No one wants to lose their passport while traveling. If that happens, you may not be able to go home or move on to your next destination. I learned this lesson the hard way.
My Story
One day I was about to disembark a river cruise in Amsterdam. I checked out of my stateroom and left my luggage at the front desk (along with my carry-on personal item containing my passport) while I grabbed breakfast. When I returned less than an hour later, ship staff said my suitcase and personal item had been moved out in front of the ship along with all of the other bags belonging to the passengers who were disembarking that day.
When I went out to the front of the ship, there were lots of suitcases, but my luggage—including my passport—was nowhere to be found. I was alarmed because I was supposed to be flying to Prague the next morning. I was also afraid I wouldn't even be able check into my hotel that night because you need your passport to check into a hotel in many European countries (which require hotels to collect and record passport details for security reasons). It was also a Friday which meant the US embassy would be closed for a couple of days and likely not available to help me get a new passport until Monday.
After an extremely stressful few hours of constant searching, my bags—and passport—were found. Somehow they had mistakenly been transferred to another river ship, but not before I reminded myself hundreds of times that when your passport is not stowed in the safe in your room, you should always keep it on your person. Needless to say, that was a very, very stressful day and a good lesson to me.
What You Should Do to Safeguard Your Passport
Since that day long ago, I have contemplated at length about the best place for a passport at all times when traveling and these are are my tips. All of them come back to the same conclusion: always keep your passport either: 1) in a safe or 2) on your person.
But, first, take a picture of your passport before you leave home and keep it on your phone. I also store a xerox copy of my passport in my checked bag. This helps to identify the bag.
Always carry your passport with you on the airplane. Never store it in your checked bag and keep it with you at all times. This way, if your luggage is lost you will still have your passport.
When you arrive in your destination, keep your passport with you until you have a hotel or stateroom to check into. Once you do, the safest place for your passport is in the safe in your room. (The only exception is that occasionally some European hotels will hold onto your passport briefly upon check in while recording the details, although this has become less common and most will now just record the details and return the passport while you are checking in.) Leave it there until you check out. Don't carry it around with you. Take other identification when you are out sightseeing.
In order to avoid leaving your passport in the safe when you depart, place one of your shoes in the safe. (Yes, you read that correctly.) Once you have decided which shoes you will wear on the day you will check out put one of them in the safe. You won't leave the room without your shoe, so you can't forget your passport. I learned this great tip on an AmaWaterways cruise.
But what about those in between times? Like when you are changing hotels, checking out of a hotel, waiting to leave a cruise ship, on a train or bus, waiting for a driver, etc.? During those times, always keep your passport with you. Never store it in a suitcase that you leave at a hotel or with bell staff, in a bag that will be checked, in a suitcase that will be placed in the hold of a bus or anywhere that is not on your person. You could get separated from that item and your passport could get lost. It is much more difficult to replace a lost passport than it is to simply keep it with you. And it could ruin your travel plans.
If you do lose your passport, contact the closest office of US embassy in the country you are visiting for assistance. To find the closest office go here: https://www.usembassy.gov/. You can use the photo of your passport you took before you left home to help identify yourself in the meantime and obtain a new passport.
Have you ever been separated from your passport? What happened? What did you do? Drop me a line, I would love to hear about your experience.
—Daria Dimitroff, January 2025
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