Anonymous Traveler apologies for not posting last week but I was traveling.
This morning I read a question on Linked-In, “What do you do if you lose your passport while you are away?” I was compelled to share some tips on preventing passport loss and other serious problems when abroad.
Here are 10 Ten Tips for Preventing Serious Problems while Traveling Abroad
1. Register your trip with the state department if you are American. Link to Register.
2. Make several colored copies of your Passport before you go. Write our your itinerary. Make a copy of the credit cards you are taking. Make a list of the medications you can’t be without.
3. Give a copy of #2 to someone you know and trust and make sure you know where it is being kept. I’m not kidding, here. Not everyone is organized and if you have an emergency then you need it instantly
4. Now Captain Obvious wants to note that you need to make sure that person isn’t traveling with you and is easily accessible. By that I mean that person needs to be around. It could be your adult child, your parents, and your ex-wife, preferably someone who has a vested interest in your safe return.
5. E-mail your itinerary and whatever other information in #2 you are comfortable e-mailing to yourself. Keep it in a folder. There is hardly a place you can go where you can’t find a computer.
6. Make sure you carry a colored copy of our passport with you where ever you go, but leave your original passport locked safely. I haven’t found a store yet that won’t accept a copy of my passport with my driver’s license for an overseas purchase.
7. Now I admit, 90% of the time I stay at luxury properties which have safes; but for the traveler without access to a safe, here are my tips to keeping your passport and also your money secure for that matter: Wear socks and keep your passport in a plastic bag in your sock. Females – no one is getting in your bra that you don’t want there This is not always comfortable but it works – especially to carry some money or credit cards – of course do not have it rubbing against your skin directly. Yes people laugh when you reach to pay them but it works
8. Different countries have different policies as to passport rules. Research it ahead of your trip. Do you need at least six months left to enter the country? If you like or may need to travel keep your passport current. Use common sense. If you have a child taking a semester abroad – make sure your passport is current. No one knows when an emergency is coming. Passport Information United States Passport Renewal and Replacement Guide
9. Pick a couple outfits for heavy sightseeing or what I call higher risk days. You planned the trip, you know which days I’m referring to and if you don’t, read any guidebook. They’ll tell you where to watch for pick pocketing. Prevent it! Take at least 2 items of clothing to the tailor and have them altered. I use cargo pants or jeans but that is me. Have the tailor sew one of the front top pockets shut and then have them make a zippered opening on the inside. Voila – secret pocket. You can modify a sports jacket, a skirt, whatever you prefer but that is a place to keep perpetrators out.
10. Decide what you are protecting. Forget not looking like a tourist; you are a tourist, you’ll have a camera and whatever else you need so just prioritize what you want safe. You can’t be looking everywhere all the time so limit what items you need to worry about. Once you step off the plane, you can’t protect, your I-Pod, your cell phone, your camera, your medications, etc. at the same time.
* Oh yeah, while on medications and money – make sure you have more than one place you keep it so you can never be without it! Take two separate places where you keep medication, money, traveler’s checks, credit cards, etc.