Hey all. A customer just shared a great idea with me. It is so simple, it's brilliant.

By now, most of you have heard that you can travel around Costa Rica with a copy of your passport and leave the original in your room safe. This is a great idea. But what happens if you somehow just lose everything?

Whenever she travels internationally, she scans her passport and sends it to herself in an Email. That way, she can download a copy anytime, from anywhere. A scan is usually better than a photocopy too.

If you ever lose your passport in a foreign country, it is a lot easier to replace it if you have the copy.

This will now be part of my travel regimen.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I can offer more advice.

Warm Regards,
Pat Hewitt
(Travel professional)

Great idea Pat. Thanks for sharing!

I'm making a scanned copy this very moment, Pat. Thanks. That's a great idea.

But ...

Remember that the passport copy you carry in Costa Rica has to include the page with your entry stamp, and that's a copy you can't make until after you arrive.

Pat and Jeff, Thank you both for some great info. I always carry a copy but didn't know you had to have the entry stuff copied as well. I have my passport scanned already but never thought to send it to myself so it would be available in case of emergency.

Pat,
That is brilliant and simple. Thanks for the great tip.

Ditto here, Pat--great tip.

That is a really good tip.

I also email myself the phone numbers of my financial institutions, encrypted credit and bank card #s, insurance info and my itinerary.

Google mail even has a documents section now so you don't have to email it to yourself.

It's also a really good idea to upload your pics (instead of burning a CD, and it's cheaper) - use Google's Picasa, it saves the original image (size, properties) and can be accessed from any computer! You don't have to worry about losing pics.

I also leave a scanned copy with my assistant just in case I can't access email and/or a printer. If necessary, she can fax it or email it to the consulate for me.