You’re not supposed to wear it around your neck.
Isn’t PacSafe wonderful? I have a bathroom bag I use for my medications, a neck pouch, across body messenger bag and one of those mesh things for over my rather huge backpack, oh and like 3 of those padlocks with the 6 foot cable.
If mrAru is traveling with me, and hasn’t lost his ID we head for the nearest US military base, hit the ID office and get me a replacement ID. Though I tend to have my passport card in my wallet which is stashed in my 5.11 tac shirtalong with my money, I have a spare wallet that has a state ID [not a drivers license] a nonbank debit card with $250US on it, about $100 cash - mainly to have something to give to a mugger. My important stuff is held close to my body under at least 1 layer of shirt.
I was in Lake Tahoe and lost my wallet. The manager or owner not sure which of the motel I was staying at gave me $100.00 and just told me to mail it back to him. I actually found my wallet before I left and was able to return the money but I appreciated his trust more than I can say.
When I go on vacation, in addition to my normal wallet (which is in my pocket), I bring a backup wallet that is hidden in my carry-on bag. It contains half of my vacation cash, and a couple of credit cards that I don’t regularly use. I also keep my passport card in it (which works as backup ID).
I don’t want a vacation to be ruined because of a lost or stolen wallet.
A hint: if you put that carry-on in the overhead bin, you’re risking someone else getting your emergency stuff. If you put it by your feet, it’s less of a risk - but leaving it in the overhead bin means someone else could fairly easily access it if you fall asleep or simply don’t notice they’re after your bags vs their own.
I put my passport card, a credit card and some cash in a zipper pouch that’s attached with a clip in my zippered tote bag, which goes under the seat in front of me on the plane. When I’n in transit, the tote bag has a flap that slides over the handle of my rolling laptop bag so it rests on top of it. The rolling laptop bag is the type with 360 wheels so I can roll it by my side if I want to rather than pulling it behind me. I feel pretty secure with this set-up and it’s so comfortable to schlep my stuff around this way that I bring the laptop bag even when I don’t need the laptop.
how did you get a job without SS #? or passport without birth certificate?
Of course I have a social security number. It is --***. What I do not have is a government issued social security card. You know, the one that had imprinted on it "NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION"?
Also, I have a birth certificate, but it is not an original with a raised seal.
Sure, I could aquire the neccesary documents, but why bother? I have a passport.
I do now–I got my pocket picked it Rome. I was a teenager on a school trip, so my father sent me, IIRC, $500. Luckily my passport was in my hotel room’s safe.
Yep - passport is sufficient ID for many, many things (that would otherwise require 2 separate IDs).
A passport is sufficient to prove you can work in the US; if you don’t have that (or several similar documents) you have to provide two documents such as license or social security card.
Of course… if you lose the passport, how do you prove your ID to get it replaced? Might be a good idea to get copies of your social security card etc. and stash them someplace safe.
I did the first time I went overseas. You know how you’re supposed to try to “blend in” when you’re a tourist? You do not blend in when every time you’re need to pay for something and/or show id, it looks like you’re digging around in your underwear. Locals don’t do that. It’s just weird.
I’m usually travelling alone. I am lucky enough that there are people in the States who have enough information and tenacity to assist in getting me back to the country - eventually. I keep several photocopies of my passport in various places; chances are, I would still have at least one of them. And I usually try to keep “enough” local currency in multiple places so that I can get somewhere and figure something out. I use Pacsafe bags.
So far, I’ve been lucky.
*I know they’re not theft proof. They are theft-inconvenient, especially as compared to the bags that I use when I’m not vacationing.
Nor would most travelers. You’d keep ‘ready cash’ in a more standard location; the money belt is not accessed in public.
Then I am very confused.
What do you carry in it? I need to proffer my passport fairly often for ID - so that wouldn’t go in the money belt, because I’d need to access it in public. I need plastic to pay for things in public, so that would be out. And apparently ready cash doesn’t go in the money belt, either.
If I’m not planning on an overseas adoption (which apparently involves seriously large amounts of cash), what would I want one for?
I haven’t traveled overseas yet - but to my mind, you’d put your backup credit card and most of your cash in such a belt (or neck wallet or whatever). You’d keep one card and a day’s worth of spending money somewhere accessible. That would include your passport if you needed it for ID (e.g. boarding a plane) but once you’d arrived and gone through customs, you could put that in the secret stash as well.
This, plus I always have copies of my passport ID page, visa pages, ticket receipts etc in a ziplock in one of the bags.
My wife and always take our passports on domestic travel, not for ID, but because her daughter lives in Africa. If an emergency arose and we had to get there quickly, we wouldn’t want to have to fly home to get them first.
I wear one of those regular looking leather (money) belts that has a long zipper on the inside portion of the belt. When one opens the zipper, it exposes a long narrow opening. After putting your paper currency inside, you can zip it closed. I carry two folded up $20 bills inside.
Its come in handy more than once.