Your passport

I NEVER leave my passport with anyone.  I always carry a photo copy of the front page if someone wants to see it with some of my info (birthdate blacked out).

Bob K

Bob K wrote:

I NEVER leave my passport with anyone.  I always carry a photo copy of the front page if someone wants to see it with some of my info (birthdate blacked out).

Bob K

That's the way to do it and that's the way I do it! 

And I have never had a problem no matter where in the world we travel.
We just spent 4 month touring around Europe and NEVER had our passport with us. Always locked up in the safe where ever we were staying.

Bob K

I use a hidden wallet that sits in my trousers, attached to my belt or on a waist strap.
They are very difficult to get to without removing your trousers.
I still use one for my wallet now, mostly because I wander around potentially dangerous places, use crowded trains and so on.
I keep a smaller amount of cash in a neck wallet, but never show too much.
My passport and other documents I don't have to carry are in a safe, hidden in the house.

Back in the days when the iron curtain was still there i was required to leave my passport at the front desk of hotels (on the wrong side of the curtain) where I stayed and it was returned to me the next morning. No way to get a room without complying.

I didn't like it a bit but there was no way around it.

A few hotels in Malaysia did that the first year I went, but I refused. None pushed the point.
Thailand hotels have also tried it but the motorbike and jet ski hire insisted.
I see their point but I scrapped the deal rather than leave my passport.
It, as we've just seen, isn't worth the potential hassle.

mas fred wrote:

In the past, I've been asked to leave my passport as guarantee when hiring a car or motorcycle, even in some hotels - mostly in Thailand.

Hi Mas Fred,

Never give “your” passport to anyone except for authorities in your country.
Why?
The passport does not belong to you.  It belongs to the country which issued it and it has been lent to you for a limited period of time after which it may be renewed if you so wish.  Nobody has or owns passports.  The correct word is to say you ‘carry a passport with your name on it'.

If car renters (or other renters) require your passport to protect themselves against the risk of the rented item not being returned to them, the best way is firstly to show them a copy of the passport, allow them to make a copy of the front cover only which shows the issuing country and the passport number and lastly pay with your plastic card.

In St. Lucia I got to know several car and scooter renters who complained about too many write-offs they have to process.  Police calls them on Tuesday morning for abandoned cars (or scooters), some of which were involved in bad accidents, cars rented the previous Saturday.  The insurance kicks in but all that is unwelcome.

That's the risk of running a car (or other vehicle) rental business.   People who do not like risk should not get into too risky a business and not harass the people who keep them in business: the customers.

In St. Lucia everywhere you go, you need to produce two pieces of ID from among the ID, driver's license or passport because everybody wants to reduce the risk of impropriety.  The country is a small island where, even if laws are in place, it's difficult to catch the too many criminals (locals and itinerants).

There is always a balance in any dealing.  Make sure you are not at the losing end and do not allow anybody to abuse you.  Do not allow anybody to take you for a fool and you pay them for that .... 

Another way of reducing your risk of being abused is for you to rent mostly from large companies, not from the little guy who is more likely to mistreat you for his monetary benefit.

Showing a renter the copy of your passport and even giving him the copy of the front cover for him to keep shows that you are serious about your dealings and you are someone who is above the average person. 

Gary wrote:

Back in the days when the iron curtain was still there i was required to leave my passport at the front desk of hotels (on the wrong side of the curtain) where I stayed and it was returned to me the next morning. No way to get a room without complying.

I didn't like it a bit but there was no way around it.

You wont get a room in a French hotel without handing over your passport. It's a police requirement.

Bob K wrote:

And I have never had a problem no matter where in the world we travel.
We just spent 4 month touring around Europe and NEVER had our passport with us. Always locked up in the safe where ever we were staying.

Bob K

You were lucky then. In most countries in Europe it is a requirement that you carry identification with you. If there had been some sort of incident where your ID was asked for you would have been taken into custody till your passport had been produced. That would have been inconvenient and expensive. 

I have checked into hotels in France as recently as this summer and have NEVER handed over my passport. I may have had to show it at check in but it stayed in my possession ALL the time.

I never said we went around without ID. WE had our driver's lic (with picture) our Dominican ID card ( with picture) with us at all times.  So we had ID just only a small laminated copy of the front page of our passport.  We shrunk it down to Credit card size and then laminated it to carry it in our wallets.  Never walked around with our passports on a daily basis and like I said we spent 4 months touring around Europe.

Bob K

I'm with Bobk. I've spent months at a go in Germany carrying an Icelandic ID card and a US driver's license on a daily basis. Of course my passport was easily retrievable but I didn't carry it every day. Maybe I was lucky but I never once was asked by any authority for identification.

it may be courting danger but I'd rather not have my passport lost or stolen.

We were robbed of our passports many yeas ago in Costa Rica and it was pain in the ass getting it replaced.

Bob K

El_Jost wrote:

You wont get a room in a French hotel without handing over your passport. It's a police requirement.

It seems Europe is the place of mad people. 
They do not even speak of freedom anymore over there for fear not to lose their crappy jobs ... 

I can't even imagine how could anyone even dare to ask someone to leave their passport behind when it's considered one of the most important document you can't afford to lose!! A lost or stolen passport is too much of a hassle and it's not worth sacrificing one for a holiday. Why not ask for any other valuables instead as a guarantee?

souvida wrote:

I can't even imagine how could anyone even dare to ask someone to leave their passport behind when it's considered one of the most important document you can't afford to lose!! A lost or stolen passport is too much of a hassle and it's not worth sacrificing one for a holiday. Why not ask for any other valuables instead as a guarantee?

Hi Souvida,

1). Passports belong only to the issuing country. You do not own it and nobody can ask for safekeeping it.

2). You are correct: asking for valuables may render asking for passport as a guarantee useless.
But what valuables do people carry with them to be equal or exceed the value of the service rendered? 
If I go to Tokyo and need to rent a car, what valuable must I have in hand to match the value of the rented car?

If they need a guarantee then usually they will take an imprint of a credit card and put a hold on it for a certain amount until you check out or return the car. This is much more of a guarantee for the hotel or rental company.  Here they have your money if you run up a bill on them.

Bob K

Bob K wrote:

If they need a guarantee then usually they will take an imprint of a credit card and put a hold on it for a certain amount until you check out or return the car. This is much more of a guarantee for the hotel or rental company.  Here they have your money if you run up a bill on them.

Bob K

Bob,
I was joking about the car rental at paragraph 2)., but I was serious at paragraph 1).   

John C. wrote:

souvida wrote:

I can't even imagine how could anyone even dare to ask someone to leave their passport behind when it's considered one of the most important document you can't afford to lose!! A lost or stolen passport is too much of a hassle and it's not worth sacrificing one for a holiday. Why not ask for any other valuables instead as a guarantee?

Hi Souvida,

1). Passports belong only to the issuing country. You do not own it and nobody can ask for safekeeping it.

...............

Pardon my English.
I meant to say

1). Passports belong only to the issuing country. You do not own it and nobody may ask for safekeeping it.

English language allows for different meanings when saying 'can' or 'may'  ...

Did anyone have doubts that I don't know that?