[SwiftyBug]

I thought you shouldn't leave your passport in the hotel room. Shouldn't we be carrying our passports at all times while traveling abroad, as it is the only valid identification on us? I never worried about where to leave the passport because it's always with me in a money belt inside my pants.

[schoen]

I've been told to carry a photocopy of your passport. If you're stopped by police and they insist on seeing the real thing for some reason (like to check your visa), you can tell them what hotel you're staying at and they can take you back there to get it.

While police might be annoyed by this, you may be unlikely to encounter a situation in which it's necessary at all, and it probably won't endanger you unless you're in a place where police habitually try to extort foreigners, in which case it could provide a new pretext for extortion.

The best advice probably varies by country, depending on local crime patterns and also on the attitudes of local authorities to visitors (or to visitors like you).

[thorin]

Every I've been at a reasonable hotel with a safe I've left my passport in the safe and I've also had a copy of it somewhere on my person or luggage. I also emailed a scan of it to myself. I've travelled a bit around all the continents going back to mid 90s.

The biggest issue I had when I got my passport stolen in Costa Rica was not getting my British temporary passport reissued, that was relatively straightforward. It was waiting in line to get an ESTA to transit the US on the return flight. Felt sorry for all the local guys in line to get their document processed. It was annoying because I didn't want to leave the airport in Florida or wherever I was transiting.

I remember in Nepal kayaking and basically taking all of our valuables on my body while on the river as we weren't sure we'd ever see our bus/driver again. This suspicion was actually proved valid when our bus was subjected to a minor terrorist attack!

[interactivecode]

yes you are required to have it on you at all times, it's not just for border crossings. It's the only valid id outside of your own country.

[schoen]

But not every country requires people to carry IDs at all times, and even countries that do may not punish tourists for having some other form of ID plus a willingness to retrieve their passports if necessary.

[ourmandave]

This was definitely true when I stayed at the Castle Wolfenstein Airbnb.

[kingofpandora]

That's not at all true.