When you’re travelling there are a few basic rules that if followed correctly, can guarantee you to have a good time on your vacation, and limit the possibilities of having negative experiences happen.
We often hear from people who lose their money or credit card, have their documents stolen, run into bank problems or health issues – and it always leads to a ruined vacation. How can you protect yourself against these threats as much as possible? We’ve gathered together a few tips that helped us and our friends many times, and we’re happy to share them with you!
Always have a travel insurance!
Even though you will (hopefully) not need them a lot of times, we recommend that you never go on a trip without having an insurance. On shorter trips, you should get at least the smallest packages – medical services, and extra insurance for lost luggage and/or documents.
You never know when you might need these services, and you’ll definitely be better safe than sorry.
Inform your bank that you are about to travel and check what security measures you have.
Before embarking on a longer journey, make sure that your credit card’s security options allow cash withdrawals abroad. For example, in Denmark you theoretically don’t need cash, as you can pay with a credit card pretty much anywhere. However, it happened to me that one of my cards got blocked, because I had exceeded the daily spending limit, not knowing what that was.
Before leaving, always check with your bank what the daily limits are for withdrawals and card payments. One of my friends’ credit card got blocked while travelling in Indonesia, because his bank considered the transaction to be suspicious.
In both situations, having a second credit card helped a lot.
Always have 2 or 3 debit or credit cards!
The safest way of withdrawing money that we know is having an empty bank account, where you transfer through internet banking the exact amount we want to withdraw from an ATM machine. The reason behind this is, as you might have heard, in some countries around the world credit card theft happens a lot. This way, you’ll be sure nobody can take any money out of your card even if it gets stolen.
Keep some cash money with you all the time.
While it is not recommended to have a lot of cash money with you in a single place, it is a must to keep some extra cash in a hidden pocket in your luggage. Don’t just assume that nothing will happen – it’s best to be prepared for anything. In case your wallet ever gets lost or stolen, at least you will have a reserve.
Store your personal documents carefully
The best place to keep important documents is in a safe, often found in hotel rooms. If this is not possible, we recommend keeping them with you at all times. Try to find a purse or a backpack that has a hidden pocket, where you can store important stuff such as your passport, ID, plane tickets, etc. Also keep a copy of these files, in a different place.
Always have a luggage lock with you
While an experienced thief might not be scared by a small luggage lock on your backpack, it could definitely help in case you end up in a bad hotel where staff members have a tendency to go into clients’ luggage.
These are cheap and you can find them in most airports or tourist places; buy one, set a code and attach it to your backpack.
Mini med-kit
We always bring with us a small kit, that contains headache medication, something against flu, a few band aids. If you ever have a migraine or eat something that makes you feel sick, this will make you very proud.
Take as less high value things with you as possible
Wearing luxurious jewelry or clothes will make you a primary target for thieves. They are always on the lookout for potential targets, and would most often go for the ones that appear to have the most valuable items on them.
Have a small luggage
We usually only bring hand luggage when travelling. You usually don’t need more, if you aren’t going out on a very long holiday. The lighter the luggage, the less to worry about and the easier it is to walk around carrying it.
Make sure that at least someone close to you knows your travel itinerary.
I believe this goes without saying. In case anything ever goes wrong, make sure that at least a family member or a close friend knows where you are planning to go. In the world we live in nowadays, it’s always better to take all the safety measures we can when travelling.
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