From Kathleen Crislip,
Your Guide to Student Travel.
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Travel Documents Copy Tip

_{Before you start this short tutorial, you may want to learn all about travel documents -- click here for more.}

Email yourself important travel document copies. If you lose your passport, visa, airline tickets, credit / debit cards or driver's license, you can download copies. Ah hah!

Make copies before you leave home and stash a set in your travel journal or somewhere away from the originals.

Lost everything? Be a savvy traveler and replace travel document copies with some clicks of the mouse.

Email Yourself Copies of Important Travel Documents

• Step 1 - Scan important travel papers

  If you don't want to lose it, you'll know you should scan it. If you haven't got a scanner, try an office supply place like Kinko's. Travel documents you might want to scan (check out all travel documents you may want to carry):

  • Passport

  • Visa (country entry or work documents)

  • Airline tickets (if you use e-tickets, you can get a new copy from the airline's site)

  • Credit or debit cards (useful to have the credit card number when calling or emailing the bank)

  • Driver's license, student identification card, ISIC or other picture ID
    If you haven't scanned before, read these scanning tutorials for some tips..if you aren't familiar with sending and receiving emails, including leaving them on the server, read this email tutorial.

• Step 2 - Save each document as a .jpeg or a .gif file
  • After you scan, you'll be prompted to save - save as .jpeg or .gif documents.

• Step 3 - Email files to yourself at a Web Email Address
  • Create a new email document within your web email interface for each document.

  • Attach a document

  • Type your own address into the address field
    
  • Send the email

  If you have a web email provider, like Yahoo, you may know the drill. If not, find it in the provider's online FAQ's (your provider's web address comes after the @ symbol in your address - i.e. an email address of you@yahoo.com means yahoo.com is the provider's web address; type yahoo.com into a web browser's address bar to reach your provider's home page). If you don't have a web email provider, get a free email account. A permanent web based email account is best for these documents.

• Step 4 - Leave the emails on the server

  Check your email account before you leave home and ensure that the docs you sent yourself came through properly, but leave them on the server (don't delete them; ensure that your email client is configured to leave mails on the server until you delete them).

Download Important Travel Documents When and Where You Need Them

The documents can now be downloaded from any spot on the planet where you can access the the internet and your web email (find out about cyber cafes and see a worldwide list). Print the docs out and you have copies to help you replace important travel documents. You're back in the travelin' biz!

Which Travel Documents Will I Need?

Learn about all the travel documents you may need or want, like international driving permits and more -- decide whether you will need them now because with some travel documents, like immunizations (shots) records, you may have to start early to get them before you leave.

• Learn about the travel documents you need