Where Do You Keep Your Passport When Traveling?

A longtime OMAAT reader posed an interesting question about traveling with a passport:

I’m about to travel outside of the US and usually when I do, I always carry around my passport with me everywhere I go. As someone who frequently travels outside of the United States, I’m curious if you always have your passport on you or if you are comfortable leaving it at a hotel/Airbnb? 

I figured I’d share my take here, and then I’m curious to hear what approach others take.

I tend to not carry my passport around

I’m not suggesting others should do this, but rather am sharing my own experience. If I’m traveling internationally, I’ll almost always leave my passport in the hotel room (or wherever I’m staying), and don’t move around with it. While I often adjust my policies depending on where in the world I am, this is something I’m pretty consistent about.

There are only two exceptions, really. One is if I’m doing shopping, where showing your passport may be required in order to get a VAT refund. The other is if I’m going somewhere that requires identification, and/or I’m doing some day-long trip where there’s the potential for something to go wrong.

Now, I do always keep a picture of my passport on my phone, in case I need it, for whatever reason. So, why do I choose not to carry my passport with me? For one, I think my odds are worse of losing the passport if I have it on me, rather than if I leave it in my hotel room (hotel room theft isn’t something I’m terribly concerned about, personally).

When moving around with your passport, there’s always the risk of getting robbed or pickpocketed, and for that matter, you can also just easily lose something that’s in your pockets. I’ll take it a step further — I try to leave my hotel room with as few belongings as possible. I’ll usually have two credit cards, an ATM card, a small amount of cash, and my phone.

While a mild tangent, I should also mention that I’m basically 90% an athleisure guy when it comes to what I wear. I recently made the switch from lululemon to Alo Yoga, and I love how the latter has pockets with zippers on most pants and shorts, which gives me a lot of peace of mind when moving around, that stuff doesn’t accidentally fall out.

I’ve encountered my fair share of issues when traveling, though I’m lucky that I’ve never had an issue with losing or misplacing my passport… knock on wood.

I understand why others hold onto their passport

While I basically never carry my passport around with me, let me also acknowledge that I understand why others choose to do so. You don’t want to lose your passport in a foreign country, and many have more of a sense of security if they have their passport on them, rather than leaving it behind.

I should also mention that at least officially, some countries do require you to have your passport with you at all times. For example, the US Department of State page for Japan states the following:

“You must carry your U.S. passport or Japanese Residence Card (Zairyu Kado) with you at all times. In Japan, you may be taken in for questioning if you do not have your passport or Japanese residence card to show your identity and status in Japan (e.g., as a visitor, student, worker, or permanent resident).”

Now, I actually didn’t know about this until I started researching this topic for the purpose of this post. Perhaps in addition to carrying a photo of my passport, I should also carry a photo of the entry stamp into a country. Then again, in my many years of traveling this has never once been an issue, so I guess it’s working out okay for me.

Bottom line

When traveling internationally, there’s no right or wrong answer as to whether you’re better off carrying your passport around with you or leaving it in your hotel room. Personally I generally leave it behind, unless I’m going shopping or have some other activity where I think ID will be required.

Yes, there’s some risk of a passport being stolen from your hotel room (or wherever you’re staying), but in my opinion that risk is less than that of it being stolen or lost while you carry it around. I do always have a photo of my passport, though, should it be needed.

I do have dual citizenship, so I think some would argue I’d be best off carrying around one passport and leaving the other behind. But I maintain that the risk of my passport being separated is greater if I’m carrying it around.

Where do you keep your passport when traveling? Do you carry it around with you everywhere you go, or leave it behind?