kerouac

I never carry my passport around. The only passports that I have ever lost or had stolen were on me. I've never had anything taken out of a hotel room or apartment.

Passerine

I carry an original official ID with me at all times. While traveling between countries (on the train from Basel to a city in Germany or France, for example,) my passport is with me. While in those countries, I leave my passport in the hotel safe but I do carry my official Swiss ID card with me (and not a photocopy).
I have been asked to produce my official ID on a couple of occasions even though I'd done nothing suspicious. The American tourists carrying only photocopies got severe lectures before being let off. A few dodgy characters were hauled away.

LSky

Usually I carry it. I'll be so glad when passports are the size of credit cards.

Christina

I think it's just your own personal comfort level and opinion about where you feel it is safer or more likely to get lost/stolen. Sometimes I carry it and sometimes I don't, but I don't consider myself prone to pickpockets or careless. By contrast to others, I distrust a hotel safe more than a room safe, probably. Lots more people have access to that, that's my thinking. As long as the room safe is working properly in terms of you setting your combination (which I always check) and it being secured bolted, I trust it more. I do understand the idea of forgetting you have something in it, though, I could see that.

I don't carry it or not due to fear of being arrested and the idea that some police states stop people in the streets and ask for ID.

kerouac

You will never get a consensus on this subject of course.

But you also won't get many stories of people proving that they were right or wrong in their passport management.

adeben

I do understand that folks on this branch are not necessarily a normal, or wide, or large sample of European travellers, but they do form a sample at least. From that sample, however small or unrepresentative it may be, there has been once again a NIL response to the question I asked re a passport being stolen from a European hotel, which is exactly the same response as was received previously. If such were a likely, as distinct from a possible, danger, then I would have expected at least ONE report of a stolen passport, complete with details of when or where. That said, I don't mind or care whether folks carry their passports at all times if that makes them feel more secure: however the reason sometimes given that the passport might be stolen from the hotel seems not to be borne out in practice.

Hans

Just one thing to add: if someone wants identification in Europe, it normally means something official with a photo. In most cases a driving license will suffice and that fits easily into a wallet.

yiassas

I have a UK passport & live in Greece. I always have mine in my bag (supposed to have it on me), my husbands' has to be in the car when driving, along with all other documents.
So, all the time we've lived here having it stolen or losing it has not happened, but having to produce it has, on numerous occasions. A routine police check while driving (& yes, they do stop hire cars), plus more & more places require it when using a credit/debit card to pay. The needing to produce it when you pay by card has increased a fair bit over the last 6 months.

P_M

It's hard to answer this question as I tend to go with my gut depending on where I am. I would prefer to leave it in a hotel safe but I don't always do that because I know for a fact that at least SOME hotel workers can open the room safe. The reason I know this is I've seen them do it. A few months ago I was in Turkey and the person who had the room before me locked the safe before checking out. I called the desk to tell them my safe is locked and I can't get it to open. They sent a guy to my room and he opened it in a jiffy. I'm not saying every hotel worker knows how to do this but it can be done.

Therese

I carry my passport with me at all times, traveling abroad or not. I even occasionally use it for identification purposes in the U.S., typically because it can be a bit difficult to get my driver's license out of the little plastic-front pocket in my wallet so if somebody wants to carry it some distance (to another cash register, for instance) or needs to see the back then I just use my passport instead.

Therese

"From that sample, however small or unrepresentative it may be, there has been once again a NIL response to the question I asked re a passport being stolen from a European hotel, which is exactly the same response as was received previously."

Since I don't (usually) leave my passport in hotel safes I can't address your question, adeben. But I will say that I'm more concerned about the possibility of my inadvertently forgetting to retrieve my passport from the hotel safe than its being stolen. Sure, it would still be secure back in the safe, but that would be very cold comfort if I arrived at the airport without it and consequently missed my flight (and possibly had to pay an enormous penalty to be re-booked).

kerouac

I just keep my passport in my travel bag probably mixed with my underwear. No chance of forgetting it in the safe!

There is far less interest in stealing the sophisticated new passports than the primitive ones of 20 years ago.

luv2cthings

Like P_M, sometimes I keep it on my person, sometimes I keep it in the hotel room safe. It depends on a multiple of factors, but other than when I think I may need it for some reason, I am usually more comfortable not carrying it around.

P_M

"There is far less interest in stealing the sophisticated new passports than the primitive ones of 20 years ago."

kerouac, that makes a lot of sense. In today's world it might be easier for a bad guy to create a new passport than to alter an existing one. I still have all of my passports going back to ones issued in 1980 and 1985. On those passports my picture is glued to the page and could easily be peeled off and replaced. Today's passports are not so simple to alter.

mari5

Yes,,, many times here on Fodors,,,,but seems this response usually comes out about 50 / 50 ! No right or wrong,, whatever feels comfortable.
MY vote is: always carry real passport with you. I have a purse, zipperd section and purse hugged around my shoulder.
Always good to not be separated from our passport. A copy is in our suitcase. Lived overseas 5 years, didn't carry it on a day to day basis....but knew it was safe in our own home.
Traveling is another story.!

AS with so many things,,,,half yea, half nay!

Robespierre

1. All hotel safes can be opened by the hotel. (If you think they can't, you're not thinking clearly.)
2. Not all hotel employees are honest. (If you think they are, you're PollyAnna.)

2 + 2 = ?

Dukey

The fact that all hotel safes can be opened by the hotel is not the same as all hotel safes WILL BE opened by the hotel.

Not all hotel employees are honest. So? Does this mean they will all converge on Robes's room to steal the passport of the Century?

Somehow in this case 2+2 seems to add up to zero help-wise.

Fra_Diavolo

Well, I have a little bit of evidence to offer.

I used to be a State Department FSO. I served as a vice consul thee years. In that time, I replaced a great many passports which had been lost or "stolen." Not one of these had been lost or stolen from a hotel room. Plenty had been lost to pickpockets and purse snatchers, though.

The loss of a passport is a serious matter, but, in the end, it is only a document. You haven't lost your nationality or identity. You will get home. You will get another passport.

Personally, I leave my passport in my hotel room, in a safe if they have one, in my luggage or a convenient pocket if not.

I was robbed once, in a Paris hotel. They went through my jacket pockets and stole a $500 Traveler's Check. They ignored the passport.

Palenque

I am usually riding trains with my railpass and then you may always be asked to produce your passport to check that you are not using someone else's pass - not sure how a photocopy would fly.

Recently in Berlin's main train station i was asked by Police to show my passport, which they read electronically - can't do that with a photo copy - i always carry my passport with me except in the few cases where a hotel will demand i leave it there - kind of a security deposit i guess.

40 years of euro travel - never been victimized by crime - knock on wood - and always carry my passport in a money belt under my belt.

bdjtbenson

Considering your passport is the only legal ID you have while in Europe, yes.

I also carry mine in my money belt.