Whether you are planning a domestic trip or a trip abroad, safety considerations should always be addressed very carefully. When traveling as a family, it is easier to get distracted and there are also a lot more things to keep an eye on. This page from Tripwiser.com provides safety travel tips that will help you prepare for your next family trip. If properly addressed, safety considerations would never spoil your trip or take your attention away from excitement and fun.
- Safety Tips for Planning and Packing
- Safety Tips for Airports and Train Stations
- Safety Tips inside an Aircraft
- Safety Tips for Water and Food
- Safety Tips for Road Travel
- Safety Tips for Recreational Boating
- Safety Tips for New Locations
- Safety Tips for International Travel
- Security and Health Links
Safety Tips for Planning and Packing
Prepare trip itinerary When you plan a family trip, print a few copies of your itinerary and give it to everyone in the family traveling with you. Also leave a copy for the person taking care of your house and pets while you are gone. Plus, it's a good idea to give a copy to your Emergency Contact so they can keep track of where you are in your trip should there be need to contact them. Write down your flight information, hotels you are planning on staying in and other important itinerary details. TripWiser provides an excellent venue for creating good trip itineraries that you can print and carry with you on the road. How to find each other One of the most important safety travel rules is to know how to find each other.
Play a game with your kids and ask them to memorize your cell phone number and their home addresses. If you are traveling abroad, your kids should be able to answer questions about their nationality, place and date of birth, their full names, their parent's full names, parent's cell phone numbers, their current address, and similar type of information. For younger kids, create an "ID card" for them with important phone numbers and place it somewhere in their pockets (carry extra copies in your suitcase in case the ID cards get misplaced or damaged). Beware of strangers As a safety rule, educate your kids about strangers. Even if your kids are very young, take time to explain to them that they should never - under any circumstances - go anywhere with a stranger. Explain that even if a stranger is a nice woman dressed in a uniform, they should not follow her without you. Explain that they should never go away with other strangers either, be it a teenager, a young couple, an elderly person, someone with a dog or a puppy, a nice old lady with a kitten play various scenarios and try to cover as many social types as possible. Explain that one of the ways kids get tricked into something dangerous is when strangers offer them something nice, like an ice cream, a toy or a puppy. Also, mention that sometimes adults try to intimidate kids.
Prepare your kids for various situations and train your kids to never follow strangers and always wait for you. Enforce this rule with strict discipline. Take care to test it. Pretend you are not looking and see how long it will take for your child to wander away. If this happens, do not take it lightly. Explain that this rule is an exception and mistakes are not allowed. Practice on various occasions - until you get this safety travel rule deeply planted in your child's head. And of course, do not get distracted yourself.
Make sure to always keep an eye on your children when in public places like airports or train stations. Consider giving them a Code Word, one that only you, they, and a trusted emergency contact would know.
Your luggage - If you, like 90% of other people, have black or dark suitcases, buy some distinct luggage tags. Use yellow or red colors so that you can quickly identify your luggage in the line of dozens similar ones. If you are flying, immediately after the flight, be at the luggage pick-up area before the luggage arrives and catch them as they emerge; do not leave them sitting around. It may be stolen if you don't take care to pick it up right away.
Your wallet - Place your credit cards somewhere on your body separately from your cash. Do not keep all credit cards in the same place. Go to an ATM and withdraw cash in advance.
Place various dollar bills in a few different pockets. Have a credit card cancellation number easily accessible. This way you can call quickly and cancel your card immediately if it gets stolen. Check your wallet and leave your Social Security Card at home. Leave at home any other card that will not be used during travel. But do not forget to take your health insurance and travel insurance card with you. Double-check that you have your IDs and tickets on you. For International travel, including Canada and Mexico, do not forget to bring your passport. Carry-ons When traveling to your vacation destination, dress casually and do not wear expensive watches or jewelry, especially necklaces that can be easily pulled off your neck.
Use backpacks instead of bags with over-the-arm handles. Wear comfortable shoes that can be taken off and put back on (avoid laces) with ease, but do not wear sandals. Pack a few changes of clothes for yourself and your kids, in case your luggage gets lost and you will need to wait for it for a few days. Wear comfortable loose clothes made out of natural fabrics, like cotton, silk and wool. Do not wear clothes made out of synthetic material like nylon and polyester. Covered in synthetic material your skin won't be able to breathe and you will get tired more quickly. If your trip is long, take a blanket with you. Pack first-aid supplies with you as carry-ons. If you wear glasses, have a separate pair of glasses for travel and leave your best glasses at home.
Safety Tips for Airports and Train Stations
Tickets and passports At the airport, keep your tickets and passports safe; do not walk around with these documents in your hand. Try not to stand very close to anyone for extended period of time.
Pay attention to people around you. If someone acts in a strange manner, do not question yourself and do not wait. Take your family and leave or report them to the authorities. Do not be a victim Be particularly cautious if someone bumps into you, spills something over you or asks you for directions these are the situations often created by pick pockets. And of course, if someone offers you something that sounds too good, it probably is. It is better to be safe than sorry, so apologize and leave. Under any circumstances, do not agree to look after or carry anyone's luggage. There is no exception to this rule.
Playing safe with your money Avoid using ATMs in airports and train stations, get your cash ready in advance, but if you have to use an ATM machine, cover your PIN carefully and take your receipt with you. Do not count cash right near the ATM; go to a more private place. Do not take valuables with you on travel. When your bags move through the security line, watch them closely and keep an eye on people nearby. Do not joke with airport security and never mention any words that are even remotely synonymous with "terrorists" or "bombs". The security personnel are trained to take such jokes very seriously, you will end up in the detention room with who knows what consequences (there were a few cases when people got arrested and spent time in jail).
Safety Tips inside an Aircraft
during the Flight Choose larger aircrafts and direct routes, if possible. If you have to stop over, plan your itinerary well so that to avoid long waiting time, but leave enough time for boarding and for potential flight delays. As a rule, two-three hours between flights is the safest way. If your flight is long, take your kids for a "walk" every 2 hours. As a fun game, do seated leg exercises during the flight. Do no place heavy breakable objects in the overhead compartment. Ask your flight attendant to pour hot drinks for you. Avoid airplane coffee and tea, which are made with the aircraft's contaminated water. If you still choose to drink coffee, tea or soft drinks all of which are dehydrating - remember to drink extra water. Continue drinking a lot of water for several days after your flight. This will help you get over jetlag. Drink only bottled water.
Safety tips for Water and Food
Water Drink plenty of water immediately before the flight. Drink 2 liters of water in the 2 hours before the flight. Avoid drinking tap water like a plague (no matter where you are). Drink only bottled water. Read the labels and buy bottled water that does not contain chlorine (Cl or Chl). It is not easy to find, even so-called "natural spring water" often contains Chlorine. You may need to check at a few places before you find the right type. Air travelers suffer from dehydration due to the below-desert dryness in the cabin. But very few airlines provision adequate bottled water to hydrate everyone on board. At the very least, you need a large glass of water per person per hour of flight. Tap water on aircrafts is always contaminated, but as of 2006 passengers are not allowed to bring their own bottled water on board. When traveling with your family, ask your flight attendant for bottled water, make sure the cap has not been broken (return the bottle otherwise; flight attendants routinely re-fill empty water bottles with tap water, when they don't get enough supplies). Use bottled water even for personal hygiene, such as brushing your teeth.
Food Pack your own snacks with you using plastic containers or plastic zip lock bags. In-flight foods contain a lot of preservatives and often are very old. It is best to avoid eating at airports and train stations altogether. But we all know that it rarely happens. Whether you need to kill some time or because you want to sit somewhere comfortably, if you end up eating out at an airport or train station, do not order hamburgers or any kind of meat. Play it safe with well cooked pizza or sandwiches. Avoid packaged foods as much as possible.
Safety Tips for Road Travel
If you are traveling with your family by car, get your vehicle inspected and check the weather conditions immediately before the trip. Cancel the trip if you are traveling to winter destinations and the weather forecast predicts a snow storm. Get plenty of sleep and plan your trip with many stopovers for rest, food and entertainment.
Make sure everyone is wearing seat belts, and if you are traveling with a baby or toddler, that the baby car seat is secured well. Get correct car or booster seat for your child's height and weight. Think of some interesting activities for your kids, so that they don't distract you too much during the trip. Turn your cell phone and your blackberry off while driving. One wonders how we all managed to live just a few years ago without any blackberries and even cell phones! So remember those times and turn your mobile devices off.
Drive slower than you would have liked. Apart from safety considerations, it will also help you save money. Driving 60 miles (approximately 100 kilometers) per hour on the highway instead of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour uses 20% less fuel. Be particularly attentive at intersections. Leave plenty of distance between you and other vehicles. Check the road ahead and behind you to predict potential scenarios. Plan a short 5-10 minute stop every 2 hours. This is important for both the driver and the passengers. For the driver, get out, stretch your legs, loosen your neck muscles, and just shake off the driving tension. For the passengers, this stop allows them to release the pent-up energy from being on their "best car behavior". It makes them more alert, and resets their "are we there yet" meter. You can time these stops with bathroom breaks, lunch, gas fill-ups. If not, keep tabs on the Rest Stop signs on the highway. If you and your spouse are having a fight, don't drive. Stop and wait until both of you have calmed down. Do not drive when you are upset, scared or nervous. Take long deep breaths to help you calm down. And of course, never drink and drive.
Safety Tips for Recreational Boating
To ensure safety and prevent accidents on boats, wear your life-jacket. Approximately 90% of drowning victims in recreational boating incidents were not wearing a life-jacket or flotation device. There should be a life-jacket or personal flotation device for every person (and animal) on the boat. Don't drink and drive. At least 40% of all power boating fatality victims had a blood alcohol level above the legal driving limit. Keep fire extinguishers at the most fire sensitive areas on your vessel such as the galley or engine room. Ensure that everyone knows where the fire extinguishers are located.
Top Safety Tips for New Locations
In an unfamiliar location, use only official taxi cabs, with identification signs clearly displayed. Beware of strangers and people offering you deals that sound too good to be true. Do not be a victim. If you are visiting a large city, i.e. a city with population over 2 million, avoid walking alone at night. Avoid long narrow streets but if you have to take them at night, look back often. Do not wear expensive jewelry for street walking. Do not carry large amount of cash on you. Leave important documents and at least one credit card in a secure safe at your hotel.
Safety Tips for International Travel
When going abroad, browse on the Internet and do some reading to find out about general political and social situation in the country of your destination. If the country is at the stage of civil unrest and you do not have local friends or relatives there who could be your guides, choose group vacations or select another destination. Do not take your family there alone. Make a few photocopies of everyone's passport and tickets and leave them at home with your friends or family members. If your passport gets stolen, an American embassy or consulate will be able to get you back home by certifying the photocopies of your passports. Otherwise, you risk being stuck in a foreign country paying large hotel bills until you get a new passport issued, and this process may take a few weeks.
Do not rely on the embassy people to be very helpful. To them, you are just one of the thousands of tourists who get in trouble while traveling abroad. Make sure to bring your travel health insurance papers with you. However, keep in mind that in many countries' local hospitals refuse to accept foreign policies and ask for cash or credit card payments, regardless of what your travel insurance policy might say. Just have a few thousand dollars immediately available for withdrawal. You will, of course, be compensated by your travel insurance company later, once you get back home. If you are traveling to remote locations, consider that ATMs may not be available. In such situations, it is advisable to get travelers checks. If you or your family members have medical conditions, pack enough medical supplies with you as carry-ons to last you an entire trip.
Think of a backup plan, in case your medication gets lost or stolen. For prescription drugs, including pain killers and tranquilizers, make sure to pack the original prescription. It is important to remember that the prescription should be issued in your name, if you are the one carrying the drugs. Do not carry prescription drugs issued for someone else, even if it is your grandmother. Investigate in advance the issue of vaccination and make an informed decision, one that you are comfortable making. If you are wearing glasses, leave your best glasses at home. If you have chemical sensitivities, check to see the general level of pollution at your desired destination. Los Angeles, Moscow or Tokyo may not be a good idea for an extended vacation for you. No matter where you go, drink only bottled water. Avoid trying exotic sweets, cakes and candies at open bazaars in Asia and Eastern Europe. Avoid having ice with your soft drinks and ice tea. Find out about road conditions and driving styles in the city of your stay. Note that driving styles differ from country to country, and in some Asian countries driving is exceptionally dangerous. In such cases, hire a local driver or use taxis (and hope for the best). In some places (Costa Rica for example), you can hire a driver for your entire stay, one who will take you from city to city, location to location. They know the area, the roads, and customs, thus allowing you to simply relax and enjoy the ride without the responsibility and worry of getting lost or taking roads that look good on the map but your driver knows better. When traveling abroad to the so-called developing countries, exercise double care for your physical safety. Think about you and your family's physical safety much more often than you would at home. Do not rely on local police to help you. In fact, in countries like Russia, avoid encounters with the local police at all costs. If they happen to approach you for whatever reason, forget about your human rights and whether or not you have done anything wrong. Do not argue with them under any circumstances. Even if you have done absolutely nothing wrong, simply make a polite offer to "compensate them for their trouble" and ask how much. In most cases, a wanted bribe is the reason why you are being approached in the first place. Familiarize yourself with the list of prohibited and restricted items for your return back home to the United States.
Security and Health Links
* Department of Homeland Security * Transportation Security Administration * Travel Insurance: The Benefits and Limitations * US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention * U.S. Customs and Border Protection * Fact Sheet: Guidance for Airline Passengers * U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs - Information on visas and passports. * World Health Organization - International travel and health information; in particular, check here for disease outbreaks.
