Print email confirmations ASAP...
 

Please learn from my mistake--print all confirmations, reservations, etc. as soon as you receive them--don't wait. As a result of a software glitch --not a virus-- in our computer yesterday our entire email account was wiped out. We have several big trips in the works and though I printed many emails I did not print them all and as a result I've lost reservation information for a few hotels, etc. I'm sure everything will work out but I'll have to do some serious back tracking--please don't let this happen to you!

Ouch! Thanks for the warning - I always end up printing off my reservations the night before I go. One of these days I'm going to wander out of the office and forget completely.

This is a good idea, as I lost some of my important email, also -- sort of a software problem, but related to a dying hard drive.

I keep a backup copy of any really important reservations and confirmations on a different email account, and that is a good idea, also. I use my main personal account to make them, and then forward a copy of all final reservations/confirmations to my business work email account. If either one is missing or erased, I have a copy on the other machine. I also send a copy at the same time to a "free" internet email account I maintain on Yahoo -- that one is pretty failsafe as the received mail is kept on the Yahoo server, not on my machine, and I can also access it from any computer while I am traveling.

It's also a good idea to email them to a generic account (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) so that you can access them at a net cafe in Europe if your paperwork gets lost along the way.

Thanks for the great suggestions--I appreciate it. We have an external modem that the computer backs up to every night but unfortunately emails are not included in the save.