If you’re like me, you have lots of stuff that ought to be with you when you travel. When preparing for a trip, it used to be a bit stressful trying to ensure that I had packed the right ID cards, credit cards, lounge passes, etc. And, invariably I’d realize later that I got it wrong. For example, I’ve previously forgotten to bring a hotel gift card that I had planned to use when checking out. Similarly, I once forgot my Amex Platinum card for accessing an airport lounge (but that particular lounge let me in after giving them my Amex Platinum credit card number which I keep electronically for such purposes).
I completely eliminated this particular stress of travel a few years ago when I bought a simple travel wallet. My travel wallet contains all of those fit-in-a-wallet things that I might need when traveling. The only exceptions are the cards that I keep in my everyday wallet (which also travels with me), and travel things that don’t fit in a wallet such as a spare phone charger, ginger pills for motion sickness, etc. (these stay in my travel backpack).
I keep my travel wallet at all times in my travel backpack. That way, my travel wallet is always with me when I travel. I never travel without my travel backpack!
What to put into your travel wallet
- ID cards that you don’t keep in your everyday wallet. Your passport, for example.
- Foreign currency for those countries that you visit often.
- Credit cards that are useful when traveling, but not for everyday spend (hotel cards, Amex Platinum cards, cards that refund incidental airline fees, etc.)
- A debit card with no foreign exchange fees and which refunds ATM charges (but only if you don’t keep it in your everyday wallet)
- Airport lounge access cards, such as Priority Pass
- Public transportation cards (e.g. metro card)
- Travel related gift cards
- Discount cards
- Membership cards
Here are specific examples found in my travel wallet:
ID Cards
Credit Cards I use for travel, but not at home
Lounge Access Cards
Public Transportation Cards
Gift Cards, Discount Cards, and Miscellaneous Other Stuff
Wallet recommendations?
At the time of this writing, I don’t have a specific recommendation for a travel wallet that you can buy. The one I have is good enough, but doesn’t have a change purse which would be very helpful with foreign currency. I’d also like one with more card slots.
What about you? Are you happy with a particular wallet that we can recommend? Please comment below.
Update: Our own Stephen Pepper highly recommends a brand called “Big Skinny”. Here’s our Amazon affiliate link to the Big Skinny passport wallet selection. Also check out his post about his wallet on his No Home Just Roam blog: Review: Big Skinny Wallet With Zippered Pocket
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I liked this idea soo much really useful for traveling.
[…] my wallet (see: Prestige rocks my wallet for 2019). I’ve temporarily moved the card to my travel wallet, but I’m not at all sure it should stay there. The logical thing to do is to downgrade it […]
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I use Big Skinny wallets. https://www.bigskinny.net/travel-wallets.html. These guys have somehow made a wallet that fits all my stuff without bursting at the seams. The nylon ones are machine-washable, and all the wallets are fairly slim when you load them with cards. I like the Polka Accordian Card case (https://www.bigskinny.net/polka-accordion-card-case2.html) to organize my “sock drawer collection” of cards.
I do the same thing but I use a PacSafe RFID-tec 225 RFID-Blocking Ticket Organizer (Vertical card pocket on the right hand side)
Not sure if it is made any more
[…] writes an article on Frequent Miler about keeping a “travel wallet”. Since I was just burned by not having the correct cards with me and having to pay for a lounge […]
top 10 travel article of the year imo. too often find myself wishing i had my PP card or lounge pass or gogo code.
great idea to get organized
A++
Why not just use the Priority Pass app digital membership and kill a card? App is pretty handy for checking lounges and keeping track of all the new restaurants as well.
You don’t need your global entry ID unless you’re hopping between Mexico and Canada, I believe.
It’s true that it’s rare for me to need the Priority Pass card — I’d only need it at lounges that don’t accept the digital card. And it’s true that it’s rare for me to need the global entry ID. But, those observations just support why I do this: If I didn’t have those things in my travel wallet, I wouldn’t ever think to have them with me in those rare times when they’re needed. I don’t carry the travel wallet separately from my backpack (I leave it in the hotel safe when I’m out and about once I reach my destination), so it doesn’t matter to me if there are extra cards in there.
Yes you typically don’t need the Global Entry ID, but the program materials mention that should the kiosks not be operational you can show GE ID and get front of line privileges, thus they recommend you carry the card. A colleague of mine complained about long lines at SJC upon arriving from LHR because the kiosks didn’t work that day. I keep my GE card in my passport cover/wallet.
We had to rethink my husband’s long time travel wallet during our recent trip to Paris. He had a bifold travel wallet with velcro closure that was very strong. The wallet also had a strong chain that attached to his belt loop. He’s taken many trips with that wallet with no incident – until Paris. When boarding a train to the airport he was surrounded by three pickpockets that bumped and pushed him about, being very loud in the process. My husband is in good shape and the aggressiveness of these men took us totally by surprise. Next thing we knew they were hoping off the train before the doors closed and my husband barely made it on. My husband spotted his wallet lying on the floor of the train! The chain had been cut and fortunately they dropped the wallet in the process. It left us shaken and so thankful he grabbed his wallet off the floor before they did. As soon as we returned home we looked into other options. Now he has a small front pocket wallet that only holds five cards (not all credit cards) and an ID. He will never keep his money and credit cards and passport together. The passport (if not locked in a safe) will be around his neck and inside his clothing. Same for any large amounts of money. His credit card and limited cash will be in his front pocket or a inside zipper pocket in his coat. It will not be carried in a backpack because we have seen pickpockets grab and run with backpacks. Now that we know how aggressive they are willing to be, we will be that much more prepared. As a final note – we both always travel with different credit cards. Should one credit card be stolen the other person has a credit card that wasn’t affected.
Thanks — useful words of caution. I realized that I didn’t spell out how I use my travel wallet once I reach my destination. It’s really just for travel, so once I arrive, I leave it in the hotel safe (if staying in a hotel) and bring with me only the contents that I might need around town (such as subway passes).
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What do you use for a travel backpack
My wife bought me a Tumi backpack for my birthday a year or two ago, and it’s awesome. I’ll have to do another post about that…
MY “Big Skinny” by now looks like George Constanza’s wallet after it ate 25 Big Macs.
Oversize currency (like Euros) is a pain.
I have a travel wallet too, with some additional items: a Charles Schwab Bank Debit card , International driving Permit, and a pen.
I like the Bellroy stuff, they have a whole travel wallet section
https://bellroy.com/products/category/travel-wallets
I cannot believe I never thought of this. I actually DO have a wallet I use for travel only that is smaller than my everyday wallet, but never thought to permanently keep things in there. I usually just move everything I want to bring with me over. Genius!
Before my trips I make sure I know which priority pass membership cards pair with which credit cards. The first time I realized I had 3 very similar priority pass cards I saw the need for this!
That’s true. I wish they would write the credit card name somewhere on each Priority Pass card. Personally, I just always travel with the one from my CNB card since it allows unlimited guests.
When a PP pass comes In the mail, I write (in Sharpie) which CC it belongs to in the signature area. (And back in the day, for the Hilton Surpass Amex which charged a fee each time you used it, I wrote “Do Not Use!”)
Excellent idea! I will adopt. Right now I have a travel drawer in my kitchen. I keep passports, foreign currency (per country in a snack size ziplock with change and subway card included), small plastic rain ponchos (for any Disney destinations), etc etc. But, my lounge cards are all over…and so are my credit cards. Some on my desk, some in wallet. Once I book a trip I start making a pile of the stuff like this we need. On my kitchen counter. It’s really a mess. I take more of this kind of stuff on a trip than I actually do clothing! It’s so stupid we still have all these plastic cards and cash I think. And cords! Ugh. I wish everything everywhere was just usb and your hotel provided cords for you. And the airline! So the foreign currency coins are really the thing that gets me…I noticed at Hilton’s in Japan they leave a small envelope on the nightstand to donate coins to some cause. I always leave my coins there. No tipping in Japan. Coins are heavy, can be easily mixed up at home…I can’t tell the Hong Kong from the Japan ones anymore…that’s why I use the Ziplocs. My other trick is to give the coins to a kid back at home…as a souvenir. But that only works about once per kid. I heard someone say they load their Starbucks card at the fioreign destination with excess currency. But USA Starbucks cards are are only compatible with a few countries…Hong Kong, England…not japan, I don’t know who else. Once in London I had my husband apply our excess currency to our Hilton bill before checkout. The clerk was annoyed and actually told us “you know you could just use this money to buy stuff at the airport if you wanted to get rid of it!” Really? And then carry it all home?
I had a similar experience at the Conrad Tokyo. During our stay, the concierge had recommended that we pay the bill with our leftover change, but at the desk during checkout they resisted. I pushed back and they let me do it, but it wasn’t a pleasant way to end our stay.
I use a thick rubber band to hold all my travel cards that I keep in my backpack, cheaper than a wallet!
OMG, your photos could be of my travel wallet contents (except your photo, as that would be super-weird 🙂 ).
LOL, yep that would be weird if you carry around photos of me 🙂