where do you keep your passport?

Old Jul 13th, 2011, 05:17 AM
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where do you keep your passport?

I am just wondering when you travel, do you keep your passport with you or do you keep it in the hotel safe? I will be in Europe next month and I do not speak French. I have read quite a bit about pickpocketing and safety in Paris and other big cities in Europe. Thank you
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 05:20 AM
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I sometimes leave it in the safe and at other times take it with me (or just a copy with me). I always keep it in a ziplock so it doesn't get wet.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 05:34 AM
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My passport usually stays just in my suitcase, or occasionally in my handbag or camera bag.

It doesn't live in a safe at home and it is just as vulnerable there as when I am travelling. I tend to assume (maybe foolishly - but I have no evidence to the contrary) that hotel staff are honest and my room, once locked is as safe as my home is.
The same when staying in a holiday home - I have no idea who else has keys to the place, but I assume it is safe and those with keys are honest.

I have heard that the safes in hotel rooms are so easy to open and re-lock as to be pointless anyway.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 05:37 AM
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You should carry your passport all the time with you if it happens, that the police will controll you.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 05:42 AM
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I carry it in my purse. My own philosophy is not to do much of anything different when I'm traveling from what I do at home. Has worked for me on more than 100 trips to Paris, but I am not a paranoid traveler.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 06:17 AM
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I leave it in my suitcase. I have a scanned copy that lives in my internet email account so I can access and print it if I need it at any point during my trip. If I was traveling in an area of the world where I couldn't easily access an American embassy then I would probably secure it.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 06:24 AM
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We keep it with us unless there's a safe in the room. We keep scanned copies of the data page in our email account. We also keep copies of the same scanned page in every suitcase and carry on as well as in my money belt (a neat fabric folder that hangs off my belt and inside my pants). May be overkill but costs nothing.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 06:33 AM
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as long as we are having this conversation (again, but no problem) I'd like to know if anyone has ever had their passport stolen from their hotel roon - either from the safe or elsewhere.
I keep my passport in my luggage along with an extra credit card and some cash. I stay in mid-range hotels and have never had a problem. On the other hand I have been robbed on the metro in Barcelona and witnessed the ne'er do wells at work several times in Rome. At the beginning and end of my trips when I am transiting to the airport, often on public transportation, I am always a little nervous. Often I am still carrying the passport in my luggage and not my in handbag or backpack.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 06:36 AM
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"And here I sit so patiently,

Waiting to find out what price

You have to pay to get out of

Going through all these things twice."

-- Bob Dylan
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 07:59 AM
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I don't think this is one size fits all type of strategy. I match the strategy with the situation at hand.

1. Hotel safe solution is obviously useless on the day you have to have a passport with you such as the travel days.

2. Copy of a passport solution is not necessarily acceptable in all circumstances. I was demanded to show the real passport in Spain and in Germany.

Non travel days. The options here are: in room safe, luggage, front desk safe, or with you in a purse, a pocket, or a money belt. I have used them all depending on whether what I was doing that day was likely to require a real passport and a likelihood of a pick pocket especially when I was using a crowded city bus or a subway.

Travel days: I put real passport in my under the clothes neck pouch most of the time. When going through security intensive airports where I have to show the real passport many times before allowed to board a plane, I keep my passport in a zipped inside jacket pocket once I reach the check-in counter.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 08:11 AM
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I keep my passport (as well as extra credit and debit cards) in a money belt around my waist. My husband has his in a money belt that hangs around his neck.

I have read about thefts from hotel room safes, though never experienced it myself. And I've seen a handbag stolen by a thief riding by on a Vespa. (Always keep your handbag on your side away from traffic.)

But just going by personal experience doesn't mean anything. None of us has had that wide an experience.

And I think hetismij as a european underestimates how disoriented the combination of a long over-night flight plus jet-lag can make you. There you are, sleepy, half-lost, in a strange city, surrounding by people speaking a strange language with all the signs in that strange language. It's hard to be hyperalert in those circumstances. It takes me several days to recover 100%.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 09:02 AM
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My passport is n my purse at all times - if anything happens to it I want to know immediately - not find out it isn;ti n a safe when I'm leavng town.

Safeguarding your belonings from pickpockets is merely a matter of keeping them in a secure place (I have a special zip section inside y pure) and being alert and careful (NEVER let go of a p urse or wallet, don't leave on a chair in a restaurant or siting on a counter in a store. Hold at all times - and be aware of what is going on around you.
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Old Jul 13th, 2011, 09:59 AM
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On travel days, my passport is with me, of course. On non-travel days, it is generally in the hotel, either in the safe of stashed in my luggage with my extra cash and back up cards. I keep my DL and a copy of my passport with me at all times.

Like others have said, there is no fool-proof one-size-fits-all solution. It's all about minimizing risk and doing what makes sense for each individual.

I figure that the chances of the passport disappearing from my hotel room are a lot less that getting hit by a pickpocketer or purse snatcher. I am pretty vigilant about my stuff, but I figure sooner or later I will have my guard down at the wrong time or encounter some thieves that are really good.

If I have an incident with the authorities in which they need to see my actual passport, then it can be gotten from the hotel.

Money belts are great for people who can use them, but I think I am just too short to wear any under-clothing safes. I've never been able to make them work for me.
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Old Jul 14th, 2011, 02:40 AM
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When I'm travelling in Europe I normally leave my passport on a table in my hotel room, under a pile of Sterling coins that I've forgotten to empty out of my wallet, next to my house/car keys that I don't see the need to schlep around in my pocket whilst I'm out sight seeing.

Never had a problem anywhere in I don't know how many trips.

The only place I take my passport out with me at all times is when I'm in the States, as I'm fortunate enough to look younger than my years and never know when I might fancy a drink. A passport seems to be the only piece of ID that everyone accepts as proof of age in the U.S.

There was however one bouncer who told me (on production of my passport) that "it'll do for this time, but I'll need a driver's licence next time". I never did find out why a passport wasn't quite good enough...
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Old Jul 19th, 2011, 11:37 AM
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It lives in my wallet. Always. Ever since the time I turned up at the airport without it.
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Old Jul 19th, 2011, 11:49 AM
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My passport is with me 99% of the time. The only time it's not with me is in the shower. (Maybe I should put it in a plastic baggie and take it with me into the shower also).

In the past, it would be in a moneybelt worn around the waist, but that's really cumbersome.

Nowadays, it's in one of the pockets of my Scottevest or else in a secret zippered pocket inside the regular pants pocket.
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Old Jul 19th, 2011, 12:49 PM
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We are going to Russia in Sept and a few sights don't allow purses, etc. but require passports for ID. Although we have pouches, I bought "passport" socks. They have a zippered pouch deep enough for the passports.

We rent apartments, so generally leave the passports there as no one has daily entry.
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Old Jul 19th, 2011, 05:19 PM
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My passport is on my body at all times in a pocket of my t-shirt under my regular shirt.
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Old Jul 19th, 2011, 05:39 PM
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I only carry my passport on travel days. The rest of the time it stays in the hotel or rental.
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