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60 thoughts on “Be smart! 10 essential travel documents you must have”

  3. Essentials, definitely. But never thought about pictures because usually we don’t veer away from a planned itinerary.

  5. I wish someone had told me all of that before I started to travel! Great information, and I hadn’t thought about carrying the extra photos. I may just have to take your advice.

  7. I love seeing what other nationalities passports looks like. The Brazilian one is nice!!! It’s so hard when you travel full time to make sure you have all the right documents. I’ll add a suggestion. If you’re travelling with kids, be sure to bring along a copy of their birth certificate to show you are in fact their parents! I know some countries require it now, particularly if you intend to fly without the kids father – South Africa I believe is one of them.

  9. Thanks for the heads up guys! Especially making a copy of everything: people seem to forget that one! I’d also add that if you’re teaching English abroad, make sure you have your original degree / CELTA / TEFL certificates!

  11. re. money: I have found that, the few times I was asked to show funds, a gold credit card was sufficient. Most border authorities know that this has a limit of around US$10,000. And believe me: we’re usually strapped for cash!

    re. return ticket: this should be rephrased! For most countries an ongoing ticket is all they need. All they care is that you will leave their country. We travel overland, in our own camper, and never have to show such ticket. Only during visa application for Brazil were we asked for a ticket, but our explanation (that we’re driving and crossing land borders) was accepted too. If you travel by bus and cross borders you most likely won’t have a plane ticket to leave the country either (or one from an airport 2 countries ahead).

  13. I have never been asked to show proof of funds to travel. Where does this apply? Not that I’m expecting you to provide a full list, but just curious to know a few examples. Thanks!

    • Hi!
      Happened to us in Spain. Some countries like Thailand mention on their Embassy/Consulate websites about the minimum amount of money you should have. (Although we crossed Thai border over 5 times and they never asked)
      Cheers!

  15. These are really important and useful reminders especially the cloning your documents. I had a lot of “bad” experiences with this one when I was a newbie traveler. I suddenly needed it and I only had the original and of course couldn’t give that. Now Ive learned to travel having duplicates and having things I need with me.

      • Actually also smart if u can leave a copy at home or with someone you can trust or at least scan/email a copy to yourselves (for security I don’t email everything on same in case of hack)
        This is just in case your bags get stolen (with your 2nd copy of everything, that will do you no good!) worst case, you can ask friend or family to forward to you in emergency. Copies will make getting replacements much easier at embassy or for creditcard discussion. Also if no extra funds to book ongoing flight out of country (cancel fees high etc) then look at booking a train reservation instead. ?. Booking.com usually has no deposit & free hotel cancellation if you need to show accommodation booking, but be considerate of the hotel, cancel early as possible?

  17. Nice list, although I’d make one quick addition to it.

    Often when you enter a country, you’ll receive a tourist card, or perhaps a receipt if there is a small entrance fee.

    Keep all of that stuff until you have left the country!

    Many places keep no record of it, so you may need the physical copy to simply exit, or possibly to avoid paying a tourist fee twice!

  18. This is great! I’ve only ever traveled internationally for work and my employer took care of most of this. So good to have this info all in one place so I can go on my own now!

    • Hey Valerie!!
      Wish I have a company to take care of all my travel documents too… 😉
      Being a nomad means have a doc wallet full of paper all the time… But is worth! Happy travels,

      Nat

    • Thanks Kimberly!!
      I always feel weird while crossing the immigration desks, always feel like I forgot one doc or something else… That’s why I decided to put this list together, so that even I can double check it when I’m travelling to a new country. 😀
      Cheers,
      Nat

  20. Great list of info – all in one spot. I have not encountered getting a Visa at the country, but have always done it ahead. Now adding photos to our travel documents based on your great tip. THANK YOU!!!
    Natalie, The Educational Tourist

  21. You are super right, sort out the visa ahead the trip, it saves time and energy. For us, Brazilians, in many countries we can apply for visa on arrival, but not worth the hassle…
    About the photos, I never thought about carrying them, till the day I needed. Now I always have at least two in my bag.

    All the best,

    Nat

  22. Great post Nat! Very handy list for the disorganised amongst us (cough – that’s me!). I always get stuck with the address one… it’s so hard when you’re travelling from place to place – customs don’t understand travelling spontaneity ;). Taking photos and copies of your documents is a great tip. I’m sharing this and bookmarking it so I can make sure I’m organised in future. Thanks guys!

    • Hi Gabby,
      Wou are welcome 😉
      Yes, sometimes Customs Officials are not easy to please!
      One more tip, don`t mention that you are a writer when travelling to a conservative country. They held us for a while in Morocco…

  23. Number 5 is so important and we are always reminding others to have their accommodation info with them. We had an issue in Thailand as we had booked with AIrbnb and had no address or phone number to give. They told us to search on our phones and find any hotel to put on the forms – luckily that airport had wifi for us to use!

  24. Useful advice! It noises me up that you always need a way out, no such thing as a footloose and fancy free traveller anymore. I was freaking out about Canadian immigration not accepting that we were going to get a bus to Seattle in Jan but it was all good.

  25. Great post!!!

    I have to admit that I made few mistakes for my first backpacking trip – for example, I wasn’t aware how they want to know where I was gonna stay at. My travel partner and I were planning to stay at a couch surf’s place, so we didn’t have the address because we were gonna meet the couchsufer at specific subway station. It was really a problem and and difficult time communicating with them (we’re Deaf) and explaining to them that we stay at a “friend’s” place and do not know the address. The employee grew frustrated and let us through. After this experience, we always prepare the addresses. I feel bad for that employee, but luckily, we made it through.

  28. Nice article! These are good reminders, and I would have never thought of taking pictures of mine with me.
    Does anyone have any experience in arriving to Uruguay, Argentina, Chile or Peru? I am traveling there next year, and I wont have probably hotels/transports booked, as it will be a long trip, and I would not like to have issues!
    To share one of my experiences, I can tell you about arriving to Rio de Janeiro last year with Spanish passport. I remember it was recommended to bring some proof that you have plenty of money to expend there, a place to stay and a hotel, but they didn’t check for anything in the end and the process went really quick!

  29. Hi Estela!!
    Thanks for stopping by!
    As you said, sometime the immigration officer just don´t care about checking documents. But to be on the safe side and avoid problem is always good to know the rules and have all the docs with you, just in case they decided to ask.
    About Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Peru, I´m almost sure they will ask the same documents as Brazil: passport, proof of funds and maybe outbound ticket. About the hotel booking, it´s a good idea to book a hotel or hostel that you can cancel. For example, at Booking.com many hotels you can cancel 24h before arrival with no cost. So maybe you can book a night, just to have a paper to show to the immigration in case they ask.
    Now it´s my time to ask you something! If you are going to book your accommodation online, please use our blog for it. On our travel Travel Resource page we have a list of all the companies and websites we use and trust, if you book through them we receive a little commission to keep blogging!
    Thanks, and happy travels Estela!!

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  32. One of the most usefull travel blogs that I read and also very inspiring ?Although the preparation for at least 1 year travel “don’t seams to be a joke” still make me to want such experience.
    In the end “The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being” -Socrates

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