The Go-To Guide To Go

If you have already created a Go-To Guide and/or organized your documents in your Go-To Files, you know how handy it is to have all of your important information at your fingertips. But what if you are away from home? Will you have what you need when you are on the road? Yes, if you assemble your own Go-To Guide To Go before you leave town!

As with the Go-To Guide, I developed the GTG To Go over time, drawing from my travel experiences in Europe, Mexico, and South America. I wanted to feel secure if a problem came up, so I recorded important travel and emergency information into a little notebook that I carried with me in my purse. I didn’t want to be lost if something happened to my phone or if wi-fi were unavailable.

During most of my travels, I have not needed my notebook to do more than serve double-duty as a reference and travel diary. But on a recent trip to Mexico, I was walking by myself and fell on a sidewalk, breaking several ribs and injuring my back. I knew I needed to get to an emergency room, but there was no 911or ambulance service available. What was I to do?

I flagged down a taxi and asked to be taken to an urgent care clinic. The driver looked at me blankly, so I dug out my little notebook and showed him the name and address of a clinic near where I was staying. At the clinic, when asked about my prescription medications, I was again able to refer to my notebook. And had I needed to contact my Airbnb host for local support or figure out health insurance or talk to my doctor at home, that information was also at my fingertips.

It is certainly not a novel concept to have emergency information with you when you travel; I’ve been doing it for years. But what was invaluable to me in this situation was having emergency information written down and instantly accessible, not on my password-protected phone or back in my lodgings.

So what does my Go-To Guide To Go look like?
My current favorite notebook for creating a GTG To Go is a small Moleskine soft-cover ruled “cahier” journal. I begin by entering Basic information on the first page: my name, email address, and mobile phone number (including country code).

On the next page, I write down Contact information, where I include my local phone number (if I have purchased a local SIM card), phone numbers of local contacts (if I am visiting friends or family), and information on any emergency contacts. If I am staying put for a while, I include the address and cross streets of my accommodations, which comes in handy for planning bus routes and directing taxi drivers. I also add local emergency numbers for both police and medical help. And even if I have added international calling services to my cell phone plan, I write down instructions for making local and international calls from a local phone. The last thing I want to have to figure out in an emergency is how to call home from a borrowed phone!

On the following pages, I list Transportation information, including travel dates and times, flight or train numbers, and confirmation codes. I note the toll-free US phone number for the airline to enable me to speak to someone in English. I include information on available ground transportation so that I can easily make connections and buy tickets even if I arrive fatigued.

I then note my Accommodation information, including the dates of my stay, the name of the hotel (or friend or Airbnb host), the street address, cross streets, email, phone number, check-in information, and any confirmation codes.

I put down important Health information: the name and cross streets of the emergency clinic nearest my accommodation (preferably with English-speaking staff), the address of the nearest 24-hour pharmacy, my health insurance group and membership numbers, my insurance company’s 24-hour nurse line phone number, my primary care provider’s phone number, and the name and doses of any prescription medications that I take. If I have purchased trip insurance, I include my policy number and relevant contact information.

I list only minimal Financial information, such as the name of my bank’s global ATM network and its affiliated banks, which allows me to avoid non-network transaction fees. I do not include any information regarding my credit cards or debit cards!!! For security purposes, I keep all of that data separately, either in my money belt or stashed safely in my room.

But, wait, there’s more … even after entering everything above, I still have plenty of pages left to add my travel notes and ideas: information on local tours, museums, and attractions, along with their times of operation; local places of interest and must-see sites; restaurants to check out; and markets and shops to visit. Sometimes I ask fellow travelers and new friends to write down their recommendations or contact information. I also jot down useful foreign phrases and vocabulary I want to remember, and often I use the last pages to keep a travel diary.

There are as many different ways to put together a Go-To Guide To Go as there are personalities and travel styles. Have some fun creating your very own! And may you never be called upon to use it in an emergency … but won’t it feel good to be prepared, just in case?