Tuesday’s Travel Essentials – Photocopies of your Passport.
So if you have followed Tuesday’s Travel Essentials before you may have read my post about always carrying passport photos with you on your journeys (my page is also a handy money and time saving tip by the way). But something else you definitely need is photocopies of your passport (s). Why?
Tuesday’s Travel Essentials – Always carry copies of your passport!
Not in case you lose it, but so that you can travel with the knowledge that your passport is safe. Here’s what I often do – lock up my passport in a hostel safe or secure locker then venture out into the streets with a photocopy. I do this for security reasons.
Partying in Moscow in 2007 – we only took photocopies of our passports out with us.
The first real time I was glad I carried a photocopy of my passport was in Moscow, Russia in 2007 where the local police can be corrupt. They arrested about 15 New Zealanders from my hostel (Hostel Moscow) and took their passports off them. They then charged them a few thousand roubles each just to get their own passports back! Corrupt and fucked up, but true. It happens regularly. Everytime I ventured outside the hostel in Moscow I took only a photocopy of my passport.
Carrying photocopies of your passport also gives you security in the event of a mugging or theft. You will lose your photocopy, but you will still have your passport.
You don’t want to lose your passport with memorable stamps such as Antarctica on it!
As a guide I carry two colour photocopies of both passports that I possess (one Irish and one British). These are cheap to get done, use of minimal space to carry round with me and give me added security. You may also be asked for details when booking buses etc. and they might ask for passport number, expiry date etc. which is no problem as you will have photocopies of them for reference. I only photocopy the important photo page by the way, the rest of the passport is pretty irrelevant.
With my endless travel tips and stories, I want to inspire you all to head out there and see the world! Check my advertising page if you have an idea for a product or brand for my Tuesday’s Travel Essentials, and don’t forget I welcome free beers, plus computers, hard drives and cameras as the ones I have always break…don’t stop living!
Great advice. I also keep a picture of my passport on my iPhone and emailed to myself… Just that extra little backup and reference and you can access the file if you want to do any additional prints.
Good advice there too Forest thanks! Jonny