Posted on December 7, 2009 - by Janice
How to travel alone: Have a Back-up Plan for your Travel Documents
When traveling alone, your personal safety, that of your body, is your number one priority. I have written about this in many ways in the Solo Travel Safety category. Number two is your travel documents. Yes, in my books, money only ranks third. Your travel documents – your passport, visas, travel insurance, credit card information, driver’s license and any important health information – are vitally important in these times of health scares and tighter security at borders.
There are many options for your backup plan. From low tech to high tech, here are a few:
2. Keep a copy of your documents in the bottom of your suitcase or pack.
3. Scan your documents and keep them on a USB key stored separately from your actual documents.
4. Scan them into a Google doc or email the scans to yourself.
5. Use AccessMyId.com
There are downsides to most of these options. You have to reach the person holding your documents at home and then they have to find them. You might lose your luggage making the copies or USB key you hid away useless. In fact, they might be worse than useless because your personal information is now available to strangers. Google docs gives you access to your documents via computer, but the security of Google docs is not that great given the value of the information you’re storing. Likewise, emails are not secure. This leads me to the last option – a new discovery for me – AccessMyID.com.
Documents Secure in the sky with AccessMyID.com
AccessMyID.com is a subscription service for storing all your travel documents, medical information and travel itinerary securely online. Naturally, you have access to it 24/7.
I really like the levels of security offered by AccessMyID.com. You sign in with a username and password. From there, you are taken to a page for further verification where you answer one of three questions chosen at sign up and complete a “captcha” to ensure that a person is signing in, not an automated system. Furthermore, every time you log in, you receive an email confirming that you have logged in. If it wasn’t you, the breach can be dealt with immediately.
I’ve revealed my fear of losing my travel documents in a number of posts. It’s my one concern as I travel solo. This is a service I plan to use.
My appreciation goes to AccessMyID.com for supporting Solo Traveler, providing two subscriptions as prizes in the photo contest that is currently underway and allowing me to test drive their service.
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June 12, 2010
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Karen said:
Very true. I think it is integral to ensure that a back up plan is established before even travelling overseas. A few years ago a friend of mine lost their passport in the cambodia and found it a very difficult process because they did not have a backup plan in place.
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March 27, 2010
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geoff ryan said:
I appreciate very much the information on securing documents.I cant agree with emailing to oneself.Anything online is risky.Like sending a postcard in the mail.Re “access my ID.com”,the concept is good but again the info goes online.WRT keeping info on a USB stick,it would have to be encrypted or have very strong password protection.I like Gwen,s suggestion of “myeyesonly”.There is also an app called iVault.You would have to be able to get images into the vault(eg licence,birth cert,passport) in case U lose your passport and need to have ID.Im not sure if that can be done at present.Maybe you can take a snapshot of the doc with your iphone and get it in that way.BTW Safari has a facility to password protect PDF,s,however there are very efficient password cracking programs.I would love to hear what any tech savvy people have to say about these iPhone apps.Another issue is whether you can set it up on Safari and sync with the iPhone.
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March 20, 2010
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Acuna Mexico said:
I have all my travel documents pdf’d in my phone and on my hard drive. I learned the hard way in Cancun Airport and lost everything. I was so lucky that a friend worked at American Airlines and called and got me on the flight or I was stuck in mexico
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January 6, 2010
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Van said:
Wise advice. I think it is very important to backup all documents and ensure that they are carried in different compartments in your luggage for protection.
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December 13, 2009
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Pat Steer (Gaelen) said:
Too timely, I’m afraid! One of the women staying in another apartment at the place I rented in NYC last weekend had packed her passport, travel docs, ticket home, some cash in the inner ‘hidden’ pocket of her computer case – which she accidentally left behind on the airport shuttle from Newark into the city! Spent some time commiserating w/her as she waited nervously for the service to return her bag – but at least she got it back. I also use the mailed-to-myself copies system, as well as keeping one photocopy of important docs someplace separate from the location of the actual docs. And since NY is now issuing the universal driver’s license, which serves as a passport for land/train travel into Canada, I’m considering upgrading so that I always have both it and my passport with me when I’m on the road. Travel safe!
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December 8, 2009
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Daniel said:
Alternatively, you can create your own free ‘travel vault’ by scanning your important documents, saving each document as a .jpg or .gif file, and then emailing those files to yourself at a freely available webmail address (we recommend Google’s Gmail owing to its ease of use and storage capacity). Ensure that the documents you emailed to yourself came through properly and store them on the server (ie don’t delete them—save them into a special folder). This option may not be as secure as some of the aforementioned services; however, it is free and should suit most people.
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December 8, 2009
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admin said:
Thanks Gwen, for contributing so thoughtfully to the conversation. I don’t have a smart phone so this solution was off my radar.
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December 8, 2009
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Gwen McCauley said:
I’m not a very paranoid type of traveler and yet I agree with you, Janice, about the importance of having your important travel documentation information kept secured.
I keep a photocopy of my passport in my suitcase and a copy of some other document info on a USB flash drive. But what I’m finding is the most comprehensive solution for me is a nifty little app I’ve found for my iPhone.
It’s called MyEyesOnly, costs almost nothing, and allows me to keep all sorts of confidential information at my fingertips. It is password protected so that even if my iPhone gets stolen I don’t have to worry about the information.
One nice feature is that it offers a bunch of categories under which to store your stuff. Because I travel extensively and own my own retreats/culinary experiences business, I need to be online from many places. So every website I have an account with gets added to my Logins section: url, userid, password and any other relevant information.
As you mention, no solution is perfect. I know my iPhone could get stolen and then I’d be in trouble except for the copy of my passport tucked away in my suitcase. But, for me, this solution feels safer and more empowering than having all that information stored online somewhere. And safety is, after all, an inside job and we each have to create solutions that not only work for us but that leave us feeling comfortable enough to enjoy the sights and sounds of the places we’re visiting.
This is a great topic and an important one for us all to pay attention to in these days of easy travel and easy pick-pocketing!