An advantageous use of technology and one that also reduces the weight of your bags or backpack, is to store useful information and travel documents on the cloud, Internet based storage sites. There are various free cloud-based services on the Internet where documents, important phone numbers and addresses, even your pictures, can be stored. This method of storage allows for access almost anywhere in the world and is extremely secure. By secure I mean the data is stored under a user name and password only you should know, behind ultra high tech firewalls in redundant computer networks with reliable power supply and backup.
When I’m making trip plans with other people, we use Google docs to develop these documents, each of us in the group collaborating on schedules and packing lists. From almost anywhere in the world you now have access to this information. Save a copy of important information to some sort of cloud based solution. Also, I save all my contacts, notes, calendars and photos to my iCloud (Apple) account. This occurs automatically anytime my phone is connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi. Another simple method is to email all such data to your own email account. Make sure you are able to—and you know how to—access your email from a web browser on any computer.
Imagine you lost your phone, your ID and all your important documents and you have made your way to the nearest embassy representing your country. If you have scanned a copy of your ID (passport), insurance cards and other important documents to PDF and saved them to a Dropbox.com account, emailed them to yourself or taken pictures of them with your smart device and saved them to a Flickr.com or similar account, then all you need is Internet access. In such cases this will seriously expedite replacement of a passport and allow you to put your hands on any other documents you may need. There are several options and approaches to meet this possible scenario. Check them out and determine what works best for you.