Comments on: Dude, Is That A Passport In Your Pants, Or Are You Just Happy To See Me? (Citation: CLB)

By: Logan J Travis

Logan J Travis — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:47:19 +0000

Thank you for the information Dr. Carr. I found some information suggesting my phone should work (it’s a world band phone). However, as you suggest that “should” creates enough doubt to warrant physical copies.

By: Chris Carr

Chris Carr — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:33:01 +0000

Logan,

Don’t know your plan for having cell/phone internet connection for China or India, but I would play it safe. Take/keep a paper copy on you as it’s light, easy to fold and keep in your pocket, etc. You correctly note that access to Internet could be a problem, not so much for Great Firewall reasons, but connectivity reasons when you are out and about.

By: Logan J Travis

Logan J Travis — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:33:22 +0000

Has anyone looked into if authorities might accept a digital copy of our visas? I see a few comments about using email accounts to store scans. However, I really don’t want to rely on my ability to access the Internet (much less a connection to my Gmail through The Great Firewall) while being questioned by authorities. If I could instead store an image on my smartphone or a flash drive that they could easily view… I’ll do a little looking to see if its an option.

By: Cece Reyes

Cece Reyes — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 04:15:39 +0000

There are always many options, but never a best one. A few travel stories to assist the decision - copies at home, on the internet, wherever you can access them in case of emergency:

In Africa, a friend was almost left behind at the border crossing from as we were returning from Malawi through Mozambique to Zimbabwe because our airline tickets were in a friend’s apartment in Harare. They took credit cards to guarantee that 2 of us would eventually depart Zimbabwe - the other person, they wanted to see his ticket and it was hours until that situation was resolved and we all made it back to Harare. Good advice to keep copies even if you don’t travel around with the real thing.

Even if you have the original stashed on your body - keep a copy with you just in case it will suffice. Better not to let an overzealous official take your passport and review it for hours before handing it back and letting you cross a border. Show them the copy first.

In Guatemala, my sister had a sneezing fit and someone grabbed her wallet, passport and all. Luckily we had left photocopies at home and mom was able to fax a copy to the US Embassy but it was a long day of hassles in Guatemala City. And now she has a funny-looking and very thick passport with big statements saying it is a replacement and was issued out of the country, etc…good souvenir I suppose.

My sister had lots of bad luck - on a city bus in Guatemala City a guy knifed through her front jacket pocket but stopped when she turned to look at him. It wasn’t until we got off that she realized what had happened and, luckily, nothing was taken.

In most of my travels I either stayed with relatives or friends of friends and would leave my passport behind when going out for the day. When traveling around I never stayed anywhere nice enough to have a safe…so I would just keep the passport in a secure place on my body. I too feel more comfortable keeping it on me instead of thinking about the what ifs back at the hotel.

In Peru - we were robbed near Cuzco - crazy antique looking guns but who is going to question if they work? My mom had her original passport, but I was about fluent at the time and screamed for them to give me the passport and the guy threw it at me. I had my original stuff in a backpack, and after they looked for my neck/body pouch I was able to pull my stuff out and stash it in my pants. All they got was a bad digital camera. Everything else we had on us was photocopies.

Just take precautions and hope for the best!

By: Andrew Welborn

Andrew Welborn — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:19:54 +0000

I am also fairly trusting and because I haven’t traveled abroad I have no idea what to expect. I will be in need of some reminders to be paranoid about getting my stuff stolen. I feel like having a copy will do the trick if I get questioned. I plan on trying to carry just the copy around, unless there is no safe place to keep my passport when I am out. Otherwise, I feel like the underclothes money belt option is best even if it is somewhat inconvenient or uncomfortable.

By: Ashley Breneman

Ashley Breneman — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:27:11 +0000

After listening to the talk in the pre-departure session, I agree that the best option is to carry a copy of my passport and travel visa with me. Another option would be to get one of those “fanny packs” ( I don’t know what they are really called, but I know a lot of people get them to carry their important stuff in and they fit under your shirt so they can’t be stolen). However, given the circumstances, I would rather take the chance of them not accepting the copies since I can always have them follow me to the hotel to see the actual copy. I don’t know about anyone else, but I definitely do not want to spend my time at the embassy!

By: Jamie Hastings

Jamie Hastings — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:04:44 +0000

Front pocket has always worked pretty good for me. However, I have seen some pretty good pick pockets in places like European subways and Africa. Those people (and most often kids) have talent. I wouldn’t totally put it by them, but front pockets are probably pretty tough to get into.

By: Matt Eves

Matt Eves — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:27:24 +0000

I misplace things all the time. It is good we are discussing issues like this so we have the best trip possible. I’ve been in some pretty sketchy places abroad, Columbia being the worst, but because we were prepared I felt safe and consider it one of the best trips of my life. I think we all want to be able to focus on the opportunities at hand instead of dealing with Passport complications and theft. Maybe we could give a copy of our passports to our roommates? (that could end up disastrous if you use your imagination). Anyway, check out this link, I found it very useful… the better prepared we are before going the more peace we will have and the ability to make the most of our trip! US Dept. of State Travel Tips

By: Alex vanDalen

Alex vanDalen — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 06:21:59 +0000

I always keep my documents on me. In some countries they hold your passport at the hotel in which you are staying. This has always made me quite uncomfortable as i do not trust hotel staff in the least. Especialy when traveling on one of those blue yankee passports that stand out like a sore thumb these days. If your are doing something active, ie river rafting or jaunting about a certain area for a while then it would make sense to find a safe place to stash your documents, but i never feel comfortable unless they are kept under the watch of someone I trust.
I’m traveling to Russia post Chindia and am more concerened about traveling with documents/ getting robbed there than in China or India. But as others have commented… I feel it is better to know where your papers are and to have access to them at all times.
A quick rant :
Wouldn’t it be nice to do away with all the passport and visa nonsense in the world?… capital, information, and labor (internet outscourcing.. see India blog posts) are crossing borders with little or no restrictions these days… its high time people were able to do the same. I recomend people facilitate this personaly by getting more than one passport if possible. In fact… start collecting them. Easy alteratives to one’s own country are Belize and Bangladesh, with a small investment these and certain other countries with gladly grant you citizenship. Multi -nationalism has many advantages in our increasingly interconnected world.

By: Xiaofei Song

Xiaofei Song — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 05:15:10 +0000

This seems not really related to me, but I never take it with me anyway. I never even take my ID with me when I am in China. It is not because I am afraid someone will stole it, I am just a massy person, always lose something. I think people are more interested at your money than your passport, so my suggestion is dont put them together!