The PAC Guide to… vacation planning and travel documents


We could all use a vacation. After a while away from the airport, lots of us could use a little hand getting to the runway.

 

Obviously, we can’t really help find your passport – when was the last time you checked where that was anyway? However, we can show you a few tips and tricks we use to keep all the other documents and things you’ll need safe. So it’s all smooth sailing, even if you’re not going on a cruise.

Copy your ID

Having a clear copy of your ID – passport, driving licence, national identity card – saved somewhere safe (and secure) is always a good idea. Sometimes accidents happen, and passports can get misplaced while you’re abroad. Having a copy isn’t just useful for proving your identity, but can help sort a replacement passport that bit faster. Save on lengthy trips to the embassy or delays at the departure airport and keep as much time for fun as possible – even if your passport won’t play ball.

Avoid hotel hell

Save all hotel confirmations to your Personal Archive Account. Make sure you can find your booking number, the hotel address and room information as soon as you arrive. Dealing with reservation issues is last thing you want after passing through customs, taking a long flight and then getting stuck in the traffic in your taxi; you want to get settled into your room and start the vacation. This is also a useful tip for making sure you get what you paid for. Having a clear confirmation of all your room inclusions (from late check out to the included breakfast) can sort out any confusion at the check-in desk.

 

Plan your itinerary

Even if you’re not a Type-A planner, it’s nice to know what you’re going to be up to on your vacation. Whether you’ve arranged activities like watersports or tours, have booked into that unmissable restaurant or have simply drawn up a list of bucket list attractions, keeping everything together means you’ll never miss out.

We recommend tagging all your travel documents with #travel. Perhaps add a destination-based hashtag so you can keep all your vacations straight. For reservations or bookings you could add another tag, so you can easily sift through files and get what you need. You can even have a copy of a booking pass or ticket QR code, which can be easily scanned from your screen. This cuts out the need to be carrying multiple bits of paper around – free up your hands for an ice cream (or two).

Take the whole gang

Travelling with others? Perhaps bringing the whole family along, or organising a University reunion with your friends? Why not create a shared vacation folder in your PAC account?

Load all the documents needed by everyone – flight details, hotel bookings, trip information and itineraries. Then, all you’ll need to do is create a hashtag so the whole crew has access to the important documents. This is also ideal for families keeping track of loved ones – parents can know all the details of a trip and you can rest assured someone else will know all the details in case you need any assistance.

Save those memories

Planning is only the beginning, of course. The adventures you have, the things you see and the memories you make are the best part of any trip. You can make space in your Personal Archive Account to save any particularly precious mementos of your vacation. You can even share them with selected people. Perhaps you want to forward on a recommendation to a friend, or share your favourite vacation snap with the grandparents.

 

These are just some of our favourite ways you can use your Personal Archive document management and sharing capability to make vacations breeze. You can arrange your files as you see fit, rest assured they’re secure, and access them at a moment’s notice.

Learn more about our plans here.