A friend of mine recently had quite a bad experience asking the police for help with directions as he was traveling through the Netherlands. He was trying to figure out where he was using the map on a bus stop and approached a nearby police car to ask for assistance. They demanded his ID which he was not carrying at the time. He explained that it was in his bag at the place where he was staying and they said he neede…
It's strange, but you must be able to identify yourself if you're over the age of 14 [1] in The Netherlands. Having lived in the US for 20 years now, this also seems a bit draconian to me, but I didn't think much of it while growing up over there. [1]: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/paspoort-en-identit...
the generic advice is “leave your passport locked at the hotel so you dont get it stolen by pickpockets”
but also “never not have your passport on you because the local government wants to check it at any time”
how do you all reconcile that on a day to day basis?