In a thread about fire starters, I mentioned that you could skip bringing wax paper if you coat a paper map or permit printed on computer paper into both a more weatherproof permit and an emergency fire starter.
Which got me thinking of paperwork. If I stay in a USFS Cabin, I am required to carry a copy of the reservation which prints out on a full 8.5 x 11 page. If I’m traveling overseas, at a minimum I keep a few hard-copy pages of car reservations and airline itineraries with me in case my electronics die or lose charge.
Nothing about that paperwork needs to be on 8.5 x 11 paper. If I print at 50%, it is 1/4 the size, 1/4 the weight and still readable. And fits nicely in a pint ziplock bag instead of a gallon size. And if you do double-sided. . . . then 1/8 the weight.
I used to do that a lot in the mid 1990’s: my wife and I were traveling a lot around the world, and eBooks hadn’t happened yet. I’d spend an hour after work at the copy machine, set to 50%, and micro-print whatever novels and guidebooks we were bringing. Another benefit: since it was just a copy and the original was still at home, we’d just throw away the pages as we finished reading the novel or had passed through that town in the guidebook. Also, most of, say, the Italy Handbook or Rough Guide to New Zealand didn’t apply to our trip, so I’d only copy the pages that apply.
The one thing I’d copy at 100%, or sometimes 150% or 200% were the little maps of a town and of city center from a guidebook. I liked having a little 3″x5″-sized quick reference map in m chest pocket without unfolding a big version and looking like the lost tourist I was. I still do that at times, because a quick glance at a piece of paper is easier than getting into my iPhone’s mapping app and, especially in the Second and Third World, flashing your $800 smart phone isn’t always smart.
