Passport and Travel Documents - how do you carry them?

[Philosiphier]

Greetings to one and all - I hope you all had a great xmas and new year and all that stuff

After a few trips overseas, and about to embark on another in March - I am trying to decide if it is worth investing in a travel/passport/document wallet/purse/organiser.

Could any of you who have one, let me know what features you looked for and what brands/styles you have?

I have a couple in mind, but am still not convinced if they are worth the money they are asking and even if they are really the best option..

Hoping for some wise and learned comments :mrgreen:

Thanks guys!

Zoe.

 

[dot]

I have several such travel wallets - all relics from the days of paper tickets. I don't use them any more.

These days, the only thing I use is the DFAT issued plastic slip case for my passport. I carry my itineraries electronically on my phone and my PC - no paper. I also carry my normal wallet for money, cards, licence etc as I would normally at home. I put Boarding passes into the passport cover until I get on board where they get put into my backpack. My passport is either in my backpack or my pocket if I don't have it out.

My original plastic passport case is ok, but with lots of use, it is starting the show signs of that use so I am considering buying a after-market passport holder which will fit just my passport and a couple of other things such as my APEC BT card and some spare passport photos. The one I am considering also acts as a RFID blocker to prevent anyone getting clandestine reads of my passport (yes, I know the encryption should make it impossible for them to decode what they received from the chip in the passport, but I am thinking just in case...) see ThinkGeek :: RFID Blocking Passport Billfold

 

[munitalP]

I have a Victorinox passport wallet - its good for storage only to be honest. I only use it on internationals and it keeps everything in one place - good for hotel safes!

I find prior to boarding, my passport ends up in a pocket somewhere on me, I still don't have an electronic passport, so back jeans pocket works fine, usually with my BP in it. I wouldn't leave my passport wallet in the seat pocket the same as I wouldn't leave my bill fold wallet there either...

I bought mine on a QF flight. I had previously looked at leather ones, however decided against it due to the fabric Victorinox being water resistant and less likely to rot the stiching away and it to fail when I least expect it to such has every wallet I have ever owned has..

Front view:

Inside view:

 

[Philosiphier]

Thanks very much for your input! :mrgreen:

This is one of the ones I was considering.. however I was also thinking about an Artex or a Royce branded one.. I am trying to get one that is in red or some colour, other than black, which SHOULD make it easier for me to find when I need it haha! :mrgreen:
I just can't seem to make a decision about which would be the best.. but thanks for the tip about the waterproof material.. it's very worthwhile taking note of :!:

 

[blackcat20]

Spencer and Rutherford do some really nice leather ones, with labelled dividers for passport, boarding pass etc. Not cheap, but look really nice.
Spencer and Rutherford - COLLECTION :: Luggage :: JETSETTER - Summer Bloom

 

[lovetravellingoz]

My Internationals are with family....so I have a small black passport travel bag that I picked up at a clearance sale at Kathmandu (the store that is) or somewhere.

I will have 4 to 5 passports..and use it to keep some $Aust as a back-up to not finding an ATM..and will keep copies of e-tickets or hotel vouchers etc in there...plus a pen (ready for the immigration forms)..spare camera card and a few bits and bobs.

Basically only carry it (it hasa shoulder strap which is handy when one is carrying various bags etc) when going through customs, checking in etc.....otherwise it is carried in my small day backpack...and at hotels if there is one goes in the safe in the room or at reception.

 

[notmensa]

Hi everyone,

I must be a paranoid traveler - I keep my passport on me at all times when I travel, even on the plane!

My passport is in a zip lock bag - Glad Snaplock Mini, 15 cm x 9 cm is perfect - along with a little cash & a small printout of hotel address & emergency phone #s. The zip lock bag goes in a zippered pocket in my trousers (when I'm likely to use it, eg at the airport) or into a thin silk money belt under my clothes (day to day).

If I have to print anything (hotel vouchers, a copy of the itinerary, etc), I aim for 2 up on an A4 page & duplexed (to minimise # of pages), and then store them in a thin plastic document sleeve. It's not fancy, but it's light and doesn't take up much space.

notmensa

 

[grozzy]

I have a small pouch I wear on my belt. I carry my passport, change from my pockets (to go through security) my folded BP and a spare card. I can pull my jumper over it to keep it hidden. I carry my printouts in a folder with clear sleeves and put in my backpack

 

[moa999]

DFAT standard issue cover.
Passport on oneside.
Other side contains (at present), APEC, SPG, HHonors, Krisflyer, Velocity, Hyatt GP, Golden Circle, Priority Pass (Amex Plat) and a couple of AA wifi cards.
My QF card generally lives in the wallet.

Has worked well, apart from once in TPE when in pulling out my APEC card to show to a staff member I threw all the cards over the floor, and then split a brand new set of pants bending over to pick them up


Itins I keep in a plastic folder with carry-on, tickets I generally fold and put in the DFAT folder

 

[tuapekastar]

I have 2 external zip-up pockets in my carry-on bag. Passport (usually in the cover provided by DFAT) always lives in the samller one, and any printed matter (e-ticket receipts, hotel booking confirmations etc) in the other. That way I know where they are.

Electronic copirs of these, as posted previously, would be nice, but havijng the paper is also handy, because electronic devices can fail.

Also good to travel with a photocopy of the personal details page of your passport (though I often don't practise what I preach in this regard), and have a pdf copy in a folder at an e-mail address I can access from anywhere. Not sure how secure that is, but it's convenient.

A boss of mine from many years ago used to keep his passport in a vault at his bank - bit paranoid IMHO.

 

[harvyk]

DFAT passport cover... It fits nicely into my pocket... On one side I keep my passport, and on the other side I keep my "get out of the country money" aka enough to get a taxi to the airport and to pay any departure taxes... (as well as my parking ticket for my car back home at CBR airport)

This means that if I get a little too happy at the bar one night I can always get myself back home...

My passport usually goes into my top pocket at the start of a trip and stays there until I get back home. If I take my shirt off (eg to go for a swim) I'll place it into the hotel safe...

 

[dot]

Electronic copies of these, as posted previously, would be nice, but having the paper is also handy, because electronic devices can fail.

Which is exactly why I have the info on both my phone and my PC. If both of those fail, I can retrieve the information (from any Internet connected PC) from viewtrip.com or tripit.com or I can call my travel agent.

Philosiphier
If you have a lazy 11,700 points in a QFF account, the QFF Shop has the Victorinox travel wallets that munitalP uses available - see https://www.awardstore.com.au/Pages/SOR/AwardDetails.aspx?AwardId=23859

 

[ArseneV]

I use the same Victorinox wallet as MunitalIP.
Very happy with it.

 

[serfty]

When I became top level Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold in 1996 they sen me a gift of a leather version styled like the Victorianox one mentioned.

I did little international travel back then, but these day use this all the time. It holds Card, BP's, passports and other paraphernalia.

It is very similar to this:

 

[burrco]

I'm a bit rougher. I carry two passports (Uk & Aus) one in each front pocket along with my normal wallet with some different credit cards thrown into random pockets. Any travel papers etc I just fold up and put in my back pocket.

My passports are not in what one would describe as mint condition.

 

[Nigelinoz]

I recently purchased a fantastic item from Ebay,it holds up to 40 cards and has a central zippered section which is useful for passports,cash etc,it was really cheap but it certainly does the job well.
I keep it in a spare pocket in my laptop bag along with a folder that has extra copies of itinerary etc.
Coffee 40 Slots Credit ID Card Checkbook Holder Case (eBay item 110610321691 end time 11-Dec-10 16:12:58 AEDST) : Clothing, Shoes, Accessories

Cheers
N'oz

 

[Joshua]

I have one quite similar to what serfty posted. Besides the usual stack of cards it holds the passport nice and tight. All the sections get well used for BP's, foreign notes and spare Express Path cards. Often means it's just the wallet and NC headphones as carry on items saving any worry about overhead locker battles.

For international travel I think they're a huge help to store all the travel items, keeping them separate from the regular wallet/purse. I've found it means less to worry about rather than more overall.

 

[simongr]

What will come as no great shock to many here is that I have two Tumi wallet covers (one for Oz and one for UK). Passports generally get put into the zip front of my rollaboard when I board an international flight as I am then likely to be PJs within about 2 mins of boarding.

For more complex trips I tend to print all confirmations and slip them into a wallet that holds about 10-15 A4 plastic sleeves. That fits nicely in the front of my rollaboard - good for confirmations at hotels and when entering Indian airports...

 

[drewbles]

In a blast-from-the-past, I use one of these:

Which I purchased from here:

Office & Desk : Flarose - Ansett Australia Merchandise

(last item on the page).

It's Oroton leather, that was originally given to J PAX on the 744 AN services. The one I bought came wrapped in AN Wrapping Paper, and had a little card stuck on it thanking me for choosing to fly AN J.

It's actually a really good travel wallet. It's a very solid zip, the 'leash' it has is just clip-on so it's easily removable, and inside it has a small zip-pouch which easily holds most foreign currencies.

I use it to hold my collection of Express inwards/outbound cards (getting quite the collection now!) as well as my backup/supplemental credit cards (in case I lose the ones in my wallet whilst travelling) and my other "frequent xx_xx_'er" cards.

$25 for an Oroton Leather travel wallet is a bargain IMHO. The AN embossed logo just makes it plane-geek-retro-cool

 

[simongr]

Wow that is good value! Very tempting purchase actually... does show how far we have come in terms of amenity kits...