Use the Internet to Save Your Trip

You’re on vacation and you just lost your driver’s license and/or other important papers.  You no longer have the federal or state issued photo ID to expedite getting through security. What do you do? 

In today’s world you can save copies of important documents on the internet. Whether it be from your smartphone, iPad or another computer, you have the ability to get copies of important papers should a travel emergency occur. Note that should a situation arise at home as well, having this information on the internet can make life easier for you as well.

Evernote is one good place to put this information. You can store pictures as well as writing notes about important information. Need to keep a copy of your driver’s license and passport?  Evernote is a good option.        

Before I got my smartphone I found it to be a good idea to scan all except the credit cards and then save it to a Microsoft Word (MS Word) file.  As for credit cards, I make a list of that using MS Excel. I have the name of the card in one column, the card number in another column and a contact number in a third column. You can also do a list in MS Word.  Using MS Excel is a personal preference as I find it easier to work with this information using MS Excel. Today I would take a picture with my smartphone and upload it before saving it as an MS Word file.

When saving these files I make sure to password protect them. I then email the file to myself. What I am doing here is adding an extra layer of security to information that if it fell into the wrong hands would make me more susceptible to identity theft. One would need to know both my email password as well as the password I am using to protect the respective files that contain this sensitive data. I would suggest making the passwords for your email and files different.

One does not have to limit this to just credit cards, passport and drivers license. Scanning current drug prescriptions you are using and saving them to MS Word is another good idea where you have a copy of the prescription. If you were to lose the prescription drugs you had packed, you should have an easier time refilling it. You can also put the numbers of your travelers checks in a file as well. My contacts list in my email account is my phone book. Should I need a number I can get it wherever I have an internet connection which includes my smartphone. While we are on the subject of prescription drugs, it is a good idea to have a picture of the case, box, etc with the drug information on your phone. If you are seeing a doctor who is not familiar with you and asks for a list of the drugs you take, this will come in handy.

Doing all of these is not a magic bullet should you have a loss. It will however make it easier to travel and in the case of a passport get a replacement more easily. I would also suggest that you avoid using an unsecured public wireless network to obtain any of this.

Hopefully you will never need to access these files in an emergency.  However, having them should the need arise will make your life easier.

There is no one correct way to be proactive here.  I have just given 2 ways.  Please feel free to mention how you store this information online and if you would put any additional information out there.

If you have additional questions about storing information on the internet, I can be reached at (917) 572-3468 or email me at mike@computerconciergeny.com 

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Computer training and many types of computer repairs can be done remotely. If you or someone you know needs either training to better use your computer or repairs I am now doing it on a remote basis in addition to in person locally.

http://computerconciergeny.com/3/post/2012/10/joinme-how-to-use-to-allow-someone-to-remotely-view-and-control-your-computer.html takes you to a narrative to use Join.me. It is a very user friendly site and it is easy to temporarily allow control of your computer. I also did an online video as well which is on the following link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyRSqpYNVQY



Computer Concierge NY LLC provides expert computer and technology services in the Queens, NY area. This includes Albertson, Bayside, Bayside Hills, Bay Terrace, Bellerose, College Point, Douglaston, Floral Park,  Flushing, Forest Hills, Great Neck, Jamaica Estates, Kew Gardens, Kings Point, Lake Success, Manhasset, Mineola, Munsey Park,  New Hyde Park, North Hills, North Shore Towers, Oakland Gardens, Plandome, Rego Park, Roslyn, The Bay Club, Thomaston, University Gardens, Williston Park, Whitestone and Other Areas in the Bayside, NY vicinity.  Our web services are provided worldwide.

About Our Online Distractions; Are They?

Recently I read a blog post on Bayside Patch where the writer mentioned that many of us have become addicted to the online world. There were some very valid points that the author brought up. That said there are also ways that being online has given us free time as opposed to taking away time.

We have become an information society where information is both available and demanded quicker. The killing of Osama Bin Laden and the death of Whitney Houston broke on Twitter before anywhere else. It used to be if you needed to do research you went to the library. Now you can do your research online. I can remember having to wait for the news to get weather and sports or dialing 976-1212 or 976-1313 which if I remember was a local call for charging purposes and the information I was looking for could be at the end. Today you can set alerts on your smartphone for the weather as well as the score of your favorite teams.  If we are not, we all should be lifelong learners. Google “opencourseware” and see all the free college courses available online. YouTube is a good source of educational videos as well.

It used to be that unless you ordered from mail order catalogues you had to spend time getting in your car and going to the store to buy what you were looking for. In this day of $4 a gallon gas, you can order going online any hour of the day from your home. You’re saving gas and driving time plus a lot of times the price is less than when you go to a store.

Banking online is also a growing trend. You can pay your bills online automatically saving the time of writing a check to the same payee every month for the same amount. Paying bills online is faster and less expensive (think stamps). You no longer have to write the same checks every month.

Text messaging has become a big thing with the younger generation. My sons do not want me leaving voice mail messages. They want me to leave text messages instead. Texts are quicker to read then listening to a voicemail. Grandparents have gotten on Facebook partially because that is how they find out what their grandchildren are up to. Our phone books and calendars are online. The list goes on.

Being online can be a saver of time and money from the standpoint of business travel. There is less of a need to travel for business meetings in many cases. Meetings can be done via Skype, Google+ hangouts or another online medium. Time and money spent travelling are saved because these meetings can occur online. This can give some businesspeople more family time.

Newspapers have fallen victim to the online world. The New Orleans Times Picayune will start publishing 3 days a week and will no longer be a daily paper. The news is more current online then the published version. Declining newspaper circulations are also saving trees as less paper is needed to reach the declining circulation.

I mentioned Skype earlier. If you are unfamiliar with Skype, it enables you to have a video conference with another Skype user anytime, anywhere without a time limit for free. Not only does it have business uses but people are using it to keep in touch with out of town friends and family. It is touching to see grandparents talk about and seeing them have a conversation on Skype with their out of town grandchildren. I know of a family who lives in New York who did a Passover Seder with family in Australia using Skype. The telephone company used to say, “Long distance: the next best thing to being there.”  In today’s word, Skype may be the next best thing to being there.

While our online activity can be a distraction, it also can save time as well. Yes we have become addicted to the online world but so much is going on in today’s world that occurs there. I think we all have seen people together in a public place keeping busy on their phone rather than interacting. Is it necessary? Personally I can remember growing up playing in the park and playgrounds with friends and enjoying being outdoors. I am concerned when instead of enjoying our parks and playgrounds, young people are indoors playing games on their Wii, Xbox or another video game console. For those who feel the need to check their email or texts while connecting during dinner maybe a compromise is in order. Perhaps check to see if the call, message or email is something of a truly urgent nature. If not, it can wait. If it truly is urgent and by this I mean an emergency then yes take the call, answer the text or whatever. Otherwise use the time to connect with friends and loved ones.

If you are interested in learning how to better use your technology and save some time of your own call me at (917) 572-3468.


Computer Concierge NY LLC provides expert computer and technology services in the Queens, NY area. This includes Albertson, Bayside, Bayside Hills, Bay Terrace, Bellerose, College Point, Douglaston, Floral Park,  Flushing, Forest Hills, Great Neck, Jamaica Estates, Kew Gardens, Kings Point, Lake Success, Manhasset, Mineola, Munsey Park,  New Hyde Park, North Hills, North Shore Towers, Oakland Gardens, Plandome, Rego Park, Roslyn, The Bay Club, Thomaston, University Gardens, Williston Park, Whitestone and Other Areas in the Bayside, NY vicinity.  Our web services are provided worldwide.