Travel Safety Checklist:
6 Ways to Have a
Stress-Free Vacation

Guided vacations offer a truly enjoyable way to travel, with everything arranged for you, not by you - so you can travel with total peace of mind. To help you have the best travel experience, we've put together a checklist of everything you need to know to for a stress-free vacation.

Take a Guided Tour

One of the best ways to enjoy a fun and effortless vacation is to take a guided tour. Let our expert travel agents handle all the details and logistical planning so you can sit back, relax, and be in the moment.

Guided tours enjoy special access to popular sites and curated excursions that allow you to fully immerse yourself in the history and culture of your destination. Tour groups also provide a wonderful social aspect to the trip—sharing meals and forming new friendships as you create lifelong memories.

Purchase Trustworthy Travel Insurance

You might ask yourself, "do I really need travel insurance?" The answer is yes. Travel insurance offers peace of mind—ensuring that you’re covered in case a medical situation arises during your trip. Many health insurance policies don’t provide coverage outside the country or even outside your home state. 

Travel insurance also protects your investment, providing coverage in case you need to cancel or shorten your trip, experience travel complications, or have lost or delayed baggage. Many travel insurance policies offer a 24/7 hotline to assist you in an emergency. So make sure you're covered before you take off.

Make Travel Plans Known to Friends

Let your friends and family know about your travel plans, whether you’re taking off for seven days or a month-long overseas excursion. Provide them a copy of your itinerary, including flight information and addresses, and contact information for any hotels/lodging where you will be staying. You may also want to give them a photocopy of important documents—passports, travel visas, credit cards, etc.

Consider signing up for the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, which provides information about safety conditions and allows the U.S. embassy in your destination country to contact you in an emergency situation.

Have Medications and Health in Order

Before traveling abroad, it’s always good to meet with your primary care doctor for a routine physical and to ensure that you’re up-to-date on vaccinations and prescriptions.

Make sure you have enough of your medications to cover the length of your trip, plus a few extra days in case of travel delays.

Keeping medications in their original, labeled bottles is helpful when going through customs. It’s also good to bring a copy of your prescription and know the generic names of medications in case you need to order a refill while traveling.

Keep Your Travel Documents Safe

Check the expiration dates of your passport, credit cards, and driver's license well before your departure date, so you have time to renew them if necessary. Ensure that your passport is valid for six months after completing your trip.

Make copies of important documents - especially your passport and visas - if anything is lost or stolen while traveling.

Only bring the essentials with you on your trip. Leave items such as your social security card and other membership cards at home—label personal belongings, including your camera, with your name, phone number, and email address.

Contact Your Banks

Tell your banks before you travel. You can have them make a note of the trip dates, so they don’t flag charges once you start using your credit card(s) overseas. Ask about partner banks and ATM fees in your destination country. Your bank is likely part of a larger network that will limit fees at certain foreign ATMs. 

Pro travel tip: Never worry about "insufficient," i.e. blocked funds, for a €1.70 cappuccino. Check with your bank to see if running your bank card as debit and providing your pin number the first time you use it in each country clears fraudulent-use flags.