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Travel ID

I put this under technology, but its not very much high tech. Didn't know where else to place it.

From time to time people ask about carry copies of documents or the originals or ......

You realize that in much of Europe that it is the law to carry your passport. In twenty years of back and forth a lot to Europe I have only had my passport requested once other than a border checkpoint or when boarding a flight. And the one time, maybe the soldier would have been happy with a copy .... rather not find out though.

But the real issue is, yes, its a good idea to have backup copies, but what to do with them? Now some of you will maybe like this idea, others might see me nutty. I use to keep a paper copy in the liner of my carry-on (just put it in oneday and forgot about it for years and years) and another copy on my cell phone.

But I got to thinking about five years ago, what if they find my body on an Albanian sidewalk beaten to death by a RS Back Door bag and with a selfie-stick through my heart and with pockets picked clean? Who is going to unlock my phone and hunt down the files to know where to ship the body? Yes, I go to some sketchy places so I bought a shiny gold dog tag and had it engraved with my name and passport number and an emergency contact. Of course, shiny gold was probably not a good idea.

This year i made a pdf with all the documents I could imagine; passport, global entry card, insurance card, covid vaccine cards and put them in a pdf along with medical information, prescriptions and emergency contacts. I put the pdf in a folder on the cloud. The same folder has all my reservations and flights for the current trip in it. Then I made a QR code and printed it on a business card with my name, address, passport number, blood type (yes, sketchy places I go) and put that in my money clip. Probably wouldn't be the end of the world if it fell into the wrong hand, still not a perfect solution.

Today I purchased a new dog tag. Same information on the front as before, but on the back is the QR code to all the information in the cloud folder. I will get rid of the money clip card. I figure that since dog tags are sort of universal ID tags, the people at the morgue will look at it. By linking to a folder and not to a particular file, I can change the content of the folder for each trip and the QR code stays good.,

Now, if you are worried that the same woman that did you in will use the information to stay in your reservation in Malta, then there are a few services available that, for a fee, will provide you with the dog tag and a QR code to their office which presumably will filter who gets to see the information,

I like the QR code idea, because if I leave my phone on the corner of the bar (as I have a tendency to do) and someone walks off with it I can borrow any phone and scan the QR code hanging around my neck and have access to the information for my flight home or important phone contacts along the way. And by using my own cloud account the service is free. The biggest flaw is in 7 years I will have to replace it when my passport number changes, but I like the number printed on the tag as its a quick identification that I am a US citizen, something the Taliban ambulance driver will want to know.

Posted by
2267 posts

That's a really clever solution—thanks for sharing it.

I don't carry my passport on my person when out and about. (I know the rules, folks. Save the lectures.) I've thought of a similar concern of needing to have some kind of ID. I don't want to carry my driver's license unless I've rented a car, just because I don't want to deal with the DMV if it got lost or stolen. Enter the passport card I paid extra for at my last renewal but for which really don't have much use. (I don't cross land borders with any regularity at all.) So it's a credit-card-sized, official ID that should serve the needs of a "call the embassy" emergency.

Global Entry cards could work as an alternative.

Posted by
820 posts

For passport, I have paper copies in my carry-on bag, and I have photos on my phone. When I travel with someone else, nearly always my wife, we carry copies for each other, too. I keep my passport on me at all times away from my hotel, carry it in a neck wallet under my shirt. Like many women, my wife doesn't like to wear a neck wallet, so I carry hers, too.

Instead of the PDF / QR code thing you do (which is too much trouble to me), I do something simple: I save a draft in gmail with all that info in it, and of course it is stored in the cloud. Easy to get to if I need it, and my wife carries all the same info in a gmail draft, too.

Also, when traveling with my wife, we always check our main bags. We split our clothes between the 2 bags in case one is delayed or goes missing. If both bags go missing, well it looks we are going clothes shopping...haven't lost a checked bag in over 40 years, knock on wood.

In other words, I have redundant backup plans for as many things as I can. If I am traveling solo (less of that as I get older), my wife has all this information in a gmail draft that she can shoot to me, too.

Posted by
17648 posts

Scudder, I will be honest, I dont carry my passport except in really sketchy places. Right now to those I would add any place where there are daily street protests. The one time I did get checked it was because I got pulled into a protest rally and when the military broke it up they checked ID's and helped the tourists to get out.

I also dont leave it in the room safe. I have an acquaintance who owns a couple of Airbnb's in europe and he has a nice collection of junk left in the safes. And he showed me where two safes, purchased 5 years apart, both had the same override key.

Jojo, the spouse is the perfect backup unless one of you is beaten to death with the RS backpack and the other impaled on a selfie stick, but what are the odds? I travel solo most of the time (has to do with my sweet personality) and I have a condition that on occasion causes me to drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes so its not about me finding the information, its about the morgue clerk being able to find it.

If I were sweeter (and had company), I would do what you do.

Posted by
820 posts

I also dont leave it in the room safe.

I no longer use those room safes for valuables. Why? For the very example you give - all room safes have override keys or master passcodes that the staff carry to unlock when the safe is locked and the code is forgotten. I learned this about 10 years ago when I checked into a hotel, and wanted to leave something in the room safe so I could go take a swim, but the last occupant had evidently relocked the safe and of course I don't have his code, nor does the hotel. I called down to the front desk, they said the maid is on your floor, she can leave it open for you...she was right outside my door, I asked her if she could open the safe, and I watched her do it with a pass key...ever since then, I never leave anything important in one of those safes. They are not secure, not secure enough for anything truly valuable, at least. Usually the only thing I leave in one now are my Rx meds - I figure it is safer in there than elsewhere in the room - but no money, CC, passport, etc. I carry all of that with me in the neck wallet...

Posted by
870 posts

. . ."there are a few services available that, for a fee, will provide you with the dog tag and a QR code to their office which presumably will filter who gets to see the information".

Well, actually, you had me at " (yes, sketchy places I go) ".

I've always played things safe (and boring?) Care to share why you go to sketchy places? I might just be convinced to "walk on the wild side". . . Also, I think there is a novel begging to be written about the "few services (that) will provide you with the dog tag and QR code". . . I'm imaging the lives of those who use those services.
Your dropping like a sack of potatoes is concerning. No wonder you've gone to some length to deal with a possible conundrum. Wishing you health, safety and a continued great sense of humor.

Posted by
23178 posts

Checked into a US hotel recently. It was obvious that our room had been very recently been remodeled with all new stuff including a safe with a removal sticker on the front door that showed the over ride code. It really worked well. I made a note of the code. Should have removed the sticker but that is not my job.

Posted by
739 posts

I had a cop in France ask for my Passport, I was walking up the parking garage and they were walking the other direction.

Posted by
7129 posts

I guess I'm in the minority because I always wear my passport in my RS money belt. It's a bit annoying, but I instantly feel like I've dropped five pounds when I'm back home again - LOL!

If the "selfie stick" serial killer gets me (whew!) and takes off with everything, including my money belt, I do wear a bracelet now - one of those rubber ones, but this one has an engraved piece on it. The company I purchased it from is Road ID. I wear it at home now, too. If I'm out walking our dog or riding my bike with no ID, this enables people to know my name, my husband's name and his phone number in case I fell, crashed or fainted. I chose to have it written in Italian since that's the majority of my solo travel, so it has my name and the italics written in Italian: "United States of America", "my husband" - his name, his phone number.

My husband & family have a picture of my passport on the iCloud, along with me, so I could obtain it if needed. I also bring my Drivers License for any place where I need to leave my ID to rent something. I won't give them my passport.

We did need our passport on a French train near Annecy where some armed security were looking for a man. (They wanted to see my husband's passport but didn't care about mine.)

Posted by
3067 posts

Good idea, Mr E.
Sometimes if I’m travelling alone, I take a very small ziploc bag, and in it is a paper with a copy of my passport, my emergency contact numbers at home, any allergies and meds Intake, and the contact number for where I’m staying at the time.
Also, the equivalent of $100 in the local currency.
I put this under the insole inside my shoe.
That way if I’m mugged or ill; I have ID, cash, and contacts.
Of course it doesn’t help if I’m struck dead, heaven forbid.

Posted by
8378 posts

I think the dogtag innovation is a great idea. I've traveled for years with a regular set of dogtags, to help identify my body when it washes up on the riverbank. But I wasn't familiar enough with QR codes to know their utility and availability to individuals. I'm thinking of taking it to another level and having the QR tattooed on a seldom seen area of my person 😏.

For those people avoiding hotel safes, so what's the alternative? I always looked at safes making it more difficult to be robbed but not foolproof. I think it's no more unsafe abroad as it is domestically, and most people dont seem to worry about it then.

Posted by
17648 posts

stan, my thought on the hotel safe is

  1. I will forget its there when I check out
  2. The likelihood of an outsider stealing something out of my room is slight at best
  3. The likelihood of hotel staff stealing something out of my room is more likely ..... and they probably have a key
  4. If I were dishonest hotel staff, first place I would look is in the safe.
  5. I am more likely to be attacked by a selfie-stick than run into dishonest hotel staff.

Better solution: Get a large zip lock bag and with a big fat marker write "Dirty Underwear" on the outside in a few languages. Wrap your passport in a pair of underwear (preferably clean) and stuff it in the bag, then put that in your luggage. I use a hard carry on with a liner, i just put it in the liner.

I thought about the QR Tatoo on my left buttok, but was worried it wouldnt scan well as I got older and things began to sag.

Posted by
8378 posts

Mister E, a trick to not forgetting to check the safe before leaving, is to put something in it you know you could not leave without and would be searching for. The common suggestion was one of your shoes**. Not my original idea, but it works for me.

** not the "left" one, obviously.

Posted by
820 posts

For those people avoiding hotel safes, so what's the alternative? I always looked at safes making it more difficult to be robbed but not foolproof. I think it's no more unsafe abroad as it is domestically, and most people dont seem to worry about it then.

As long as you understand the hotel room safe can be accessed by hotel staff, including the people who clean the rooms, then what you do with your valuables is up to you. Me, I don't leave anything of value in the room, other than my Rx since I don't like walking around with a backpack, and I don't want to carry that stuff with me anyway.

The alternative? I carry my valuables (money, CCs,, passport) in a neck wallet, under my shirt.

What do I leave in the room safe, particularly in Europe: car and house keys, Rx, etc.

What I don't do: leave anything I don't want to lose in my bags in the room. The room safe is at least one step more of a barrier than my bags, that I agree with you on. But I choose carefully what I leave in the room safe.

Frankly, I wonder how many people reading this thread have just learned for the first time that hotel staff can open the room safe with either a pass key or a master code? Until I saw a maid open my safe about 10 years ago, it frankly had never occurred to me, but clearly of course the hotel would have to have a method for overriding a locked safe...but I guess I never thought about it before I saw it....and I don't think I would have ever imagined the room cleaners and other staff would have that in their possession, either. The hotel manager, sure, but not everyone on the staff.

I can only imagine how many times a day room safes have to be unlocked by the staff - I am guessing that after every checkout, the staff checks to make sure the last guest did not lock the safe (or leave anything in it), so they open it and that is the proper state of the safe for the next guest - unlocked and open.

Posted by
820 posts

a trick to not forgetting to check the safe before leaving

I remove and pack everything in the safe the night before checking out, and leave the safe door ajar. Never left anything in a room in my life, certainly nothing in a room safe. I triple check any hotel room before checking out. Almost a little OCD-ish, but whatever, it works for me.

In addition to packing the safe contents in my bags the night before, I organize my bags the night before, too, lay out clothes for the next day, clear out all drawers and closets, and minimize the amount of packing I need to do the morning I am checking out.

Posted by
17648 posts

I like the trick jojo. But i would be wandering around with one shoe?

Okay, well I should have waited until the dog tags arrive before I did the hype.

They came today, took a bit less than a week.

The instructions and the order from were less than clear so I had sent an emil to them and told them what i wanted. They wrote back within about 12 hours and had set up a shopping baseket with the tags in it. Still didnt really understand what I was getting. But for $25 it was worth a shot and I ordered 2.

Turne out to be two SETS. That is two embossed typical military tags with name, blood type, passport number, etc on it and two flat smooth stainless steel tag with the QR code engraved on it. And two chains.

Then there was yet more. A note that said they didnt like the quality of one of the embossed tags so they sent a third. I looked, all three looked fine. Then I noticed on the website that they sold tag silencers (rubber ring to go around the tag so it doesnt jingle) for $1.50; some were red and had a medical alert symbol on it. But I didnt buy it. Still, they knew what I was buying for so they threw one in.

The QR code scans well and it all works. Maybe, since I really dont want to wear two, I will take the QR tag down to the jewlery shop and have the back engraved (whch is sort of what I thought I was buying). Maybe I just live with it. Or maybe call the same company and get it done the way I had hoped. Nothing misleading, nothing wrong with the company; I just understood it incorrectly.

Top notch service and turnaround. www.mydogtag.com

Posted by
17648 posts

@Lindy: Sketchy = those places I might find myself in Washington D.C., Paris (depending on my headwear), Kyiv, Albania, Kosovo, Barcelona, Bucharest Old Town after midnight, San Francisco, Eagle Pass, Mexico City

Posted by
1157 posts

I just read the reviews for the hotel and put our trust in the safety of our accomodations. So far, we have never had anything stolen from a safe nor been raped in our sleep (that we are aware of).