Family Travel Safety Tips

Have a Safe Trip

These are the family travel safety tips I actually use, the ones I run through before we book anywhere new. Some of it is research and some of it is habit, and most of it takes about ten minutes once you know what you are looking for.

As a mom I am constantly considering travel safety, safety of our family, safety of our kids and the general safety of the location we are visiting.  Beyond the obvious of keeping your kids from falling off a cliff or getting in a ski accident, these are the things I consider and research prior to all of our travels to a new destination.

General Safety

While most countries are generally pretty safe, it does not hurt to do a little preliminary research first.  You can start with the US Department of State website travel.state.gov.  There you will find general resources for travel safety.  What I really like is the search tool to input the country you are interested in and it will give you specific information pertaining to safety for that country.  The government categorizes each country into a Travel Advisory Level (of which there are 4); Level 1: Exercise normal precautions, Level 2: exercise increased caution, Level 3: Reconsider Travel, and Level 4: Do not travel.

We have never traveled anywhere with a level 4 advisory, for seemingly obvious reasons.  There is more specific and regional safety information for each country listed below the level rating so it is good to read all of it.  Sometimes it is one very specific area or city that is considered the travel risk, not the entire country.

After visiting the US Department of State website I usually google “is travel safe in _____”.  I try to find other travelers and bloggers websites that mention safety and their experiences in that country.  I am also looking to find current content, so if the article or post is more than 5 years old, I look for another one.   I rely pretty heavily on the experiences of other travelers as I presume I will likely have a similar experience since most travelers see, do and visit similar places.

We have been to many countries, on several continents, with Travel Advisory Levels ranging from 1-3 and we have never felt unsafe.  We have found that people of most cultures are very kind and welcoming.  Of course there are bad seeds everywhere, but that is usually not the norm.

Personal Belongings

Of all the travel safety risks, the most likely scenario to fall victim to is petty theft.  Wherever you are in the world, even your home country, petty theft is everywhere.  Large tourist attractions and public transportation are hotbeds for thieves and pick pockets.  When riding public transportation, keep your backpack on, your hand on your purse, don’t have your phone or camera out, etc.  When you are visiting the Vatican, Eiffel Tower, etc., be mindful of your belongings.  Travel with a backpack that locks or throw an S carabiner on your zippers.  I like to use a bum bag that I carry cross shoulder with the bag in front and my hand on the bag.  Thieves are looking for easy targets.  If they see a lock on a bag, that may be enough to deter them to another victim.  Use vigilance.

ID and Documentation

A few tips for keeping your ID/passport, credit cards and cash safe during travels.

Making copies.  Before your trip, make copies of, or I prefer using my phone to scan, of all of your passports.  I like to keep them in my notes on my iphone.  It is saved in the cloud (in case my phone is lost or stolen) and I can lock that entry with a separate pin for added security.  I usually keep several things in this note entry, including proof of travel medical insurance and our Medjet membership info (more on that further down this page) and ticketing for that specific trip.  Sometimes that include train tickets, entry tickets for an attraction, etc.  This is also a great place to put your credit card numbers in case they are lost/stolen, and your local embassy number in the country you are visiting.

Having a digital copy of your passport on your phone is nice for two reasons.  First, in some countries, it is advised that you carry your ID on you at all times in case you are asked by authorities to see it.  Carrying around your physical passport can be more risky in the case you fall victim to petty theft.  Many places where carrying ID has been advised, travelers have often said authorities were fine with seeing only a digital copy.  Second, if for any reason you lose your passport, or your passport is stolen, having a copy of your passport can help when you contact the local embassy.

Split up your goods.  We always keep our credit cards and cash in several places, like in multiple pockets, multiple bags and on multiple people.  If we end up being the victim of theft, odds are they are not going to get away with more than one bag at most.  So the theory is, you won’t be left stranded without credit cards or access to money.  Dawson and I will each carry a credit card, an ATM card and each have some cash.

Don’t carry what you don’t need.  When you are on your daily outings, leave your passports, extra credit cards and excessive cash in the hotel safe.  You can also purchase a small travel safe that you can attach to something large that people can’t easily walk away with.  This can be helpful if you are in an AirBnb with no safe.

Medical/Travel Insurance

These go hand in hand because many companies cover both medical and trip interruption.  Travel insurance can protect you (or your wallet) against injury/illness, theft and cancellations.  Personally we pay less attention to the cancellation coverage as we are pretty diligent about booking accommodations with free cancellations up to a few days before travel and we usually book directly through airlines, which makes it easier to cancel or change dates of travel with little change fees.

I mostly focus on the medical coverage.  Medical coverage for a trip is extremely affordable compared to the monthly cost of medical insurance in the US.   We typically use and like SafetyWing.  It is widely used in the travel nomad community, easy to sign up for and affordable.  For our family of 4, for a 10 day trip, it is about $45 for coverage.  For other options, check out Seven Corners, which brokers for several companies and will show you several options and prices based on what you are looking for.  Also GeoBlue is often recommended by other bloggers.

If you are trying to decide whether or not medical insurance is necessary, the CDC, Department of State and Global World Health Organization recommends you have it.  Also, there are certain countries that require travel medical insurance as a requirement to enter the country.  It is best to google a country’s entry requirements before planning your trip.  Whether or not you end up having to provide these things upon entry to a country is a whole other story.  Better to have it than be denied entry after flying all that way.

Evacuation Insurance or Membership

So what’s the deal with evacuation insurance and is it necessary?  Whether you deem it necessary for you or your family is a decision you have to make on your own.  I spent a lot of time reading stories from other travelers and researching evacuation insurance and this is the decision we made as a family.  Yes, we like to have an evacuation membership when we travel.

Several medical insurance policies include some sort of medical evacuation, but you have very little control over what gets provided and where they take you.  And, at the end, you still have to file a claim and hope the expenses are deemed coverable by that insurance company.  That’s where we found Medjet sets itself apart from other evacuation policies.  Medjet is a membership program, not an insurance provider.  This means they assist you and cover the costs and no claims need to be completed or approved for them to cover the costs.  I read many outstanding reviews from users of Medjet.

Not only will they provide medical transport for you, but YOU get to select where you want to be transported to.  There are two membership options to choose from, Medjet Assist and Medjet Horizon.  Beyond the medical evacuation, Medjet Horizon also offers evacuation for lots of other things like natural disasters and civil unrest.  While these things are unlikely to happen on your travels, they do still happen.  Members have 24/7 access to a global crises response center for advice and in-country response for the following situations: