7 THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT DO WHILE TRAVELLING ABROAD
Watch your wallet, don’t buy fake designer goods and skip the ice cubes if you’re in the tropics — most people are aware of these issues when going abroad. But there are more travel taboos than you may know. Bear these 7 tips in mind on what not to do in order to be sure and enjoy your trip. 1. TRUSTING THE HOTEL SAFE
You may be used to stowing your passport, money, tickets and other valuable items in the hotel safe, to avoid losing them when you are out and about, or getting robbed. How safe are hotel safes, though? Not particularly — some very old models can be opened if the power supply is cut. Other safes can be opened if they are returned to their factory setting. Then there are those that spring open if you punch the lid. It is safer to use the safe at hotel reception, where you can drop off your valuables. You’ll get a receipt and items will be fully insured.
2. MAKING PHONE CALLS OR DOWNLOADING A VIDEO ONBOARD A SHIP
If you’re on a ferry, say from Germany to Sweden or Norway, you might not think twice about reaching for your smartphone, after roaming charges in the EU and some other countries were dropped back in 2017. But that only applies to land-based networks only.
Onboard networks are very expensive. A brief call costs between 3 ($3.17) and 7 per minute. You can also expect to pay up to 2.50 per 100 kilobytes of data — and bear in mind that a brief WhatsApp video of less than a minute has a volume of around one to three megabytes, meaning playing it back could cost 25 to 75. The cost of letting the kids watch a YouTube film would be eye-watering, so you are safest if you switch the phone to flight mode until you reach dry land.
3. PACKING EVERYTHING IN YOUR CHECK-IN BAG
Put your necessities in your hand luggage. In 2019, airlines worldwide lost around 25.4 million luggage items, or just over 5.5 suitcases per thousand passengers, according to IT service provider Sita. A further issue to bear in mind is the minimum connecting time at a transfer airport. If you have less than the minimum specified, time might get tight and your suitcase will probably only reach your destination on the airline’s next flight at the earliest, to be sent
onwards by taxi or courier. So carry the minimum in hand luggage to avoid being stranded
4. UNPREPARED IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY
Have you ever checked out where the hotel’s emergency exit is? No matter how good the sprinkler system, you want to know the way out if something catches fire, particularly if you’re on an upper storey as fire brigade ladders only reach up to the seventh or eighth floor. Make sure you know what emergency number to dial.
5. UNAWARE OF LOCAL LAWS
Most travellers make an effort to abide by local laws but sometimes that requires some extra research. Be aware that if you are in Thailand for example, you don’t want to place your foot on a banknote, as there’s a picture of the king on it, so you could get into trouble. In Buddhist countries, some people don’t like to see tourists posing playfully by Buddha statues. If you’re in the native islands of the Maldives, that aren’t part of tourist resorts, bikinis are banned. And if you are in Singapore, you may not transport the mustysmelling durian fruit on the underground. Taking pictures using drones may cause you problems — special permits are required in many countries, while the practise is banned completely in Morocco, Iran, Kenya and Egypt, for example. Flying a drone without the right paperwork close to a military zone could land you in jail.
6. CARELESS WITH MEDICATION
There are pills for everything from tension to fear of flying but think twice about whether to pack them when travelling. Many countries have strict drug laws such as UAE, Singapore, Malaysia. So while a drug might be commonplace in Europe, for example, even a small quantity could land you in jail abroad. Check embassy websites before you travel and a letter from doctor confirming that the medication is necessary.
7. CHECKING YOUR BANK BALANCE AT THE HOTEL
It’s a bad idea to do online banking at the hotel particularly if the wi-fi is not password-protected. You might wind up in the wrong network, if you see something like “Guest” on the list of free networks and assume that is the one for you. It could be a scam set up close to the hotel and if you are unlucky, thieves can find your email log-ins and bank passwords, track all your activities, install malware or redirect the connection to phishing sites. —