Last week, Leanne of From Australia to Italy shared with us some of the tips she passes on to her travel clients. Today, she is back with more!
Leanne’s Readers Report … Tips for Real Travelers, Part II
1) This sounds simple, but you would be surprised at how many tourists walk around with all of their money on them.
Please don’t do this!
A good idea is to rent a safe from the hotel and take only the absolute minimum with you. The same applies with credit and bank cards. I have customers who are robbed in Rome pretty much every week and they always have hundreds – or sometimes thousands – of euros on them. If you don’t do it at home then don’t do it in a foreign country.
2) Before you leave for an international trip, make sure your passport has at least 6 months validity remaining. We have had a few families this year who were stuck behind in the UK because one of their passports had less then 6 months until it expired.
Thanks, Leanne for reminding us of these great travel tips!
Do you have any travel horror stories or lessons-learned-the-hard-way tips? If so, share them below or contact me and be featured here on the next Readers Report … Tips from Real Travelers installment.
In case you missed them, the first three installments of Reader’s Report … Tips from Real Travelers can be found here, here and here.
Until next time … Buon Viaggio!
Very good tips!! I know about passports as I used to work in a post office and we were always getting enquiries..and once I knew about it, I always said passed it on to customers.
Yes why carry lots of money on holiday. I don’t do it here, and when on holiday, just do the same….you can always find a bancomat.
Yes you can. You can also pay with a credit card at many places. Also Peppe and I usually split up our cash and cards so each of us has some, you know … in case!
anne’s last blog post..Food Markets…..
my only concern with leaving money behind is the dilemma of staying in a place that does not have a safe option for its storage. we were recently in a youth hostel in costa rica & it was more risky to leave the money than carry it…of course, most of my bills (& my passport) were in my money belt under my clothing with only a bit of cash in the pants pocket. i never carry a purse when i travel & it is quite freeing, even beyond worrying about it being stolen.
Oh yes, you definitely want to ensure your money is safe before you leave it! Great reminder. I always travel with a messenger bag … it frees your hands, as well and keeps your money, etc strapped across your body!
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These are good tips. It’s difficult when you feel it isn’t safe to leave your money/cards in the hotel.
Splitting the cash between you is also wise.
A word of warning about bags across your body. A friend was in Rome when a guy passed by on a scooter and grabbed it. This knocked her over and did some harm – I think he thought it was just over the shoulder and that it would come off easily. He didn’t get the money, but she was injured – not badly, but could have been.
My advice would be, yes, across the body but keep it under clothing – difficult in the summer!
Ouch! That is horrible about your friend. You know, we think we are doing everything we can to be safe … . Thanks for pointing this out to us!
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