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Posts Tagged ‘Avoiding’

If you are planning a vacation, the easiest and safest method for carrying your money is simply to leave it in the bank and use your credit or debit card instead. This way you don’t have to worry about losing your money or having it stolen. However, keep in mind that if you are traveling out of the country without cash, there is always the possibility that the ATM machine will “eat” the card and fail to return it to you. Another problem one international traveler had was withdrawing several hundred dollars from her account and not having the money come out of the machine. This could be a real problem if you are out of the country and without any ready cash.

It is common for thieves to hang out by the ATM machines waiting for a “tourist” to withdraw money. They then follow the person for a few blocks and rob them. So if you will be in a foreign country making use of the ATM machines be sure to exercise caution. Remember that some countries have the art of pickpocketing down to a science with purposeful and timed distractions, using fake falls by elderly people, cutting open purses, and other such things so be aware of your surroundings at all times.

There are many people who don’t carry any plastic, and they prefer to have their money with them. That’s fine, no problem, but you should take some precautions to be sure you don’t find yourself devoid of any money in the middle of your trip.

Traveler’s checks are always a good idea. You have a record of each check in case of problems.

If you are traveling with your family, a good idea is to divide the money up between all of you. I don’t recommend keeping it all in one place just to be on the safe side. That way if somehow someone becomes separated from their money, all of it is not lost.

Another fairly safe method is to use a neck pouch. These are sold in travel stores and online, and as you would probably imagine, you just hang the money pouch around your neck. You could then tuck it inside your shirt or jacket to keep it out of sight.  Read more...

One of the major issues today with consumers in regards to air travel is the amount of lost baggage. Did you know that over 4 million bags a year are either lost, damaged, or in some cases, both? It is important to think about these things when preparing for take off and included in this article are several tips to help secure your luggage while flying to your destination. First, I’d like to mention that over the holidays years ago my bag was lost when the airline changed gates on my flight. This was not a small change but a change which had us traveling across the entire Houston airport from one side to another before our flight took off in 15 minutes. Not fun. Of course, when we arrived at our destinations much of the people who were in the same situation as myself had lost baggage as well. The lost luggage claim line was quite long that evening at 11pm.

My baggage did arrive, however, about a week later. The only problem was that the baggage from LAX came 90% emptied out. All the Christmas gifts and clothing (even my underwear)…gone. It is a known truth that the airlines do in fact subcontract the baggage returns to your address. Mine was a rather interesting experience where the man called on the phone and told me to leave a note saying it is ok that they leave my bag outside my door if I would not be home whenever they so decided to deliver my bag. This, I believe, is where the problem occurred as I would have rather just picked it up myself from their location, but rather the delivery people did not allow it. I am not sure how this came about but I did learn a valuable lesson. There are many little stipulations that airlines have in regards to getting reimbursed for stolen luggage. First, there are a few things they do not cover.
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