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Photocopies, what do I need?

Posted September 29th, 2005 by zman

A photocopy of your rail pass won't help, but forking over the $10-15 for railpass insurance will!!

You can keep copies of your important documents in a "secure" place in your backpack, but personally-- rather than run the risk of my bag getting stolen and some creep having access to all that personal info IN ADDITION to all my stuff, I prefer to scan the copies and email them to myself before leaving. That way you can access them at any internet cafe.

In addition to my passport, I also copy/scan my plane tickets, birth certificate, social security card, driver's license and any credit / bank cards I might take with me. I also email myself the phone numbers of appropriate institutions like banks and embassy addresses just in case. (On the other hand, I already have my passport number and all of my card numbers memorized, in addition to the telephone numbers. That helps.) Maybe that's being a little over cautious, but you know what they say about paranoia... you only have to be right once to make it all worthwhile.

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Photocopies, what do I need?

On September 30th, 2005 reallybites says:

There's a railpass insurance? Wow i didnt know that.

Usually,i follow tours,so the travel guide will keep all of our passports and visas etc.

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Photocopies, what do I need?

On October 4th, 2005 AusDaddy says:

Reallybites,
I really wouldn't be giving you passport to someone you don't really know whilst in a different county! Maybe if it was in a very frendly country, and I spoke the language, and I trusted the tour company it would OK. Maybe!

Your passport is your most important piece of documenttaion whilst in a foriegn country, giving it to someone you don't trust implicitly is not advisable

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Copies of Travel Documents

On April 10th, 2006 Ben says:

I agree with AusDaddy you want to be very careful who you give your passoort to.

As Zman says you should always take copies of all important documents incase of emergency - governments around the world also endorse this (its usually in their top 10 bits of travel advice). Taking copies in your backpack don't help you if your backpack is stollen.

Zman also rightly points out that a copy of your rail pass or your passport won't let you jump on a train or cross a boarder but at least in the latter example it will speed up the process of getting a new one.

Scaning copies of your documents and emailing them to yourself incase of emergency may be a solution however going back to the original point made by AusDaddy you want to be very careful who you give them to. Would you use an online back if it didn't have top level SSL 128bit security and a password? This would be my argument against most internet based email accounts even if they have a "secure option", especially during upload and downloading documents - if you don't believe me just chek for yourself!!! Check out www.passportsupport.com as it provides accessability for your documents and bank level security for a reasonable annual subscription.

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