There are multiple cloud services available and I don't recommend any particular service over another. You may already have a Google, Apple or another cloud service. In my case I used DropBox. Just personal choice.
Cloud services can be a very valuable travel tool. If you've ever been in that horrible situation where your passports and other items have been lost or stolen it's a deeply sickening feeling, enough to ruin your holiday. Sometimes it's by accident and other times it's the result of malicious theft.
If this happens, the very first thing you need is to access copies of what you have lost so you can inform the authorities. That could be the local authorities or your countries embassy. For years, good practice would be to take a photocopy of your passport and store it separate from your original passport, either in your carry on or in your luggage zipper compartment. But what about if you lost things like tickets, itinerary information, details of your medication, visa documents? What if you had a catastrophic loss of documents.
This is where a Cloud service is invaluable for the modern traveller. Prior to us leaving for Europe, I uploaded multiple scanned documents to my DropBox account. These include scanned copies of our passports, drivers licences, itinerary, travel insurance, medical scripts and doctors certificates, accommodation confirmations, air and rail confirmations plus other tickets and tours. Most of these were already in a PDF format emailed directly from the suppliers.
This is how I set up my folders within DropBox. Again, just a personal choice.
Now, the question will arise what happens if you lose your phone / iPad or the battery runs out or if you can't get wi-fi access ? Valid questions with today's technology.
The first thing I did was to make the folders sharable with my wife's free DropBox account. Both of us could easily access the documents anytime anywhere if needed. We also downloaded the folders to our devices so no wi-fi connection was needed.
But what about the worst-case scenario. What if we had a catastrophic loss such as a robbery and lost all devices, phones, iPad, notebooks etc. Now what ? Well, DropBox like most Cloud services is accessible from any computer either at the hotel, police station or embassy. You just require your log-in and password to your cloud account to view your documents on any computer.
** IMPORTANT** If you do need to access your cloud account from a different computer, just ensure you untick the 'Remember Me' tab so other users after you can not access your account.
The other benefit of using a Cloud service is the world is now quite clearly in a digital era. More and more operators will be using barcodes or QR Codes so no paper copies are needed. Especially for trains and airline boarding passes.
I can only remember once that I needed to print off a hard copy of a ticket. For this, I asked our Hotel if they would kindly assist us by printing our tickets. I emailed them within a minute and they printed them straight away.
Cloud services offer such a great sense of security and peace of mind knowing you'll always be able to access important documents when needed.
About the Author
The author of this blog, unless otherwise noted has no affiliation with any property or business linked in this blog. Unless otherwise noted, there is no free accommodation or payment from any businesses mentioned in this blog. The information contained in this blog is strictly the views of the author and not professional advice. The author of this BookDirect blog is a travel and tourism professional with over 30 years of experience in international hotel management, global travel, short-term rental management and a tourism awards judge specialising in accommodation and attractions.
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