Traveling can be loads of fun. But organizing the trip and necessary documents can be stressful and time consuming and losing your sensitive documents while travelling abroad can be disastrous. Many things can happen when you are on the road. Somebody can steal your smartphone or wallet or you could lose your passport. You may even find yourself in a situation where you need an insurance document, but you realize that you don’t have it. That’s why we advise you to store electronic copies of important documents in a place where you can access them anytime, and from anywhere.
Be prepared before you face the nightmare. So, let’s check out the documents you need while traveling abroad, and how to keep them safe and accessible.
Documents You Need
- A Valid Passport: You will always need a valid passport while traveling abroad. Most countries require your passport to be valid for a minimum of 6 months. Check with the consulate of the country you are going to travel to.
- A Valid Ticket: This could be a paper ticket or an eTicket. For eTickets, a printout is always good.
- Photo IDs: Take your driver’s license or other photo IDs. You will need them while boarding your flight, renting cars, checking in to hotels etc.
- Travel/Work Visa: You may need a travel or work visa. Make sure you have the original with you.
- Hotel and Car Rental Information: If you have booked any hotels and cars, make sure you have the relevant information.
- Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Traveler’s Checks: Keep them safe. You’re going to use them to pay the bills.
- Important Contacts: Have a list handy of people you want to meet and their contact details. Also, make sure you have emergency contact details. That includes local police, local American consulate, your friends, neighbor who is looking after your place and family members. Also, have a list of people/banks you have to contact in case you lose your wallet or other papers.
- Travel Guidebook: You spend some much time planning your trip, make sure you have a list of places you want to visit and directions! Keep your travel itinerary and plan handy.
- Medical Insurance Information: That’s especially important if you need ongoing medical attention. It’s also advised to keep your CT scans, MRIs and the doctor’s records.
- Certificate of Vaccination: Certain countries in Africa and South America require you to have the Certificate of Vaccination for diseases like yellow fever. Check any such mandates and get the shot before you travel.
So now we have this huge list of documents and papers that you want to have available. This is a great start. Many of these documents you will be carrying the originals with you (like Passport etc.) and for some you just want to know that you have them available if the need arises. In all cases what you do want is a scanned backup copy that you can access. Here in comes the advantage of keeping electronic copies of documents in a place where they are easily accessible to you.
Safe And Accessible Storage
You don’t want to store copies of your sensitive documents just anywhere. But you should have backups in case things get lost or misplaced. That’s where Finovera can help you. Simply create an account on Finovera and scan and upload your important documents in the secure File Cabinet. Finovera will let you create new folders and it has Bank level security so your documents are safe.
Now you can access and download these documents from anywhere you can access the Internet. It’s terribly frustrating if you lose important documents while traveling, but now you are prepared, so don’t panic. You will be inconvenienced, but your trip does not have to get ruined. Go to your Finovera account, print the documents out and get back on track with your trip.
Are you planning to travel? Use Finovera to save your documents and avoid the nightmares of losing them.
Photo Credit: Richard Moross