About three weeks ago, we traveled to Portland, OR.  It was my boyfriend Doug and my first visit and we absolutely loved it – the waterfalls, the gorge, the coast, green green green everywhere.  There was only one crack in our travel, and it was a big one.

On our second day, we took to the coast.  We had not seen an ocean in a year and were very excited.  We parked and sprinted to the sand with mobile phones in hand for pics, completely forgetting to put our junk in the trunk.  You know the rest of the story … Smashed window.  Purse grabbed.   Left with not even a quarter for a gumball and no ID to get to the bank for cash.  Ugh.  More importantly, I lost all of my Laura Mercier lip goop!  Jeeze.  That was worth more than the cash in my wallet!

Luckily, I was able to contact my roommate back home in Texas and she was able to access my locked file cabinet where I had copies of all of my important documents, so on my return flight I was able to show TSA copies of my IDs.  That got me wondering: what would happen if I had had no way to get copies of my ID’s while traveling?

When I returned home, I researched online and asked my super tech savvy friends if they had some sort app or device or superior way to keep copies of their important documents entirely secure and yet handy while they are traveling.   Here are the top five responses:

1) Keep a password protected zip drive on your key chain.

2) Take pictures or scan them and save the files on a secure app on your mobile.

3) Keep a folder in Dropbox (Be careful, though, due to the file sharing nature of this sitethis option may not be as secure as some of the others).

4) Make copies and send to your Mom.

5) Ask a very good friend to keep copies at hand just in case you need them.

If any of you have suggestions for a very secure (not saved in the cloud), very simple way to save important documents for super quick and easy retrieval when you are not able to get the originals from home, please let me know?  I want to be prepared next time I am out of town.  You can contact me with your suggestions, and I’ll update this blog.

Thanks and happy trails to you!