Common Travel Mistakes and Safety Tips to Avoid Them

Travel Safety Tips to Avoid Common Mistakes and Mishaps

When it comes to traveling, it can be both an exciting time as you journey to pastures new, yet utterly terrifying as you venture out into the unknown to explore new territory.  After spending months or even years looking for and researching a new destination with what to do and what to take with you, you want to make sure that you are as safe as you can be when you are away from home.  It does not matter if it is a two-week vacation in an all-inclusive complex, or you are taking months to explore the world and travel from destination to destination a few travel safety tips will go a long way to making your journey more worry-free.

So, what steps can you take before, during, and after your trip to make sure you stay safe when traveling, your belongings are safe, and of course, your home is not vulnerable while you are away?  Here are some important Travel Safety Tips to give you some peace of mind when you go adventuring.

Make Sure that You Have Adequate Insurance

Travel insurance is a must at the very minimum. You can be forgiven for thinking that you will be fine, that you will be careful and forego the extra premium.  However, visiting a foreign country with no travel insurance could leave you in a mess and a lot of debt, should you require medical care, or encounter an unexpected event like the recent virus outbreak, or natural disasters.

Would you be able to afford to cover the cost of treatment at the point of care? Having suitable insurance will make sure you do not have to worry about this.  It will also provide you with somewhere to turn to in an emergency.

Check your premium carefully. You want to make sure you are covered for everything you may need;

• The travel insurance covers any or all of your current existing medical conditions. Omitting this information will render your policy void should you need care for a condition you have not declared.
• Does the policy cover everywhere you will be visiting? There may be some restrictions from provider to provider.
• Have you given in the correct dates? You can opt for a single trip cover or annual cover if you are out of your country for a while.
• What is the excess on the policy, and will you be able to afford to pay any fees that are not covered?
• Make sure you know if your cover extends to flight delays, missed connections, loss, or damage to the luggage.
• You know exactly how to contact your insurance provider in the case of an emergency or putting a claim in. Keep paperwork to hand and consider adding your policy details, providers name and phone number stored as a contact on your phone.

Insure Any Valuables that you are taking with you. 

If you will be taking your devices with you, you will want to cover them in case of any damage. You may be able to find a separate policy for the length of your trip that will cover you wherever you are in the world.

Laptops, phones, tablets, cameras are all expensive and luxury items that are high-risk items when it comes to accidental damage or theft. Use any safe facilities where you are staying to keep valuables safe when you are out and about for extra protection.

It may be worth taking an extra spare mobile phone with you for emergencies, or even leaving your phone at home and taking a burner phone for your travels. You can purchase cheap mobile phones and no commitment sim cards to use during your trip. A SMARTY 30gb sim card will give you enough credit and data per month to keep you online and connected while your phone is safe.

Password Protection

Make sure all your devices are password protected and use the highest level of security offered. For example, Samsung provides a locate my device function that allows you to find your lost or stolen device when it is switched on. You can also disable the device this way, too, rendering it unusable to anyone who has it.

Make sure you can track all of your devices should the worst happen. Online security is something everyone should be conscious of putting in place. Despite 84% of Americans acknowledging concerns over online security, 64% fail to put anything into place due to “it being a hassle.”

If this is you, remember that these days, we store not only contact information on our cell phones but also emails, banking apps, and much more. If someone has easy access to your phone and all the data stored on it, you could find yourself at risk of theft or fraud or worse.

Avoid Public WiFi 

Do you know that all public WiFi is not as secure as your home network? Hackers can easily access all of your personal data via public WiFi networks.  Public WiFi networks are unsecured allowing anyone and everyone to use them. Think carefully before using it to gain access to things such as banking, personal emails and any sensitive accounts.

Avoid being the victim of hacking and having all your personal details stolen by taking a portable router with you.  All you need is a sim card you can top up and you will have your own personal hot-spot to use when travelling.

Use Social Media Carefully and Protect Your Home whilst you’re away. 

It is so tempting to share everything we are up to online instantly. Having that connection to everyone back home means you can share things in real time, and others can see exactly what you are doing when you are doing it.

The thing is, this tells people back home that you are not there. Leaving your home exposed for burglaries may well invalidate your home insurance as essentially, it could be viewed that you are advertising that your home is empty.

If you do plan on sharing your trip in real time, consider adding automation to your home to turn lights on and off and/or play music or turn the TV on at regular intervals. Getting a trusted family member or friend to visit to open curtains, collect mail and give the appearance of someone being home. This will deter would be burglars from entering your property.

Turn Off Location Tracking. 

These days our phones know where we are all of the time. Checking in on social media? Chances are the platform will know precisely where you are and share that information with others.

Find the correct setting in all of your devices and switch this off. This makes it harder for thieves to identify you as a tourist and track your movements.

As people become more savvy online, so do those who wish to take advantage of others. Keep yourself safe by using social media as little as possible, and keep your exact location hidden. If you want to share details, do it at a later date and then add in any location tags necessary if you wish.

Record All Your Documents. 

The best and easiest way to do this is to take pictures of everything you have with you or make a copy and keep them separate.  Think passport, insurance details, check in, and flight details along with any other essential and sensitive documents you need to carry around.

We mentioned above to use a safe wherever you are staying. Keep anything valuable, including documents locked away when you do not need them, especially your passport.  If you have images on your phone, you can still prove who you are should you lose any of your travel documents or they get stolen.

Keep Things Separate. 

Think cash and credit cards. At home, we would keep all of our money in one place, but to help you reduce the risk of losing everything, carry as little cash with you as possible and keep your credit cards separately.  If traveling with your spouse, each of you should carry a different credit card.  If one is stolen you will still have a valid one with you.  This will still allow you to have access to funds should the worst happen.

Apply this to your luggage and other travel accessories too. Consider splitting luggage if you are traveling in a group. Should anything go missing, you will still have some of your belongings until your missing cases are located.

No one wants to think that this will happen, and for the most part, it probably won’t. However, making a few little changes to the way you think when it comes to packing and keeping yourself safe will give you a little extra peace of mind.

Conclusion

These are just a few tips that can help you stay safe when traveling. The last thing you want is for your whole holiday to be upended due to a mistake or criminal act.  Sadly, in some instances, no matter what happens, you may find that the blame has been put on yourself even if you are unaware of certain rules.

Do not be caught out.

Protect yourself, your belongings, and your home before during and after your trip by planning ahead and making small changes to your habits, how you pack, and what you do while you are away from home.  Not only will this give you peace of mind should anything go wrong, but it can help you enjoy the holiday you have been looking forward to.