Who doesn’t love to travel? We all fall prey to the siren lure of traveling sooner or later, of that ultimate escape from our daily worries. It’s all so much fun – packing, booking tickets, looking forward to new faces, new places, and new sights and new sunrises – somewhere in that chaotic high, we forget something important. We forget to plan for the unexpected. Here are tips on how to handle different crises and unexpected circumstances.
Travel and Medical Emergencies
- Get sufficient insurance: Get sufficient travel insurance that covers medical needs, loss of property, injury, natural disasters and so on.
- Carry your insurance card: Foreign hospitals may insist on cash payment for services. If you have lost your cash, you can still show them the card and call your insurance people for validation.
- Get Medevac insurance: If you have Medevac (Medical Evacuation) insurance, you will be transported by jet to the nearest country or your home country for medical services. Overseas Medevac can cost anywhere from $500,000 to $1,000,000. Opt for this only if you plan an extended stay at a really backward country.
General Emergencies
- Keep emergency phone numbers ready: This list should include the local hospital, local embassy, Credit Card and ATM card issuing companies, ambulatory services, police, fire department, and travel insurance numbers.
- Stash away extra cash: Traveling always puts us in risk of being robbed of cash and cards. Don’t carry all your cash in one place. If you happen to lose a wallet with cash and cards, be sure you can retrieve your emergency cash in a jiffy.
- Learn a few basic foreign sentences: Learn the local equivalents of words like “emergency, help, I need help, please help me, and call the police” and so on. Very useful in non-English speaking countries.
- 7. Contact your embassy: Know where your home country’s embassies or consulate offices are located. You’ll need this info if you lose your passport, have lost all your money and luggage, fall prey to terrorist or criminal activities, or are imprisoned.
- Carry all valuables onboard: Don’t put valuables in your checkin luggage. Your insurance reimbursement won’t cover the cost of your loss. Put everything in your carryon and keep it with you always.
- Keep multiple copies of documents: Take photocopies of your credit cards, passport, medical and travel insurance papers, flight tickets, prescriptions and anything else you can think of. Keep several copies in different places, one set on your clothing, and leave copies with your friends and family back home. If you’re in a pinch, a friend or family member will be able to get you medical and consular assistance.
- Keep your friends updated: Keep emailing your friends from wherever you are. Let them know the name, address and phone number of the hotel you’re staying in. Give them the local embassy details in case of emergency contact as well.
- Get a prepaid GSM local cell phone: Leave your expensive cell phones at home and pick up a cheap prepaid cell while traveling. Make sure your family and friends back home have your number for emergency contact. A GSM phone is a good idea, because dialing 112 on it will connect you to emergency services, even if you don’t know the local number for emergency.
- Keep a local guide book with you all times: Read the book and browse the maps till you get a good feel for the place before you start exploring. Ask a reliable source to mark out areas where it’s not advisable for tourists to visit and avoid such places.
- Check out health care: Know where there are good hospitals that offer international level of medical care. Even the poorest countries have a few good hospitals. If you’re injured, get checked into any hospital and then insist on being transferred to a better hospital. You can consult your country's embassy for local healthcare recommendations.
- Find out local shelters: If you’re planning an extended stay at a foreign country, know where to go if you’re assaulted, robbed or raped. Know where to find shelters for battered women, or homeless shelters or churches where you can get basic care.
- Find where the Traveler’s Aid offices are: The Traveler’s Aid organization has offices in Australia, US and Canada. They offer all forms of emergency assistance to travelers. They can also connect you with social organizations to contact if you’re abandoned, raped, trafficked and so on.
- Know how to get emergency cash: You can get cash deposited using Western Union, bank wire transfers, credit card advances and so on. Check out how to receive bank transfers and Western Union payments locally. You can also get money sent through the embassy, through an OCS Trust Account.
Teena is one of Adrenalin's contributing writers. Check out the presents for men at Adrenalin for over 2000 inspired gift ideas