Tell: Holiday File

I was on an aeroplane recently heading for a well-known European holiday destination (just call me Ordinary Joe) when I overheard two passengers behind me, thus:

Passenger 1 (a bit panicky) 'Did you pack the file?'

Passenger 2 (reassuring) 'Yes, it's in the green holdall.'

I wanted to know more, but apparently they had nothing else to say on the subject. So assuage my curiosity, please, commenters. Why was it so important for them to take a file on holiday? What kind of file was it? What were they going to do with it when they got there? Do tell!