12 Important Tips to Prevent Your Family Holiday Becoming a Horror Story.

Sensible Holiday Planning Tips To Avoid Things Going Wrong While Travelling Abroad!

Planning Holidays are Exciting. Don’t Forget These Vital Holiday Planning Tips: ‘Things To Do’

You have probably heard stories from others how their holiday turned into a complete nightmare with everything going wrong as soon as you locked the door behind you to leave for your trip. These smart holiday planning tips will help you avoid things going wrong!

Your yearly vacation with your partner or family should be an enjoyable memorable experience but everyone has a horror story to tell and in a foreign country where often English is not the first language trying to sort out a problem can turn into a frustrating mess that makes you want to pull out your hair.

Some terrible things that have happened to unsuspecting travellers include:

Hotel or resort rooms being robbed with loss of money, valuables and even passports went missing
Spouses gambling away all the holiday money in a feverish quest to win at a casino
Getting horribly lost in a strange city and ending up in an undesirable location
Losing your wallet or having it stolen by a pickpocket with all your holiday money and credit cards in it
Your luggage goes missing at the airport, it’s on its way to Russia and you are in Spain
You arrive at your hotel or resort and they never confirmed your booking and now it’s full
Food poisoning or illness lays you out for the count for the entire holiday
You get stopped at customs for items you did not know were forbidden in that country!

Things can wrong, but with some careful planning, you can prevent them from happening or have some valuable backup plans in place to overcome them. It’s stressful planning a vacation abroad and you are bound to overlook something. Consider Printing this article and tick off things as they get done.

Take Heed of These 12 Smart Holiday Planning Tips to Make Sure That Your Trip Abroad is a Success in Spite of Obstacles.

1) Invest in a hidden wallet to carry most of your valuables and identification and split these up between members of the family to prevent theft or losing everything at once.

Take some foreign currency relevant to the country you are travelling to, as well as your own currency in the traveller’s amounts that are allowed. You can always exchange currencies at the hotel or resorts if you need to. Do not take expensive jewellery or watches with you on holiday. There is really no need to and it can attract thieves.

2) For holiday money you can also use travellers’ checks and if you feel comfortable sending them in the mail, get a friend or family member on standby back home to mail a money order or a traveller’s check to you at your hotel so that even if you lose some of your money, or were robbed, you can have access to more funds.

3) Let friends and family back home know exactly where you are going and where you will be staying while on holiday. This way, if something happens in the area where you are vacationing, your loved ones will be able to have a good idea of where you are.

4) Make three copies of your passports and identification take one copy and originals with you, and leave copies of identification at home with friends or family to courier to you if, they go missing or get damaged while abroad. Lock your travel documents in the hotel safe or resort where you are staying as soon as you arrive, and only keep what is necessary with you.

5) When you go on vacation, choose one credit card to bring along, rather than bringing all of them if you have more. Keep a diary of contacts of the banks to call in case you need to cancel bank accounts or credit cards immediately if they get stolen or go missing. This way if your wallet gets lost or stolen while on holiday, you will minimize your losses.

6) Investigate preloaded credit or debit cards to load your holiday spending money onto. This keeps you within your holiday budget because these cards are really more like a debit card that you put money “on” so that if you end up losing your wallet the thieves cannot ruin your credit rating.

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7) Keep a diary and record all your important phone numbers to keep with you on your trip and make a copy to keep them in two different places. Keep phone numbers to reach your embassy; numbers of close family, and friends, who can help you if you get into trouble and bring along phone numbers of the hotel and car rental company as well.

8) Take out proper travel and medical insurance and keep copies of this travel insurance information on hand. You can also leave a copy with family back home just for safety in case they need to access if you become incapacitated. Read all the details to know what you are covered for so that you have peace of mind in case of an emergency.

9) Bring along all your and the family’s basic medical information with you, like their blood types and allergies. If possible when you arrive, make sure that the medical information is translated into the primary language of the country you are going to so that non-English-speaking doctors will have no problem understanding the situation.

10) Know what kind of insurance is covered for loss of bank accounts and on your credit card, if that is how you are going to be paying for your trip. For example, some credit cards cover car rental insurance, but may not cover it in the country you are going to. Be sure to know what type and what cover in travel insurance you have before you leave.

11) Clearly mark your luggage and if possible have it wrapped at the airport. You don’t want to become an unsuspecting drug mule and this is why luggage wrapping has become popular, it’s inexpensive and worth doing. It also protects your luggage from being damaged while in transit.

12) Each country has its own laws on food and other materials allowed into the country. Some countries like Australia are extremely strict regarding foodstuffs, flora and fauna coming into the country and you can face a hefty fine or even a criminal record if you are not careful. Check what is allowed and before entering be honest in declaring what you need to for peace of mind.

Look forward to a smooth fun relaxing holiday abroad which is what it will be if you have planned for every possible eventuality.

Sure things can still go wrong but with a backup plan, you can simply take it in your stride.

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