Do I need to carry my passport with me in Germany?
#31
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 790
Exactly. With Germany not being Fallujah, I am not particularly concerned with my hotel safe being targeted. I realize crime can happen anywhere, but I think with a person having their passport on them everywhere it is easier to lose it themselves than to have the hotel safe be compromised.
#33
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 790
This. Plus, a passport if you are walking around without a bag or purse is bigger in the pocket anyways, so not as easy to conceal as a wallet. I realize no one wants to think of themselves as the klutz that loses things, but let's be honest, it happens sometimes and it would really be a buzzkill on a trip.
#34
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 790
I'll take my chances with my Drivers License in my wallet basically anywhere in the world, and maybe a photocopy of my passport as another posted suggested. And if I have a run in with the police then I'll be more than happy to tell them I can produce my passport at my hotel/apartment. Some of you people are acting like we are saying we'd rock up to an embassy without our passport -- no, we're talking about day to day life, it's usually quite alright.
#35
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Berlin, TXL
Programs: OW Emerald, *A gold, Skyteam elite plus, Hilton gold, SPG gold
Posts: 339
Yawn. Not all Americans live in Nebraska and think France is the capitol of Paris.
I'll take my chances with my Drivers License in my wallet basically anywhere in the world, and maybe a photocopy of my passport as another posted suggested. And if I have a run in with the police then I'll be more than happy to tell them I can produce my passport at my hotel/apartment. Some of you people are acting like we are saying we'd rock up to an embassy without our passport -- no, we're talking about day to day life, it's usually quite alright.
I'll take my chances with my Drivers License in my wallet basically anywhere in the world, and maybe a photocopy of my passport as another posted suggested. And if I have a run in with the police then I'll be more than happy to tell them I can produce my passport at my hotel/apartment. Some of you people are acting like we are saying we'd rock up to an embassy without our passport -- no, we're talking about day to day life, it's usually quite alright.
#36
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Ontario, Canada
Programs: Aeroplan, IHG, Enterprise, Avios, Nexus
Posts: 8,355
People can do what they want with their passport when in foreign countries but I've needed mine often enough to always carry it with me. Whether you do or not should be based on your own situation and where you are. Your passport should probably stay in your room safe if you are the type to get liquored up in an Eastern European sex club, are a scatter brain who is constantly losing things or lack the situational awareness to know when pickpockets are operating and don't know how to securely carry your passport.
#38
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London & Sonoma CA
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Posts: 10,220
I'm intrigued. The only foreign country I've been to in the past ten years that has required to see my passport is the USA - and regularly. They freak if you show them a Driving Licence (although it's in English) and they are forever asking for ID. But elsewhere I don't recall being asked for ID at all, other than checking in at hotels - and I'm not talking just EU but would include Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Myanmar, Canada and probably some others I've forgotten about.
#39
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Ontario, Canada
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Posts: 8,355
I'm intrigued. The only foreign country I've been to in the past ten years that has required to see my passport is the USA - and regularly. They freak if you show them a Driving Licence (although it's in English) and they are forever asking for ID. But elsewhere I don't recall being asked for ID at all, other than checking in at hotels - and I'm not talking just EU but would include Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Myanmar, Canada and probably some others I've forgotten about.
In Post 7 I mentioned some of the situations were I've needed it.
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Capetown
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Plat, IHG and Hilton Diamond, LH SEN, BA Gold
Posts: 10,163
I'm intrigued. The only foreign country I've been to in the past ten years that has required to see my passport is the USA - and regularly. They freak if you show them a Driving Licence (although it's in English) and they are forever asking for ID. But elsewhere I don't recall being asked for ID at all, other than checking in at hotels - and I'm not talking just EU but would include Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Myanmar, Canada and probably some others I've forgotten about.
#41
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: Berlin, TXL
Programs: OW Emerald, *A gold, Skyteam elite plus, Hilton gold, SPG gold
Posts: 339
Based on my humble experience deriving from travelling forwards and back for the last 30 years, there is a big difference how a US American expects to be treated oversees and compared to how foreigners are treated in the US. Coming from Nebraska or not, there appears to be the expectation that everything overseas works like in the US whereas in the US everybody expects your conduct as a foreigner has to be that of a US American
#42
Join Date: May 2014
Location: DMV
Posts: 2,092
Based on my humble experience deriving from travelling forwards and back for the last 30 years, there is a big difference how a US American expects to be treated oversees and compared to how foreigners are treated in the US. Coming from Nebraska or not, there appears to be the expectation that everything overseas works like in the US whereas in the US everybody expects your conduct as a foreigner has to be that of a US American
#43
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Capetown
Programs: Marriott Lifetime Plat, IHG and Hilton Diamond, LH SEN, BA Gold
Posts: 10,163
As someone who has lived in a number of countries - including the U.S. and Germany - I would say that while Americans are very America-focused, I've also come across a good number of Europeans who when coming to America expected American things to be like things back home in Spain, France or Germany and acted rather dismissively in a quite arrogant fashion about aspects of American life that are uniquely American. Especially among Germans there's a certain breed who find it barely tolerable if something is allowed in America that is 'verboten' in Germany and who will feel the need to lecture at length about why the German state of affairs is far more sensible.
#44
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: 4éme
Posts: 12,014
I'm intrigued. The only foreign country I've been to in the past ten years that has required to see my passport is the USA - and regularly. They freak if you show them a Driving Licence (although it's in English) and they are forever asking for ID. But elsewhere I don't recall being asked for ID at all, other than checking in at hotels - and I'm not talking just EU but would include Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Myanmar, Canada and probably some others I've forgotten about.