The Mistakes Travellers Make — And How to Avoid Them

There’s so much to think about when you’re planning a trip that it’s normal for something to slip your mind — but it doesn’t have to! The most common travel mistakes are easy to fix, so make a note of them, plan accordingly, and you’ll be ready for your holiday in no time.

Come fly with me

Getting to the airport, through security, and onto the plane can cause a whole heap of stress before you even reach your destination, and this stress triples if you miss your flight or get your dates and times mixed up.

Reduce the chances of this happening by confirming the details of the flight days in advance, weighing your luggage at home to stop any nasty surprise charges at the bag drop, and leaving plenty of time (more than you think you’ll need) to get to the airport. If your airline gives you the option, check in online. If you only have hand luggage, you’ll be able to go straight through security.

Can you afford to take the risk?

Travel insurance can make a big dent in your funds and lots of people are happy to go without, reasoning that they probably won’t need it. And while many trips are trouble-free, medical costs abroad can reach thousands and thousands of dollars, which you’ll have to pay if you don’t have an insurance company.

Factor a comprehensive travel insurance policy into your budget when you’re saving for your trip, make sure it covers any activities you plan to do, and stay smug in the knowledge that you’re protected if the worst case scenario happens.

Snap happy

There’s a lot to be said for putting the camera down and just staying in the present moment. However, photos can be a precious reminder of all the good times you had, and it can be heartbreaking to lose them. So back them up!

Take multiple memory cards with you, and leave your pictures on them once they’ve been taken. To ensure you have more than one copy of everything, upload the pictures to a laptop and/or cloud storage. Cloud storage is perfect for travel because even if you lose all your belongings, you’ll still have a copy of each photo. Try and back up your pictures daily if you can.

The wrong connection

It’s easier than ever to stay in touch with loved ones back home when you’re on your travels, but scammers are starting to take advantage of this, setting up open WiFi networks so they can steal the details of unsuspecting tourists. Be wary of connecting to any networks that don’t belong to an airport or cafe, and if in doubt ask the staff what the official name and password are.

If you need to connect to the internet on a regular basis, consider buying a virtual private network, known as a VPN. A VPN will protect you and stop hackers from getting hold of your online data.

This is a guest post from TINZ.