Unfortunately when people travel, common sense seems to fly out the window. A fairytale holiday can quickly turn into a major nightmare and all because peoples common sense has gone on holidays without them. With only a few common sense guidelines kept firmly in our minds like protecting our belongings at all times, knowing travel and baggage regulations before hand and even planning for something unexpected like flight delays (this rarely happens off course), can make our trips a lot more enjoyable and stress free. After all, isn’t that why we go on holidays, to unwind and relax?
A few simple tips while getting on and off a flight will make things go a lot more smoother. Something like when lining up at customs, make a mental note of how many bags you have while they’re being screened so there are no nasty surprises when you are at your hotel and realise something is missing.
Never ever place any valuable or irreplacable items in your checked baggage. As trustworthy as we like to think baggage handlers are these days, sadly that is not always the case at most airports. If the item cannot fit into your carry on lugguage, leave it at home or don’t buy the item when browsing through that duty free shop for example.
As far as passports,credit cards and cash goes, these important items should be kept on your person at all times. Never put them in your checked in baggage or even in your carry on baggage as these have known to go missing as well. Especially when someone might have the same looking bag as you on the plane, you might not notice when it gets lifted by accident or on purpose. You should always as a backup have all your passport numbers, pin numbers and credit card numbers on you seperately incase they do get lost or stolen. At least that way getting replacements might be less of a headache.
One tip I always use when travelling is to buy a cheap pre paid cell phone card and get one for every member of the family. This is useful especially when the kids wonder off and get lost somewhere. All you have to do is call them and find out where they are. One of my kids wondered off  in a strange city on holidays once and it was the most stressful day I have had to date in my life. Had I bought him a cheap phone card, I could have avoided all the grey hairs on my head that appeared the next day.
Never leave any of your baggage unattended either at the airport or a hotel. There are plenty of opportunistic thieves and professionals who target obvious looking travellers. Even when you get out of a taxi, make sure you have that mental note of all your luggage. If you hire a car, make sure you check every inch of it when you return the car especially if you have had it for awhile. Valuables can get lost in them very easily.
Using common sense when you are travelling can reduce stress and anxiety. Always be prepared and have a backup plan should things go wrong.
