travel tips: documents to have in print form

But what if you’re traveling someplace where your data plan doesn’t work and wifi might be a little lacking? If you’re heading anywhere other than somewhere in the states, it’s a good idea to have print copies of your itinerary and confirmations. If you’ve booked online, your hotel, car rental/ferry/train company will send you a confirmation email. Keep it on your phone – great.  but consider printing copies of the important things, that way if you get to Rome and discover that their airport wifi is down (or not gratis), you’ve already got your confirmation info for the car rental or train tickets in your bag.

What else should you have print copies of? (I made you a checklist at the bottom of this post)

It’s always a good idea to scan your passport (and your family’s passports) and email them to yourself. But also print two copies of each. Keep one in a hidden pocket of your bag, separate from your main wallet (and this might go without saying, but don’t keep your main wallet in an easily accessible pocket that you can’t see, like the front pouch of a backpack – this is the easiest place for a thief to access.) This way, if something happens to your real passports, you have the copies to show the US embassy. Give the second set of copies to a trusted friend or family member who is not traveling with you.

The same goes for credit cards that you have brought on the trip with you, your itinerary, hotel information, drivers license information for those driving and your car rental company information, and airline information. Make up a folder for your family member at home and be sure to include phone numbers where you can be reached (this should be with your hotel information) – like your cell, spouse’s cell, and even kids cell numbers, just in case. (Alternately, make sure your kids and spouse have your contact at home saved in their phone too.)

So, that’s a breakdown of what you need to keep in print form, and below it’s in list form.  like I said, I’m working on a way for you to download and print this list.

__ passports
__ drivers licenses
__ credit cards
__ itinerary, including:
__ flight numbers, dates/times
__ airline information (including a number to call if you have a problem, i.e missed flight)
__ hotel confirmation and address/phone number
__ car rental company and confirmation (including where you will pick the car up, if not the airport)
__ ferry and/or train reservations

You, as the traveler, should have one copy of everything listed above, and your folder to give to your trusted family member or friend should have one copy of everything as well.

Nomads! Have I forgotten anything? What do you like to have a print copy of when you travel? 

happy travels!