Printed Documents

Many of us print out the items you mention as well as marking emails and using Wallet for tickets. I always like a back-up in case of tech failure. I have also needed to find an email quickly and failed - even when marked for quick retrieval. Printed info is sometimes easier for me than tech search when feeling anxious. It takes me little time to print hard copies.

I recommend creating an album in your Photos for travel stuff. Screenshot train tickets (specifically the QR codes), hotel reservations, museum tickets, etc. Include a photo of your passport. This way you can access all of these without data.

In the last 3 years of travel I have stopped printing anything unless there are specific instructions to do so. And that has happened once my last 4 trips to Europe.

Airline and train tickets are in either the app or my iPhone wallet, sometimes both. I keep all confirmation emails for hotels, restaurants, car rental, sights, ...in trip folder in email. Also, all tickets/QR codes for sights, concerts, theater are saved in the trip folder as well as a screenshot in a trip album in Photos.

This has been working well for me.

I used to print everything, but no more. Airline boarding passes I keep in my phone wallet (and indeed for many airlines they just ask for your passport when doing checkin/bag drop). Train tickets - in my phone wallet. Hotel reservations- in my email.

I do still keep a printed copy of my travel insurance

I print EVERYTHING. Really, everything. AND I have electronic versions (PDF, text docs, whatever) on our phones and iPads. I find I use the paper copies of things more than pulling out the phone or iPad. Bring both, and see what's most handy and accessible for you.

It's really personal choice. Some people like to have printed documents others have moved onto everything digital.

What I do is....

--use Tripit Pro to keep a record of everthing I have booked--flights, hotels, rental cars, tickets, tours, etc. The Pro version also sends reminders about checking in and will follow flights and alert me to any changes.

--set up a separate email folder for each trip and move emails to that folder. This makes them easier to find.

--use apps as much as possible but also take screen shots of tickets and boarding passes

Sometimes an app will have continung problems--are you listening British Airways--so I will print out a boarding pass at the airport. I use a self service machine and not wait in line.

I was going to say exactly what Frank just said - it's really personal choice.

If I didn’t print tickets & reservations that are paid, I would want to bring a power bank which I currently don’t need.

I do make an iCloud folder for each city I visit and place the screenshot of reservations, tickets, just in case. But other than train apps, I am showing paper tickets. It’s just me, but I don’t like handing my phone to someone who’s handling a lot of tickets to an event entree.

Oh, Simon’s comment reminded me- last year I had to return home quickly because of a family emergency. Having the papers printed of my remaining hotels, etc. made it so much easier to submit info for being reimbursed by the travel insurance company. I had easy proof of what I had paid & reserved to scan & upload to them since it was a stack in my folder. When a person is in shock, those papers were a blessing!

I'm learning to use my phone for tickets and passes, but I do prefer paper, when possible. With paper, I know it's there!

Frank - Glad to hear that BA’s app problems are not “just me”!!!!

Thank you everyone! Our first trip to Europe, so we ended up printing things out as a back up. Great advise! Keep on Traveling 😁

Always have a print backup, it can't crash. Also, at airports when you're checking in you can get an actual paper boarding pass which I much prefer to slamming my phone onto a turnstile.

We have digital copies (either .jpg graphics or .pdf's) on each of our phones. I also make printouts of a few of the most critical ones for each of us to keep. It's not that much paper, and I like backups. Recently, on a trip to Switzerland, we each had a Swiss Travel Pass. I printed the QR code for each of us to keep in our wallets. Worked fine, until my wife's got pretty wrinkled, and wouldn't scan well, so we went back to using the .pdf. However, on one occasion, we went to take the Harder Kulm cog railway, and the STP would give us half off. The .pdf of the QR code was not accepted. The paper printouts of the STP were accepted. And then we went to the Ballenburg Open Air Museum, which was covered 100% by the STP. Again, the QR code was not accepted, and we had to show the full-page prinout to get our free tickets.

So I don't recommend being too fanatic about going completely paperless. Same thing about being fanatical about not carrying any money. Sooner or later that fanaticism will come back and bite you.

Agree with everything said on your phone screen shots of tickets, etc. but I like printing out tickets that have barcodes because sometimes the phone scan doesn't work well, or you can't pull it up from your phone right when you need it - especially if it's a party of 4 or more on one phone.

We pretty much do what Frank II and Kim do. One thing we always upload the next three days itineraries, e-tickets etc directly to our Iphones. That way if we have no data service we can pull up any information that we need.

Ed, good point about data service. We do have data service everywhere (we have Tmobile), and we want it for train apps, airline apps, mapping, etc...

But we don't have anything in the "cloud". Every file is in an obsessively organized directory on each of our phones. Everything is synchronized with network storages on our home network, but I don't even allow our home network storage to be accessed outside our house, for security reasons. I know that Samsung, and especially Apple, will want to keep all your photos, documents, notes, etc... "in the cloud". Just say no.

One exception for me is that most evenings, in the hotel, I use the hotel wifi to connect to a Google account where I upload the day's edited photos. I want them backed up.

And also as a backup, I have an extra phone I keep in my bag, which has all the aforementioned documents, passes, etc... I always figure if one of our phones is lost, stolen or broken, we would just use the backup phone and carry on. The backup phone has an esim from Roamless which gives me high speed data anywhere for $2.45/Gb. And if a phone has data, there are a lot of ways to text and make phone calls.

My recent experience - My British Airways boarding pass for a flight from Manchester to London wouldn’t load to Apple Wallet, so I did a screen shot. The bar code wouldn’t read to let me into the gate area. The security guard tried it, too, and then told me I would have to go back to the BA desk and get a paper copy, which, of course, meant standing in a long line. The security guard said that sometimes the bar codes weren’t clear enough on screen shots.

I normally print copies of my passport and credit cards in case they are lost. I also will print tickets (train, timed entry to sights, etc.) because a) I worry my phone will be out of juice, and b) I am in my 70s and still a fan of paper calendars and newspapers. :)

Ed, good point about data service. We do have data service everywhere (we have Tmobile), and we want it for train apps, airline apps, mapping, etc...

We have a AT&T international plan. I download just in case the network we are using does not want to "cooperate or goes down". For me it is more "belt & suspenders".

yep, personal choice. That being said, I print! Once in Paris they asked for proof of where I was staying and I whipped out my hotel confirmation, happily NOT handing over my phone. If I'm frantic at all, I like a hard copy in my hands.

Like others, I print everything -- transportation, tickets, hotel reservations. etc. Even my itinerary. I also make email files, use Apple Wallet, Notes and Calendar on my phone. The only tech I take is my phone so if it malfunctions or gets lost or stolen, I have a paper back-up. Call me "old-fashioned" but as a solo traveler it's my comfort level.