My boyfriend and I landed in Washington, D.C. and went straight from the airport to a late-night dinner. When the bill came, I dug through the abyss of my backpack, fumbling for the smooth leather surface of my wallet. And l came up completely empty. My wallet was gone, left in either the seat-back pocket or in the Centurion Lounge in SFO. Either way, I had no way to pay for this meal, and worse, any purchases during our weeklong trip.

Luckily my boyfriend took care of the bill, and I used my phone to hail an Uber to take us to our hotel. During that Uber ride, I frantically Googled how I might survive my walletless week.

But as it turns out, that car ride was just the first of many digital payments I would make over the coming days. I learned that I don’t need a wallet, and I don’t need a man (O.K., maybe I did for that first dinner!). Turns out, my smartphone can do almost everything my wallet can do, from paying at restaurants to renting a bike, to even getting into a hotel room.

And by the end of the week, I saw an added benefit for my future travels: I don’t have to bring my wallet everywhere. And imagine being wallet-free at tourist attractions teeming with pickpockets or wearing a cute nightclub dress with no pockets.