Yes, Definately make photo copies of your passport.
Black & White ONLY! NO Color. Embassy requirement.
The copy must be crystal clear and sharp!
Keep one in your file cabinet at home, under &quotassport".
Cary two copies on tour. 1 in daypack and one in main luggage.
Give one copy to parents or best friend when you travel. If you loose everything or get everything stolen, your parents or friends can fax a copy to nearest Embassy or Consulate. Paperwork goes so much faster if you have a copy. If you get asked for I.D. at a nightclub, show copy. If they ask you, tell them original passport is in safet deposit box at hotel front desk.

Good advice from Packer.

You can also scan and send it to your email inbox. That way, you have a password-protected copy anywhere in the world that has internet access.

Yes, definitely copy all necessary papers (passport, airplane tickets, travel cheques)

Rothie-
Copies are your friends! Definitely make at least 3, for the people that the others suggested. The email idea is a good one, as is the advice to scan copies of your other documents and keep them in an online email account.

I don’t know how it is now, but when I was in Spain and France in 1998, you were required to leave your passport with the hostel in which you were staying. Don’t ask me why they kept them – I don’t know under what authority they did – but they did.

The mention of my 98 trip is now making me feel old. I spent my 23rd birthday in Madrid, now I’m going to celebrate my 30th this year in Firenze.

A little tipsy in Amsterdam…no, no, no. You go to the neighborhood pub to feel a little tipsy. You go to Amsterdam for things you can’t really do in other places.
-Angela

you should allways have a copy of your passport! I also have a laminated copy that has come in quite useful. I’ve had it since 98 and it still goes with me so it could be worth the $1.50 kinkos charges to laminate a copy.
It’s not unusual for hostels to keep you PP for deposit and there are many cases when I would rather leave mine behind (in a safe place) but if you don’t have at least a copy with you and get in trouble it Will be worse.

You do NOT need a copy of your passport in order to get an emergency passport from a US embassy. They have their own data bases.

I wonder why people say you need this?

Also, keep in mind that in some countries you need to carry your passport with you at all times. That’s not the case in Holland, though you do need to have some form of ID with you now (I’m sure copies will do), but e.g. in Belgium you could get in big trouble with the police if you don’t have your passport.

Wow, I though we are the only police-ruled state in Europe ! Seraphim, does this rule applies for foreigners only or it is also true for Belgians?

There are talks afoot here in the UK for every citizen to carry an ID card, this means that if you are in an accident the Police know exactly who you are, so keeping this in mind travellers may be required to carry a form of ID with them at all times, please note though the act hasn’t been passed, it all depends if Tony Blair is brave enough to take yet another step in to the right, so this probably wont apply for at least 2-3 years yet.
Joe

Yes, that is the case for everyone over the age of 15, Belgian or not.

i need a passport for my brother to go to London nest week how do i do that help me now

Jerome, which country?

Here it is for the USA: http://travel.state….

Many places require you to leave your passport when you check into hotel/hostel. Depending on where you are they check your passport info in with the police. Don’t be alarmed it is often the norm in Europe to have to hand over your passport when checking in somewhere.

By all means photcopy your passport. It will expedite things if you lose it or if it gets stolen. I also carry a list of Canadian embassy phone numbers for the various countries/cities I’ll be staying in.

If you need a passport ASAP before you depart Canada don’t go to the passport office instead call you MP…they can can get you one in a day or two!

I hate giving over my passport to hotel clerks…Once a hotel tried to charge me fees that I never incurred, They refused to give back passport until I paid up! Now I usually carry a fake passport to give to hotel clerks (fake passports are easily obtainable online or at your local head shop). I have a fake one “from” the Solomon Islands. The hotel clerk won’t know if its fake because (A) he’s probably never seen a real passport form the Solomon Islands and (B) there’s probably no one from the Solomon Islands staying at the hotel/hostel for him to compare it to (Ha!). Also if I get robbed, I’ll hand over the fake passport and keep the real one. Finally I know a few Americans who carry fake passport for security reasons…terrorits have been now to target U.S. tourists, having a fake passport from a neutral country could save your life. (i.e. no hates people from the Solomon Islands!)

Note: Don’t try using a fake passport at any government office, airline counter, etc.

I agree. Make a copy of your passport as well as your credit cards, drivers license, etc… Basically, if it is important, make a copy.

If you are from the US then ‘technically’ I believe it is illegal to make a copy of your passport, but if it is on a sheet of white paper and is not done in color, you should be fine. I believe it is illegal because they don’t want you try to make a ‘look-alike’ passport. For your situation, I think it is very common, but keep in mind that you probably wont want to show it to someone with authority unless you need to.

What you need to do is make a black and white copy of your passport, I made 3. when I got drugged and mugged in Rome, I had my passport along with 200 euros stolen. All you have to do is go to the police station and file a report, then take that along with your other info to the embassy and they will give you a new one. Took me about an hour, and 90% of that time was filling out paperwork. Oh and it costs a hundred bucks American, and when you get home you simply mail that passport in and they give you a new 10 year passport for free…

Be warned though if you get a temp passport from the embassy you will be scrutinized forever by border police in every country. They will ask you why you have a temp and so on and so forth. But in the end they always let ya enter the country

@jeffstravels: That sucks, sorry dude… Very good information for the rest of us if we happen to fall upon similar circumstances though.

It could have been worse…you could have been drugged and mugged and woken up in Bari

I know it could have been much worse so I don’t complain, it all worked out, all I lost was some money, a passport. But on the upside I have a cool story to tell people about! Although it wasn’t cool at the time!

How did you get drugged?