Photos of your passport, travel insurance, vaccination records, and emergency contacts stored on phone (and cloud) save trips when originals are lost or stolen. Five minutes of preparation; potentially trip-saving if needed.
What to photograph
Passport photo page (and visa pages if relevant). Travel insurance policy details and emergency phone number. Vaccination certificates. Driving licence if you'll drive. Hotel reservations (offline access). Emergency contact list (family, embassy).
Where to store
Phone photos (encrypted backup). Cloud storage (Google Drive, iCloud) for backup access. Printed copy in separate bag from originals (or with travel companion). Trusted person at home with access to the digital copies in case of phone loss.
Set this up once, before any trip. Update when documents change. Most users never need it; those who do are very grateful they had it.