"Virtual Packing" all those documents

I have let go of paper entirely. I do save every relevant booking confirmation and email and receipt in a Google Mail folder for the trip. Next trips I will subdivide that into Transportation, Lodging, Misc Tickets and maybe more sub-folders. We’ll see.

Everything is referenced in my trip spreadsheet/Excel workbook, and details are entered into my calendar right down to train number, hotel confirmation number, ticket reference number, departure and arrival times and so on. Where possible (airlines for example) I let the confirming email make the calendar entry which then automatically links back to the source email.

I also save everything possible in Dropbox so I can get it on my iPad as needed for reference as well as on my phone. I don’t sweat the lack of WIFI as we buy an overseas pass from T-Mobile for the duration of the trip.

It is so nice to travel without that paper!

I too make an album for my planning items and put photos of everything in there. I also keep the paper copies with me, just in case. I am old school with this, but just don't want to run into issues and have to go searching when it can all be right in front of me.

I use Dropbox and use the "make available offline" feature, which allows access without wifi or data.

I very rarely take paper with me. I store everything digitally; usually in several places (i.e., email, Wanderlog, file folders on my phone, Apple Wallet or Google Docs). I like it because it's one less thing to carry, there is less chance of losing it, and quite honestly, I hate wasting all that paper.

I don't take photos of anything, though. Most hotel confirmations, train tickets, etc., arrive in digital form and can be saved that way. I do scan my passport and drivers license, though. Not credit cards, however, as I use the cards stored in Apple Wallet for everything I can.

Keep in mind that most document storage apps allow you to download documents on your phone so that you can access them even without wifi.

I save everything in Google Drive. Within the app on your phone, if you select the three dots next to the document name you can select "Make available offline." This saves a local copy to your phone so you can access the document without internet access.

I use a combination of Tripit Pro, Google Docs and separate folders in my email. Whatever I can, I make it "available offline."

I also do screenshots of tickets, boarding passes, etc.

Assuming that confirmations, tickets, etc. are electronic to begin with, it's easier to use print to PDF as opposed to scanning or photographing a hard copy, if the document isn't a PDF to begin with. A PDF us searchable, you can select and copy text, and hyperlinks are typically preserved.

I have local copies saved on the tablet, typically via OneDrive. I stopped using the Dropbox app once it became obnoxiously intrusive.

I make a pdf of everything and email it to myself. I then create an email folder and place every email for that trip in the email folder. This includes copies of passports, drivers licenses, front and back as well as credit credit cards front and back. Pictures of medicene bottles, etc. Just about everything goes in an email folder. This way I can access my email from anywhere. I do take paper copies of some items. After their use I just trash them. Paper doesn't take up any room in the suitcase.

I take photos/screenshots of passports, confirmations, train tickets, museum passes, etc. I then create a shared album with my travel companion. That way we both have them on our phones, and they get backed up and don’t need data.

I have a folder on my phone with digital documents,/tickets, travel plans, etc, have a photo of my passport. But if you lose your phone or don't otherwise have ready internet access you could be stuck. I still have paper back-ups and carry the relevant one with me on the day it could be needed.

I left my phone on a tour bus and had a paper back of the tour info - the hotel staff could call the tour company easily on my behalf- otherwise they would have had to search the info to get the tour company phone #- easy to do but these days but more work. I got my phone back the next day.

Hi Jeff,

Since you added a Boeing quote, can I assume you’re an engineer, too?

Since Excel is easy, I make a 1-page sheet that contains all of the hotels, day-of-week, costs, main activities for the day, train travel, etc. and color-code it with cells in green for paid activities (with entry time in bold), Sundays in yellow because transportation is less reliable that day, etc. I print this one page and bring a copy and leave one with my family.

I make a second Excel page for all of the train details, plus the next train number I would want to take if my. first train is delayed and I need to reschedule the second route.

For the redundancy you mentioned, I also load all of that info into TripIt. I have gone entire trips and only glanced at the Excel sheet, but sometimes I do like checking info on TripIt, instead.

For train travel in Italy, my tickets are all purchased & saved in the Trenitalia app - very handy.

For each city (and I move cities very often), I have found it easiest to just place screenshots of any reservations for that city into its own iCloud photo album. If it’s two 1-night stops in a row, I combine the cities.

I am very “old school” that I make a 1-page printed Google city map and mark up interests, a restaurant to try, a meeting point for a cooking class, etc. On the backside, I print the route to walk from the train station to my B&B or hotel. This is very time consuming because I’ve stayed at 10 cities on trips, but I arrive at the cities being very familiar virtually already because of creating those maps - not just referring to an on-line map. My goal is to not be looking at my phone while walking but to be approachable and remembering what I am seeing.

Hope that helps!

One Note.

It's set up like books. You can make a notebook called, say, "Travel". Then each tab is like a "Chapter". I set up a tab for each trip. Within each tab, you can create pages. I set up a page for anything and everything:
- one page for a simple itinerary
- one page for details (all my times and confirmation numbers)
- one page to drop my flight confirmation
- one page for each accommodation confirmation
- one page for my packing list
- maybe a page for the map of the layover terminal and where the lounges are
- maybe a page for luggage limits on THAT trip for THAT airline...
- a page for my To Do and To Buy lists
- a page to track weather trends.

You can type, draw, paste pictures, build tables, or create a page with lots of different content areas (like a newsprint spread). Post links, format your text with color, boldface, different fonts - whatever. The app makes it very easy to highlight what you need.

You can "print to One Note" from your email. So all those confirmations can just be printed to a blank page in your notebook, then renamed however you like.

One Note can be accessed from multiple devices, and you can share specific chapters with other people. I usually build most of my trips using my laptop, but while travelling, I only have a phone. Slightly different functionality on a phone/tablet, but it still works really well.

AND... if you make a point of opening every page each day (for that trip), an offline version will be available for a few days. I've been known to screenshot driving maps, paste the screenshots in One Note, open that One Note page while on my hotel WiFi in the morning, then head out into the wild with confidence I had good non-paper maps available. Also works for the page on which you keep confirmation numbers.

I use my One Note as a planning tool, so i have everything where I need it from the moment I start researching a trip. Another GREAT part is you can search across multiple open notebooks, so your past research is just a click away.

I have a dozen or more notebooks (travel, household projects, camera/photo, education, etc.) and probably thousands of pages by now (10+ years using). This year, I decided to pay the annual fee to expand my memory - the free option offered by Microsoft was plenty for many years of dropping pictures, pasting whole webpages, and lots of digital "printouts".

I realize most folks trust having access to their phones or computers over pieces of paper, but I just don't find paper to be burdensome. You don't have to print out every email or attachment. I find it much quicker to pull out a piece of paper, like an index card with your confirmation numbers, flight numbers, trusted traveler number, frequent flyer number, etc., when you're standing in line in front of an increasingly unfriendly clerk. I have unorganized photo backup on my phone. I used to put copies on a tiny thumb drive.

The one thing I suggest people consider, is keeping the non-toll-free phone numbers for your bank cards in your phone contact list with the CVV number etc.