel more.

I carry a copy of my passport at all times. I leave my passport in the safe. I have never had a problem when asked for my passport and I had the copy to show them. I have always gotten my vat refund for France too! So maybe I am just lucky!

Robes, you crack me up.

Since I've only worn the waistband one, I'm curious as to the fatality rates due to people being cut in half by their moneybelts.

Jules

I think that a passport copy suffices for the refund -- or perhaps even just the passport number itself. I just can never remember my passport number, and I'm too lazy to make copies usually.

Most shops are eager to help you get your money back, so they're ok as long as you can tell them something reasonable. But as I said, I can't remember my passport number.