Vetting the safety tips for Spring break and vacations that you find on the Internet can be a tough job. You can find a number of sites that recommend good, common sense ideas. But the best safety tips for spring breaks, vacations and holidays go beyond the obvious, and offer you valuable advice for keeping yourself and your loved ones secure.
- Travel in a pack. The best travel safety tips you can follow remind you not to go it alone. Make trips to the ATM with all of the people in your group, and double-check your surroundings for suspicious looking characters. If you must leave your hotel alone, make sure to inform your group about exactly where you’re going — and keep your phone handy.
- Keep your eyes on your drinks. Whether you’re in a bar or drinking an orange juice at breakfast, keep your drink with you at all times. It’s easy for dangerous people to slip something into your drink if you leave it unattended.
- Stick to day time sight-seeing. Unless you and your group are planning a tour, it’s best to keep your sight-seeing experiences confined to daylight hours. By traveling in groups during the day, you’re less likely to become a victim of an abduction or identity theft. It’s also easier to scan your surroundings for people who seem out of place or dangerous.
- Wear sunscreen. What list of travel safety tips for spring break would be complete without mentioning sunscreen? Sunburns are painful, yes, but they’re also dangerous — especially if you’ve been drinking. You can dehydrate quickly, or suffer severe burns that require medical attention.
- Trust your gut. If you feel uncomfortable, unsafe or anxious, get out — fast. Make it a point to find the local police station. For those traveling abroad, any list of safety tips — for spring break, for vacations, for holidays — worth its salt will recommend that you find the American Embassy in the country you’re visiting.
Travel Safety Tips That Keep You Secure While Traveling
Not everyone who goes on spring break is in college, of course — and some spring break travelers include children traveling alone for the first time. Below you’ll find some travel safety tips for people of all ages. They’re effective whether you’re sight-seeing in another state or hopping a plane for another country, and everywhere in between.
- Photocopy your documents. Your driver’s license, your passport, any form of photo ID that you carry: make copies of all of them. Make sure to give a copy to a friend or neighbor, and pack an additional copy in your bags. This applies to children traveling alone or with a group, too. A common form of identity theft involves stealing the Social Security numbers of kids. You can protect their futures in the long-run by making copies now.
- Keep your wallets in your front pockets. It’s easier for pick-pockets to get to your back pockets, and you’re less likely to feel it. The same goes for men’s jacket pockets. To keep your wallet safe, place it in your front pocket. You may also consider keeping your money in one pocket and your wallet in the other.
- Get your shots. Of all the travel safety tips we offer, this is among the most important. Other places carry other forms of germs and bacteria. (This is especially important for children traveling alone to visit relatives or friends around the country — or the world.) Being sick at home is bad: being violently ill in another country is dangerous. Make sure to get you and your family vaccinated before you travel.
Spring break is supposed to be fun. But “fun” and “safe” don’t need to be mutually exclusive. By following these basic travel safety tips, you can ensure that you have an exciting vacation while protecting yourself and your loved ones.
