I am traveling internationally for the first time in 3 weeks. My question is, I know you should take copies of your passport, license, etc...but should you carry the copies or the originals with you while you are sightseeing?

I've seen other posts & opinions vary. I keep the originals with me & stash the copies in case I need to replace the originals, which makes it easier.

Leave the copies at the hotel etc. Another safeguard is to scan the copies and email it to yourself (using a webmail address). That way you can always access it even if you lose everything.

There was a very long thread about this recently, I think on the Europe board. Opinion is fairly evenly divided. To some extent it depends on where you're staying and whether your hotel has a safe and how much you trust the safe. I usually don't have a safe, and I usually carry the original - IN A MONEY BELT under my clothes. In some places I also carry one of the copies in a more accessible place for use as ID - in Italy you need it for Internet cafes, for instance.

This question comes in about 50/50 on Fodor's forums, as to people who choose to carry their passport with them or people who leave it at the hotel safe and carry only a copy. It's a personal choice.

We also copy all our documents onto a memory stick, easy to carry with you at all times, just in case.

I have photocopies of passports with me as well.

i always keep copies of the following in each of my luggage:

1) passport
2) ticket
3) reservations confirmation
4) itinerary
5) credit card, travel insurance card
6) contact numbers (including embassy, airline)

a copy also goes to my email.

they've really come handy once when i lost my purse in seoul. since then, i never travel without them.

better be safe than sorry... try to minimise hassle, should the unwanted happens

Ooooh, love the ideas of sending copies to an email account, carrying a memory stick--hadn't thought of that, thank you.

We have always carried originals with us while sight seeing, etc., left copies at the hotel.

First international trip? You must be so excited--enjoy!