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Carrying your Passport
I'd be interested in hearing the pros and cons of keeping your passport with you (in a secure RFID money belt) or leaving in the hotel/ships safe while sightseeing.
We did the French Waterways tour last year. Of course we needed ours checking into the hotel in Paris and when boarding the ship, but the rest of the time we kept ours in the ship's safe until departure from the tour.
We're going on the Rhine/Moselle cruise this year and I'm mainly concerned about the time sightseeing in Amsterdam before the cruise starts. Better to leave it in the hotel room"s safe or on me?
We did the French Waterways tour last year. Of course we needed ours checking into the hotel in Paris and when boarding the ship, but the rest of the time we kept ours in the ship's safe until departure from the tour.
We're going on the Rhine/Moselle cruise this year and I'm mainly concerned about the time sightseeing in Amsterdam before the cruise starts. Better to leave it in the hotel room"s safe or on me?
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How Do You Keep Your Passport Safe While Traveling?
Airports
When in transit through airports where security is ultra-high, I keep my passport in my handbag or in the most accessible compartment of my daypack.
Since airports are generally secure, I don’t worry about placing it in an anti-theft product.
When on board the flight itself, I keep my daypack stowed underneath the seat in front of me or hidden underneath my clothing (if necessary).
What’s a daypack?
A daypack is the personal item you choose to pack other than your main luggage. This can be a small backpack, large travel purse, or small carry-on bag. Learn more about the best day packs.
On Trains and Land Transportation
This is the ONLY time I carry my passport on me when I travel.
When I’m on land transportation and won’t need to show my passport, I have it safely hidden within my daypack. If I’m traveling in a part of the world where theft is a common occurrence, I use underwear with hidden pockets. I like these cute boyshort-style travel undies by the Clever Travel Companion.
Alternatively, this is the best scenario in which you’d use a money belt such as this one to store your passport (if you didn’t have underwear with pockets).
In this situation, you would not sightseeing but only going from point A to B, from one accommodation to the next.
Never ever ever store your passport, money, or credit cards in baggage that will be stowed underneath a bus or in the luggage section of the train.
It’s most common that your luggage will get stolen on land transportation so always keep your valuables on you or hidden deep in your carry-on in this situation.
Border Crosssings By Land
If I am crossing a border via land, I use EXTRA caution as some border crossings can be very shady.
Make sure to hide your passport on your body using travel underwear or a money belt at all times! Just remove it when needed to show the border patrol officer as discreetly as possible.
Sightseeing
My passport is ALWAYS locked in my bag at the hotel while I’m sightseeing. Thankfully, this strategy has worked for me during my 6 years of full time travel through 36 countries.
I’ve heard countless times where travelers lose their passports when they’re out at big festivals or street fairs. This is the time when you’d most want to leave your passport in your accommodation because you would be a prime target in events where there is a large quantity of people in close quarters.
I’ve also heard stories about passports getting stolen out of trouser pockets. If you insist on taking your passport out sightseeing with you; keep it hidden under your clothing by using a money belt or travel underwear with pockets. Some travelers prefer neck wallets to hide their passport such as this silk option by Eagle Creek.
Please Note: money belts are to be used only for things you don’t need access to. Keep the cash you’ll need for the day in a wallet and don’t dig into your money belt in public – that defeats the purpose – I see travelers doing this all the time making them an easy target.
Will Your Passport Be Safe In Your Hotel Room?
Remember, while not 100%, most thefts occur from convenience.
It’s more unlikely that a thief will take your entire suitcase out of your room than your cash or credit cards. Hotels don’t want to have a bad rep so a less obvious theft is easier to deny versus an entire suitcase that suddenly disappears.
Avoid theft by using a suitcase with lockable zippers AND locks that can’t easily be pried open.
Yes, there are ways to break zippers and sneak into bags but again, if you don’t have a hotel safe or don’t feel comfortable leaving your passport with reception (if it’s an option) then all you can do is making it more difficult for a thief to break into your bag.
It is more likely a thief will try to open an unlocked bag than risking getting caught taking time to break into a locked suitcase.
What About General Photo Identification?
While I’ve hardly ever needed to show photo identification in my six years of travel, I do carry my California State ID on me at all times in case of an emergency.
PLEASE NOTE: these tips aren’t 100% full-proof and neither is an anti-theft device. However, you can do your best to prevent a theft by exercising caution and following these tips.
Claudia, we have always done what Tauck tells you to do. Make a copy of the front page of the passport, then we laminate it and my husband carries the actual passports and I carry the two laminated pages. When I need to have my actual passport, he gives it me, like passing through security. When we arrive at our hotel, the passports go in the safe and we carry the laminated page each from our passports and of course our drivers liscenses around with us. We each take two credit cards and a bank card, driver's liscense and American health insurance cards. All those other cards like Costco cards and loyalty cards stay at home. We don't have lots of credit cards anyway.
Last year, for the first time ever when we were on safari, we were asked to carry all our valuables with us each day, just for the safari, even when we were going to be returning to the same camp. I think this was in case we suddenly had to all exit these remote areas, maybe it was for high security alerts, I have no idea, it made our day bags heavy because we had ipads and the like in them.
We have money belts which we wore tucked into out pants. My husbands is the inexpensive type with RFID built in and mine is silk so I have a separate sleeve for my passports/credit cards. Didn't have any problem wearing them, but they are a bit awkward if you do actually need something from them.
For sightseeing, I also have a Pacsafe small cross body purse with steel cables, RFID shielding and extra locking on the main zipper. Non valuable things like tissues, lip gloss, etc go in the outer zippered pocket. A small zippered bag with my credit cards, ID and some spending money is attached to the key ring fob on the inside and tucked into the RFID pocket. That way I don't have to worry about it falling to the ground. My smart phone, which I used only for photos, was in a case with a lanyard around my neck or wrist when in use, but otherwise inside the zippered main compartment which had double locks.
Had a strange experience in Avignon. My husband and I were walking down the street near where you can buy Provencal linens and 2 local men were chatting. One saw us approaching and started toward us. Then stopped and continue talking. I have to wonder if he saw the Pacsafe, realized we weren't easy marks and didn't bother following.
As I said, on the cruise anything not needed that day was kept in the safe and I'll probably do the same in the hotel.
Richard
I have a copy of my passport and should never be far enough away from my hotel or the ship on the cruise.
If any authorities want to see the original they can accompany me to where the original is. Personally I also see no reason to laminate a copy, just make a couple of extra copies to begin with.
Thanx all.
I would be reluctant to e-mail a copy of my passport or put it in the cloud. E-mail and cloud accounts can get hacked. If you're accessing you e-mail through a hotel computer or an open network in a hotel or coffee shop, your password may get stolen. If you put the image in a Word file and password protect it before mailing, that would be better.
Personally, I keep a hard copy in my luggage. If you really want an electronic copy, I'd keep a password protected copy on a thumb drive.
Ken
Leave the passport locked in the safe.
List of the SCHENGEN countries.
There has been a lot of discussion on this forum about the dangers of having your passport info stolen by a criminal remotely reading the info on the imbedded RFID chip. There are vendors just waiting for you to buy their RFID-safe pouches, wallets, pocket liners, etc., etc. I have done a lot of research on this topic and this is what I found:
- US passport covers have a built-in RFID shield so the RFID chip can only be read when the passport is open and only when it is being interrogated by the proper equipment that has been properly coded (at a passport control station.)
- While it is technically possible, it is quite an involved process to intercept, record, decrypt, and use passport RFID information. Both signals, the interrogation signal from passport reader and the reply from the RFID chip must be intercepted and recorded. This can only be done from fairly short range (a few feet away.) The thief must have the proper receiver and storage device (laptop) to intercept and collect the signals at the moment the passport is being scanned by the customs official. Then the thief must spend what could be many hours processing and analyzing the signals to separate them from the background noise and from each other, before attempting to decrypt the signal.
- If he is successful doing all this without getting caught, then he must use the info to create or buy a good counterfeit passport. He then would use that to request a new card or your Social Security number which he can attempt to use to open new credit accounts in your name and buy items for himself on credit until the credit card company cancels the card for non-payment. It can be a long, difficult, and expensive path that is not without hazards. The payoff may not justify the effort and potential expense.
- It is much easier for him to just steal your physical passport.
- With the exception of non-contact express cards (and fobs), standard credit cards and the new chip and pin cards do not operate on RFID (or near-field communications) principles and are immune to being remotely interrogated.
I have been doing more reading about this lately since our credit card companies have updated our credit cards to chip/pin versions. Was about to buy a new wallet but now see no need.
I did buy a Pacsafe crossbody bag last year that has RFID built into it. It also has steel cables in the strap and built into the bag, as well as, an extra lock on the main zipper so I think it was still worth purchasing to help foil thieves. Can't prove it, but I believe it persuaded a would be thief in Avignon from bothering us.