Raven
Saturday, June 14th, 2008, 03:14 PM
FAMILY VACATION SAFETY TIPS
Preparing for a family, or for that matter any trip requires planning. Once you’ve decided where you’re going, where you’ll stay and how you’ll get there, you must plan for the safety of your home and family while you are away, and while enroute. Travel agents are recommended now, since they have a ‘network’, which can help with safety, security considerations within the current climate of ‘unrest’, no matter where you are going.
Following are several suggestions that will help to ensure that your trip is a safe one. Preventing crime during family/business travel starts with making sure that your home is protected while you’re away.
It is essential to make your residence appear as though you never left
1. - Keep shades and blinds in their normal position.
2. - Stop mail and newspapers, or ask a neighbor to pick them up each day.
3. - Install timers on several household lights so they go on at different times,
include a radio preset to a news station or talk show – for voices 4. - Ask a neighbor to park a car in your driveway each night.
5. - Arrange to have your grass mowed while you are gone.
6. - Unplug the cord to the motor of your garage door opener, so that thieves who
visit your neighborhood with garage door openers with the same code as
yours will not be able to open your garage door.
Some tips on what to take/ NOT to take with you:
1. - Clean out your wallet/purse before you go, take only essential credit cards.
2. - Use credit cards or travelers checks instead of cash wherever possible.
3. - Carry your purse close to your body, in front of you.
4. - Keep your wallet in an inside pocket, NOT in your back/hip pocket!
5. - Better yet, wear a ‘fanny pack’ – in front of you, or a money belt or pouch
under your clothes.
6. - If you carry a purse/whatever/ on a strap, over a shoulder,
KEEP A HAND ON IT!, just in case someone tries to cut the strap from
behind.
7. - Pack as lightly as possible. Lots of heavy, cumbersome bags will slow you
down and make you more vulnerable to being robbed.
8. - Expensive designer luggage can draw unneeded attention to your
belongings. Pack your things in inconspicuous bags.
9. - Keep a separate record of the contents of checked luggage, and keep
anything of value such as medicine and jewelry in a carryon bag that stays
with you.
10. - If you are carrying prescribed drugs, be certain you carry them in their
original packaging and that you have a copy of the prescription with you.
11. - If you are going on an extended vacation, consider shipping large bags to
your destination in advance. For the return trip, mail bulky new purchases
home, or ask merchants to do it for you.
While you are traveling:
1. – Do not display expensive jewelry, cameras, money, and other items that will
draw attention, make you a target for a pickpocket, a thief.
2. - Do use an ATM for the best currency exchange rates, but don’t walk away
from an ATM counting cash – count it right there.
3. - Keep an eye on your children at all times. Be certain they know where they
are staying – name and address and phone number; this may seem callous,
impersonal but you may wish to consider a ‘tag’ for each child – similar to a
wrist tag used in hospitals to identify patients, and teach children what to do if
you become separated. Make certain that they know not to accept rides from
strangers.
4. - Always lock your car when it’s parked – and when you are inside too – even
if the stop is brief.
5. - Keep valuables out of sight, preferably locked in the trunk.
6. - Don’t advertise that you’re tourists by leaving maps and guidebooks on the
seats or dashboard – keep them on the floor or in the glove box.
7. - Use well-lighted, well-traveled streets at all times, check your route on a map
in advance.
8. - Find the floor fire exits as soon as you get to your hotel room.
9. - Request a room between the third and fifth floors – high enough for fire truck
ladders, too high for burglars from the outside.
If you are traveling to any foreign country – including Canada and Mexico:
1. - Make photocopies of all family passports, keep these copies separate from
the actual passports.
2. - Check with the ‘Country Desk – for that country – at the State Dept, in order
to ascertain the political and social climate, or contact
<www.travel.state.gov>.
3. - Consider registering by phone with the US Embassy or Consulate in the
country you are visiting – Especially if there is political or social unrest in the
region.
4. - Rather than renting a car in a foreign country – except Canada, consider
scheduled tours, or a guide or tour recommended by your hotel.
IT WOULD ALSO BE an excellent IDEA TO VISIT WWW.TSA.DOT.GOV (http://www.tsa.dot.gov/)
FOR THE LATEST ADVICE ON WHAT CAN/CANNOT BE CARRIED ON AN AIRCRAFT.
(http://www.gettier.com/News.html)
Source (http://www.gettier.com/News.html)
Preparing for a family, or for that matter any trip requires planning. Once you’ve decided where you’re going, where you’ll stay and how you’ll get there, you must plan for the safety of your home and family while you are away, and while enroute. Travel agents are recommended now, since they have a ‘network’, which can help with safety, security considerations within the current climate of ‘unrest’, no matter where you are going.
Following are several suggestions that will help to ensure that your trip is a safe one. Preventing crime during family/business travel starts with making sure that your home is protected while you’re away.
It is essential to make your residence appear as though you never left
1. - Keep shades and blinds in their normal position.
2. - Stop mail and newspapers, or ask a neighbor to pick them up each day.
3. - Install timers on several household lights so they go on at different times,
include a radio preset to a news station or talk show – for voices 4. - Ask a neighbor to park a car in your driveway each night.
5. - Arrange to have your grass mowed while you are gone.
6. - Unplug the cord to the motor of your garage door opener, so that thieves who
visit your neighborhood with garage door openers with the same code as
yours will not be able to open your garage door.
Some tips on what to take/ NOT to take with you:
1. - Clean out your wallet/purse before you go, take only essential credit cards.
2. - Use credit cards or travelers checks instead of cash wherever possible.
3. - Carry your purse close to your body, in front of you.
4. - Keep your wallet in an inside pocket, NOT in your back/hip pocket!
5. - Better yet, wear a ‘fanny pack’ – in front of you, or a money belt or pouch
under your clothes.
6. - If you carry a purse/whatever/ on a strap, over a shoulder,
KEEP A HAND ON IT!, just in case someone tries to cut the strap from
behind.
7. - Pack as lightly as possible. Lots of heavy, cumbersome bags will slow you
down and make you more vulnerable to being robbed.
8. - Expensive designer luggage can draw unneeded attention to your
belongings. Pack your things in inconspicuous bags.
9. - Keep a separate record of the contents of checked luggage, and keep
anything of value such as medicine and jewelry in a carryon bag that stays
with you.
10. - If you are carrying prescribed drugs, be certain you carry them in their
original packaging and that you have a copy of the prescription with you.
11. - If you are going on an extended vacation, consider shipping large bags to
your destination in advance. For the return trip, mail bulky new purchases
home, or ask merchants to do it for you.
While you are traveling:
1. – Do not display expensive jewelry, cameras, money, and other items that will
draw attention, make you a target for a pickpocket, a thief.
2. - Do use an ATM for the best currency exchange rates, but don’t walk away
from an ATM counting cash – count it right there.
3. - Keep an eye on your children at all times. Be certain they know where they
are staying – name and address and phone number; this may seem callous,
impersonal but you may wish to consider a ‘tag’ for each child – similar to a
wrist tag used in hospitals to identify patients, and teach children what to do if
you become separated. Make certain that they know not to accept rides from
strangers.
4. - Always lock your car when it’s parked – and when you are inside too – even
if the stop is brief.
5. - Keep valuables out of sight, preferably locked in the trunk.
6. - Don’t advertise that you’re tourists by leaving maps and guidebooks on the
seats or dashboard – keep them on the floor or in the glove box.
7. - Use well-lighted, well-traveled streets at all times, check your route on a map
in advance.
8. - Find the floor fire exits as soon as you get to your hotel room.
9. - Request a room between the third and fifth floors – high enough for fire truck
ladders, too high for burglars from the outside.
If you are traveling to any foreign country – including Canada and Mexico:
1. - Make photocopies of all family passports, keep these copies separate from
the actual passports.
2. - Check with the ‘Country Desk – for that country – at the State Dept, in order
to ascertain the political and social climate, or contact
<www.travel.state.gov>.
3. - Consider registering by phone with the US Embassy or Consulate in the
country you are visiting – Especially if there is political or social unrest in the
region.
4. - Rather than renting a car in a foreign country – except Canada, consider
scheduled tours, or a guide or tour recommended by your hotel.
IT WOULD ALSO BE an excellent IDEA TO VISIT WWW.TSA.DOT.GOV (http://www.tsa.dot.gov/)
FOR THE LATEST ADVICE ON WHAT CAN/CANNOT BE CARRIED ON AN AIRCRAFT.
(http://www.gettier.com/News.html)
Source (http://www.gettier.com/News.html)