Tips to keep yourself safe when travelling

Did you know that you can take a number of precautions to keep yourself safe whilst on your travels?

Lots of travellers don’t protect themselves as much as they could, and it means you miss out when the worst does happen.

Travelling is always worth the risks in my book – you’ve got to get out there in this big world of ours, and it isn’t always smooth sailing.

But if you take my advice with these simple travel safety tips, you might find that you end up avoiding a situation that could have been a whole lot worse.

Or, that travel policy you bought will end up being worth it when the insurance company reimburses you for things that get lost or stolen.

It’s better to be prepared and avoid the worst – and then when something bad does happen you know you did everything you could to be a sensible traveller and you can’t kick yourself as hard.

Here are a few suggestions of risks and safety measures typical to travelling that you might not be aware about:

Protect yourself from RFID

Did you know that a number of your credit cards that have contactless payment use a technology called RFID, and that this can be swiped very easily by thieves with the right equipment?

Buy an RFID proof wallet to avoid having your data swiped. This keeps all your contactless cards safe behind a layer within the wallet, and stops high-tech crooks stealing your card details just by walking past you.

Avoid sharing travel content on social media

Did you know that criminals often scan social media to find out when people are on holiday so they can rob their house?

Sadly, this type of crime is becoming more common and can be a scary thought.

If I were you I would avoid sharing your holiday snaps whilst you’re away across your social media channels. Even better, why not set up a home security system such as a high-tech home alarm to help protect your home whilst abroad.

This way, if you do want to share your holiday content straight away you can give yourself some added protection and piece of mind that everything will be looked after.

Using some of these latest technology-based home security systems, you can even set up an alarm system that sends alerts directly to your phone.

Use a VPN when you travel

Did you know that a hacker can set up a fake wifi hotspot and swipe your important information?

This one is really important to avoid when you’re travelling, as you often connect to many different wifi spots to get online without paying for data.

By using a VPN, you can ensure that you have a secure connection and that your data remains protected.

It’s perfect for when you’re using public wifi on your travels, and in public places.

Always travel with travel insurance

The thing about travel insurance is that you hope that you will never need it. But when you do, you will be grateful you bought it and didn’t leave home without it.

Once on a trip in Canada whilst staying in a hostel, my locker padlock was hacked open with a crow bar and everything was stolen.

Luckily my travel insurance had me covered, and I was able to replace what went missing with the payout from the company and carry on with my travels.

In the worst case scenario that you have an accident or become ill while you’re travelling, you might even need to claim on your travel insurance to avoid having to pay sky high hospital and treatment bills.

Emergency accidents in particular mean that hospital bills could be through the roof.

Having travel insurance will make sure you’re covered throughout your trip, and I honestly would not leave home without it.

When you’re buying your policy, you should ensure that you have read all the small print supplied by your travel insurance company so you’re fully aware of what you are and what you’re not covered for.

Even around the EU for EU citizens, ensure that you register and always travel with your E 111 card to help towards medical bills within the EU if you get into trouble whilst you’re travelling in Europe.

Even if you’re staying within the European continent hospital bills can get expensive when you’re away from the NHS, so it’s best to take care of this small piece of admin in advance.

Thank you for reading

Thank you for reading about a few tips you can learn to help keep yourself secure and safe whilst travelling.

I hope you found the information useful and remember that a bit of forward planning, being aware of your surroundings can go a long way and help towards creating an enjoyable travelling trip.