International Travel Safety

HUB International offers the following tips for individuals who are traveling internationally:

• Learn as much as you can about the country you are visiting before you leave. You should be aware of the political and cultural climate, health/safety risks, active criminal and terrorist groups, and their propensity for kidnap and extortion. There are a number of travel security resources available, some of which provide ongoing travel alerts.

• Depending on your destination and your medical condition, you may want to plan for how you will cover the substantial expenses associated with hospitalization and/or medical evacuation. There are a number of travel insurance and emergency evacuation plans that provide cost effective coverage.

• Carry your medications in the original containers with copies of the original prescriptions.

•  Remove all personal information from luggage tags. Use a small, discreet tag that includes your employer name and business address. If your luggage is lost, you can reclaim it with a business card and photo identification.

• Do not honor requests to transport letters or packages from people you don’t know, no matter how innocent they appear.

• Keep your cash and high value items in the hotel safe.

• Leave expensive jewelry at home. The majority of insurance claims placed by individuals while traveling are related to jewelry losses. In many cases, these losses resulted from individuals accidentally leaving their valuables behind.

• Book a hotel room between the third and sixth floors. A room below the third floor can pose a potential security concern. A room on the seventh floor or higher makes fire rescue and evacuation more difficult.

• Do not discuss your travel plans with hotel staff members or reveal your personal information to casual acquaintances.

• When you leave your hotel for the day, secure your luggage with plastic luggage ties. Inexpensive and easy to use, these ties can keep your personal items safe from anyone who comes into your room.

• Never leave your laptop unattended. In light of the increasing risk of identity theft, you should travel only with the data that you absolutely need. If you are traveling for business, have your employer install a highly encrypted program on your laptop to reduce the risk of hacking.

• Exercise caution in using ATMs. Avoid alerting bystanders that you may be carrying a large sum of cash. ATM transactions should only be done during the day, and only inside a financial institution. Avoid using ATMs that are located on the street.