Paper Copy Of Travel Documents: Why You Need Them

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Everything is on your phone these days. It’s your lifeline, especially when you travel. That’s where you have your boarding pass and phone numbers, addresses and confirmation numbers for your flights, hotels or rental cars. But what happens if your phone dies? You pull out your paper copy of all your deets, of course. Here are three big reasons why you want to go old school and have some backup paper reservations.

For Identification

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You never want to think about it, but sometimes, bad things happen. In case of a travel disaster where you end up without a passport, you want to have a backup paper copy. It’s not a bad idea to have a digital one, but in case your passport is gone and your phone is dead, print out a paper photocopy and keep it in your wallet.

So before you go abroad, you should have:

A paper copy of your passport (stored somewhere away from your actual passport)

For Customs

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When you go through customs, you’ll be asked a lot of questions. It’s part of the process. If you’re entering your home country, you’ll just need your I.D. But if you’re going into a foreign country, you’ll need proof of where you’re staying and sometimes proof of when and via what form of transportation you planning on leaving the country at the end of your trip.

So before you go through customs, you should have:

The confirmation number for your flight home or a boarding pass if you’re on a layover
The address of your hotel

For Connecting Flights

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Connecting flights can be a pain. Sometimes you have to switch gates, other times, entire terminals. And if you can’t access your boarding pass on a very dead phone and you gotta run to catch your flight, you’re in trouble.

So before you board your first flight, you should have:

Your boarding pass for your connecting flight
Your confirmation number for that flight

If you want to be extra careful, it’s never a bad idea to have a notebook or even piece of paper in your wallet listing your hotel names, addresses and phone numbers, as well as any confirmation numbers for travel details.

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