Some of the recent threads about crime when traveling have yielded some good tips for helping to protect you and your valuables. To help ensure everyone has the best trip possible, I've gone through and tried to pull all those individual tips out and put them in one place for quick and easy reference.
Feel free to add your own, but please keep the chat out of it for easy reading.
Before you travel:
Feel free to add your own, but please keep the chat out of it for easy reading.
Before you travel:
- Get travelers insurance
- Photocopy passports
- Scan passport and email to yourself as a PDF.
- Email yourself copies of dive certs, insurance cards and DAN insurance, trip insurance etc.
- Leave copy of passport with dive shop or friends/family that can fax it if needed.
- Call/email resorts/condos about security measures prior to booking
- Request rooms on second floor or higher.
- Ask for rooms close to the office, not far away.
- Ask if resort has deadbolts on door, bars or any other methods of securing rooms.
- Research areas you want to visit and those you want to avoid before your trip.
- Rental homes may be more isolated/less secure than resorts or condos
- Insure any property you carry with you.
- Don't take anything you can't afford to lose or replace.
- Check insurance policies for limits, exclusions, circumstances and locales.
- Vacation insurance can cover canceled flights, lost luggage, emergency medical attention, etc.
- Check with Department of State for information on your destination. Travel
- Ask if the parking area of the resort is secure or patrolled by security guards.
- What sort of compensation does a resort offer for thefts/break ins, etc.
- Make a list of any valuables you bring, including serial numbers.
- Ask if the resort provides any additional security for sliding doors and other vulnerable points.
- Find out if travelers checks are accepted and under what conditions and limitations
Travel documents - Put passports in hotel safe
- Keep copies of passports and documents in a separate place
Valuables - Remove memory cards or tape from cameras. You may lose the property but not the memories.
- Put valuables in a small pelican case used for sunglasses and leave in toilet tank in room if safe is not available.
Vehicles - Don't leave anything in a vehicle you can't afford to lose.
- Place any valuables in the trunk or under the seats out of sight if you must leave them.
- Leave windows down and doors unlocked to prevent needless damage.
- Check insurance coverages ahead of time if vehicle is vandalized or stolen.
- Pay attention to surroundings before leaving a vehicle or anywhere you find yourself.
- Park in well lit areas
- If something doesn't feel right, leave.
General - Travel in groups especially at night.
- Don't walk around like you're a tourist, visitor or "prey". Walk as if you have business to attend to. Perpetrators, like predators, look for the weak or inattentive
- Don't flaunt expensive equipment or electronics
- Don't get drunk in public and bring trouble "home" with you
- You are responsible for your own safety.
- Keeping your gear in the designated areas recommended by the resort (not on a table or balcony) when not in use.
- Lock your doors and windows when you leave your villa and at night when sleeping
- Just like any vacation spot, don't leave valuables, money or any expensive items out in the open
- Another deterrent is to add those travel alarms for doors and windows to your vacation spot.
- If traveling with a larger group, split up into two groups when possible to watch out for each other.
- Look up, look people in the face. Not with swagger, but with attentiveness
- If at all possible, avoid overly crowded places that can allow someone into your personal space
- If need be, be loud, be direct. Gather attention to yourself if threatened
- Keep cell phones with you or secure them if they arent being used
- Consider installing lo-jack tracking program on laptops or internet devices.
- Notify bank and credit card companies of travel plans. Some cards may be flagged or deactivated. Transaction fees may apply.
- Have contact numbers for credit cards handy.
- If you notice suspicious activity, report it to local police or security
- Make notes of descriptions or get pictures if possible
- Carry numbers for local police with you
- Make sure any phones you carry dont have unsecured email or financial access
- Pay for big items by credit card
- Get limited spending money from ATM's every few days.
- Split your cash/credit cards up between what you carry and leave in room in case of theft.
- Look into a travelers debit card, like a pre-paid visa, etc.
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As it turned out, I had my laptop excessively over insured, but their policy was to replace it or pay it. Easiest insurance claim I have ever made and I had a check in full a week later. When I picked up my replacement laptop, far better with the same money, I phoned my agent from the store to get it covered before I left as I had other stops to make and I wanted to leave it in the pickup - no trunk available.
