Travel Tips

(1) When you are about to put your valuables, and especially your laptop, through the X-Ray machine at the airport, beware of this two person scam.
If you leave a gap between yourself and the X-Ray conveyer that you have put your valuables on, someone may jump in front of you. They may apologize and step back, or they may walk to the scanning frame where they will be rejected and asked to go through again. They will not.
Meanwhile their accomplice on the other side will have swiped your valuables. When you get through the scanning frame they will be gone.
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First of all, you should pay for as much of your holiday as you can before you leave home! Most of the best deals for transport, accommodation, and tours, are organized through wholesalers and your travel agent a long time in advance.

We have a Gold Mastercard. I am not sure why we still bother with it. I got it originally because it had travel insurance for the family built in. Now if we use it to pay for our travel we are charged bank merchant fees. I have found it better to pay cash and get separate travel insurance. Excellent value travel insurance for anyone living anywhere and going anywhere is available by clicking on Columbus Direct Travel Insurance with NO travel agent’s commissions, or especially for Australians, and anyone travelling to Australia, click on 1Cover

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Don’t pack anything you are not prepared to lose!
Luggage gets lost. Luggage and possessions get stolen.
Leave your expensive jewellery at home.
That includes your diamond encrusted, gold banded wristwatch.
In some places this will get you murdered.
The more doubtful the place, the smaller your camera should be.
And find out what the latest regulations and restrictions are for aeroplane carry-on stuff. Google your airline or check your flight documents. Always take a pen. Self defense classes will teach you how to use a pen as a weapon, but you usually have to fill out immigration and customs forms in the air.
Wear as little metal as possible unless you like stripping for security staff.
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As sailors and travellers, and having Irish, English, Scottish and Danish ancestry, and living in Queensland, Australia, Eileen and I have become particularly careful of the sun. We have both had early first stage melanomas removed, and I have also had SCCs and BCCs removed.
The following article is one of many that has caught my attention. I make no claim that this is perfect science, just worth a read because it is possibly correct.

If the details here get boring please skip to the last paragraph.

Editor
John Brinkley (The Last Picasso)
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The following is partly from our own experiences and partly an extract from
http://www.safetravel.co.uk/FirstAidTravelKit.html

If you feel you have specific needs for your first aid kit, consult your local doctor, or a medical clinic that specialises in travel. There are several listed at “Useful Links” on this website.

The Editor
John Brinkley The Last Picasso
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What do you do if you lose or have your passports and credit cards stolen? The first thing you should do is panic. You could be in a bad situation. It is also scary when an official takes your passport out of your sight for minutes or days.

Before you leave home, make copies of the first page of your passports, visas, international or local driver’s licences, birth certificates and maybe a marriage licence to show a change of name, both sides of your credit cards, traveller’s cheques, travel insurance documents, and your travel itinerary. Leave a copy of each with someone at home you trust, with the possible exception of your credit card and traveller’s cheque details. The copy showing the back of your credit cards should have the telephone numbers to use if there’s a problem.
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SCENE 1.

A friend went to the local gym and placed his belongings in the locker. After the workout and a shower, he came out, saw the locker open, and thought to himself, “Funny, I thought I locked the locker.”

Hmm, He dressed and just flipped the wallet to make sure all was in order. Everything looked okay – all cards were in place..

A few weeks later his credit card bill came – a whooping bill of $14,000!

He called the credit card company and started yelling at them, saying that he did not make the transactions. Customer care personnel verified that there was no mistake in the system and asked if his card had been stolen..

“No,” he said, but then took out his wallet, pulled out the credit card, and yep – you guessed it – a switch had been made. An expired similar credit card from the same bank was in the wallet. The thief broke into his locker at the gym and switched cards.

Verdict: The credit card issuer said since he did not report the card missing earlier, he would have to pay the amount owed to them.

How much did he have to pay for items he did not buy? — $9,000!

Why were there no calls made to verify the amount swiped? — Small amounts rarely trigger a ‘warning bell’ with some credit card companies. It just so happens that all the small amounts added up to big one!

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Put your hand up if you’ve ever used a money changer in the street or a shop.
OK. I see lots of hands.
Now put your hand up if you’ve always received the correct amount of money.
Hmmm. Not so many. Some hands are half way up. Some of you are thinking.
OK. Put your hand up if you’ve never counted your money after you’ve left the shop.
I see lots again.
And up until two weeks ago I would have had my hand up too.

When Eileen and I are in Asia we use money changers a lot. I always count after the changer has counted to make sure they haven’t slipped a note or two back. But I have never checked to see if I have been short changed a whole bundle of notes. The only way to do this is to be the last person to touch your change, and when there are lots of bundles of notes in front of you, being certain is difficult. On our recent trip to Bali I found a way.
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