Real Clever Moms

Family vacations are a fun and wonderful experience. However, it’s normal to be concerned about safety issues especially when traveling with children.

Here are a few reminders to help ease your mind:

Airport Safety – Always keep an eye on your luggage and never leave it unattended. To avoid someone else tampering with your luggage, try not to place it on the conveyor belt until you’ve been security checked yourself and ready to walk through the metal detector. Once you put the bags on the conveyor belt keep a close eye on them.

Hotel Safety – Keep valuables in a safe and always know where the closest safety exits are in case of an emergency. Get a room between the third and tenth floors, high enough to prevent intruders from the outside, but lower in case of a fire.

Road Safety – It’s a great experience to drive in another country but it can also be very stressful and even dangerous. Before your trip, get information on what driving is like in your destined country. Once there pay close attention to all road signs; if the signs are in a different language this will make things more difficult.

Rental Cars - To avoid being detected as a ‘tourist,’ practice with your rental car controls and features before driving it. Don’t go out in a car with a rental-company logo on the bumper or windscreen, which automatically announces you as a tourist and makes you more vulnerable to attacks by thieves. For this same reason make sure you don’t leave your maps, hotel documents and guidebooks in the car.

Phone - If it’s possible to roam your mobile phone in the country do it. If not, get one to use internationally; it will be useful especially in case of emergencies at your destination and for calling home when needed.

Sight-Seeing Safety – Always keep a close eye on your children. Children aren’t aware of the dangers around them and won’t act any differently in unfamiliar surroundings. Place a safety card in your child’s pocket, or on a necklace under his or her clothes; it should including your name, contact details, hotel information, and any medical problems/severe allergies your child has. You can also have military-style “dog tags” made with this information.

Don’t wear expensive jewelry or carry expensive bags, cameras or laptops, and try not to look like a tourist. Always, always keep a close eye on your bags. It’s a good idea to actually carry your cash, identification and credit cards in your pocket and not in your main bag. Be especially careful with your bags when sitting down at restaurants. It’s a common scam for thieves to steal bags from right under someone’s seat when they’re dining and happily preoccupied chatting.

Enjoy your vacation, knowing that common sense and a few precautions will help you have a fun and memorable trip.