Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
I've been doing some traveling lately, I started wondering. What happens if I lose my wallet (my ID, all credit cards, etc.) and my phone, or get mugged or such? How can I establish my identity? Say, my hotel key was in the wallet - would I be locked out of the hotel? How would they know I am me if I show up and ask for a replacement key? I mean, they can send a security guy with me to the room - and then what? All the stuff in my suitcase are very generic guy's clothes that could be anybody's. I probably don't even remember which exactly t-shirts and jeans I packed. They don't have labels or anything that points to me. How would they know? How would I get home, for that matter - I can't fly without an ID, and I can't get a new ID until I am in the same state at least - if I am not living in this state, they can't issue me a new ID.
I could go to the police maybe - though I wouldn't even know where "the police" is in a random city. But even assuming I just get lucky and encounter a traffic cop or something, and they explain me where the closest police station is - do I walk there then? And when there - how would they know I am me? Do they have access to other state's databases? Since I am a naturalized citizen, DHS for sure has a lot of my photos and fingerprints, but can any police precinct access it just on a word of a random dude? And after that - even if they do believe me, they can't issue me a new ID, right? So how do I still get home (or even to the airport, for that matter)?
Also, is there a good strategy to prepare for such eventuality? I can't just ask DMV for a secondary ID that I would keep in my suitcase in the hotel, for example, can I? I could probably take my passport, but the chance I lose it actually makes it more dangerous, and recovering the passport is probably even more annoying. Does a form of secondary ID that is not as costly to lose exist?
While I believe it's not technically legally valid, I keep both my drivers' license and my old state ID card from the last state I lived in on me. For international borders, they will give you a lot of shit, but I know firsthand the US has a database they can just look you up in and let you through without your passport, the hard part is getting on the plane without it (was very possible to do if you are a dual citizen, ESTA makes that less likely). You can also (anecdotal evidence, do not rely on) still fly without a Real ID, they just take you aside and, again, give you a lot of shit while they establish your identity.
But cjet is correct, your best strategy in those circumstances is social proof, looking like a respectable citizen and being able to talk your way into things. Find a helpful person and ask to get connected to the authorities - walk into a random hotel and ask the front desk, find a branch of your bank, ask a corner store for directions, etc. Harder if you're in suburbia but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Losing your passport if you don't need it immediately is a bit of bureaucracy but not a big deal. You have to file a new application and wait a bit. The main issue is if you need to do international travel in that time, in which case you'll have to do some shenanigans to go in person to a passport office. I would never travel without my passport even within the US, but yeah leave it in the hotel room (I don't recommend the safe, you are infinitely more likely to forget you put something in a hotel safe and leave without it than to have housekeeping break in and steal your passport).
For something like the border it's less worrying for me, because I know they have all the data on me, and they are legally bound to let me in. They can give me a lot of shit and marinate me for a bit there (for procedure or just for the heck of it, who knows) but at the end it'll be fine. I once got into the US from Canada with a wrong ID (I think it was expired or something, and I didn't realize that) and they were very upset at the document being invalid, and I had to go sit for an hour in a room with other suspects, but then they finally let me in, after admonishing me about the necessity to keep valid documents and follow proper procedures.
I stay mostly in cheap hotels (not always, but very frequently, though I avoid outright dumps, but a step higher is often ok for me) and over by now decades of travel I can't remember a single thing that was stolen from me in a hotel. Of course, not that I have a lot of stuff worth stealing, except maybe computer tech. Maybe I just got lucky, but I am not overly concerned about hotel housekeeping stealing my ID - if the cartels need my ID so much, they'd just bribe a receptionist and he'll copy it for them and I'd suspect nothing. But they probably already have all my data anyway from the last Experian hack or a dozen of similar ones that followed.
I mean it in the sense of "getting your ID stolen from your room is too rare to every worry about." The only time I or anyone I know has had something stolen from a locked hotel room was a dodgy hotel in rural Turkey where some girls with us had their cash disappear from their purses left in the room. Stealing stuff from hotel rooms is vanishingly rare, and even then I would think the thieves would generally try to be subtle rather than taking stuff that ensures you'll make a scene. I do sometimes slip my ID and a credit card out of my phone case into my pocket in very dodgy areas, so that if I get mugged I can hand over my phone/wallet and still be fine - as you say, criminals really don't care about your ID, we're long past the days when passports were valuable targets because you could cut them up and stick another picture in.
P.S. I'll take the chance to recommend Ferenc Karinthy's Metropole to anyone reading this thread who finds these sort of travel/identity scenarios tantalizing to consider.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link