As a Britisher, whenever I travel in Europe I normally leave my passport at the hotel or wherever I'm staying, usually on the bedside table under a pile of coins that I always seem to bring with me in my wallet from the U.K. and my house keys. I've never put it in a safe and (perhaps luckily) have never had it pinched, lost or waylaid.

However, when I'm in the States I always have it in my trouser pocket, next to my wallet, as I apparently still look young enough to get ID'd if I fancy a drink. I've (thankfully) never lost it in the States either or had need of it urgently, other than for the purchase of an emergency mint julep.

Well we have a third option. I just carry them in my purse. (I like having them with us - so if anything happens you know at once - not find out 3 days after they disapper from a room safe.) And I don;t believe in money belts or neck tags or whatever people wear. I use a purse - just like at home - and have never had a problem in more than 70 trips to Europe.

Room safe or just hotel room. Copy in my purse. I have never needed a passport while staying in Europe other than to get on a plane.

What I do with my passport depends on how long I'm staying in one place.

Moving around a lot, just staying one or two nights: it stays in an inside zipper pocket of my messenger bag daypack.

Staying on one place for a while: I put it in my suitcase.

I've never put things in the hotel or room safe simply because I know I'd forget it. I do also tend to think that sometimes people are just paranoid about a hotel maid stealing their passport. Could an employee get into the room safes? Yes. Do they? Probably. Do I really think that one will and will take my passport? No.

An old airline crew trick for leaving things in your hotel safe is to put one of the shoes you plan on wearing in the safe with your valuables-you will remember everything the next morning when leaving,trust me!

As for carrying passports-sometimes in London and Paris they want to see your passport so that you can get the VAT papers done and money back at the department store ie Printemps,Harrods,etc.

Make copies of your passport and the front and back of your credit cards and keep them in the hotel safe. Hubby and I always keep our passports on us....feels safer to me.

I've never been pickpocketed from underneath my clothing.
I <i>have</i> been pickpocketed from my purse.
I <i>have</i> had small amounts of US cash stolen from backpack left in my hotel room.
So, I guess you can figure out which 'camp' I am in.

From the time I leave the USA to my return, I carry with me in my front pants pocket.

Mine is in my 'moneybelt' when I travel UNLESS the hotel has a good safe in the room.

For example, my next trip includes a stay at a Marriott in Paris. Having stayed at this hotel several times and having used the safe, that's where the passport will go while I am there (unless I decide to shop :) then it goes in the money belt, there's a Longchamp purse I want that would get me the VAT deduction so...:) )

Well, when I had a pedestrian accident in Rome, they needed my passport at the hospital. We had not carried them anywhere in Europe, but had left them in our hotel rooms. Fortunately, this was the day we were leaving Rome and had already checked out (leaving our bags at the hotel for later pickup), and so had the passport on me.

I suspect a copy would have been fine, though. So next trip, same gig. They stay in the hotel room in the luggage and a copy goes with us when we leave the hotel.

Have a wonderful trip!

Well as far as the UK goes, there is no requirement to carry passport or ID on you.

So it's entirely down to whether you fall into the 'if I leave it in the safe it might get stolen' camp or the 'if I carry it around it might get stolen/lost' camp.

Your only valid ID when you are overseas is your passport. Do you normally carry your drivers license with you (even when you don't plan to drive)? If so, why?

I rarely "need" my passport. I haven't been in a traffic accident or had any run ins with local police that prompted them to ask me for identification (true at home with drivers license too). I carry my passport because it's a lot better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

I normally carry mine with me on holiday. I'm glad I do, because in Switzerland travelling with a Swiss Pass I was asked for my passport my the train conductor. Only the once in nearly 40 years of going there. I like others perfer this I always know where it is.

We carry ours on our person all the time we are out of the hotel. I have needed it when making a large purchase with a credit card at the perfume shop at the Louve. Same at Harrods. I have a jacket with a hidden pocket that it fits in nicely. Wife has hers under wraps. I also have copy in my luggage and on my web site. My plane tickets are with my passport. Take them with us also.

I carry mine in my money belt under my shirt/top/blouse. It sometimes gets a little damp, but I always know where it is. I once left extra credit/debit cards in the hotel safe and naturally forgot them and was a hundred miles away before I remembered that I'd left them at the hotel.

I was told in the passport office that passports are sometimes stolen, so I feel safer with mine in my moneybelt.

In Barcelona, my sister's purse was stolen by a very clever thief. Fortunately she had given me her debit card and her passport to put in my moneybelt, so all she lost was the camera that was in the purse. Of course, the camera cost $700 to replace, so she didn't get home free.

At some time in our trip to Central Europe, my wallet disappeared. It may have been stolen, or I may just have lost it. I don't think I'd kept any money in it, but it did contain my driver's license, so I had to give up the idea of renting a car.

If in the winter, I usually wear a coat that has a combination zipper plus velcro closure. Just the right size for the passport and/or wallet. Velcro makes lots of noise, zippers always get stuck, so I have a hard time getting to it myself.

In the summer, I carry it in my front jeans pocket with my wallet and rotate them sideways. Once again, I have a tough time extracting either.

Oh, and I do the same if walking around NY or any other major place. I only do this because I'm sure I'll end up forgetting it when I check out.

dave

I just leave it in my room whether I'm staying in an apartment or a hotel. I've never used a hotel safe, not because I think employees steal from them but because I'm very much "out of sight out of mind" and I'm worried I would forget about anything I put into a safe. No one's asked me for ID so far, but maybe I should carry my passport in my purse next time I'm in Paris.

Other than checking in at a hotel or airport, I bet when asked for a passport in a shop, etc. what is really meant is 'please show an id' and not literally a passport. So leave it in your room or in a safe or in a money belt around your waist or neck, wherever you like, but do carry some form of identification.

This is a very interesting topic, & one my partner & I have just discussed.
We have Pacsafe bumbags http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php
but they tend to be a bit cumbersome, so we only wear them for airports & in places where pickpockets may be a problem.
Other than that passports sit with everything else in a money belt around our waist, but at the back out of the way.
I dont trust in room safes, have you ever forgotten the code?
The staff have no problem opening it for you.
We do carry backpacks with a numbered lock, and just flick over the top number for easy access.

I have a microfiber money belt that goes around my waist under my clothing. I keep my passport there, along with a photocopy in my luggage, and a back up scan that I can access from a computer--never thought to do that until my husband had a colleague who lost everything on a trip. Debit and credit cards go in the money belt, but I try to have enough cash in my pockets or purse to get me through a day. If I need my credit card it's a little bit of a hassle, but at least it's in a safe place. If my purse is stolen, the thief gets a little cash, a comb, lipstick, and band-aids :) I wear my camera around my neck (yes...I look like an American tourist)