Top 10 Pre-Trip Mistakes - ranked by travel authority Howard Hillman

Top 10 travel
pre-trip mistakes

tips you can trust

Top 10 rankings
Travel pre-trip mistakes

Overpacking
Not notifying bank & credit card companies
Not making printed copies of documents
Not also making electronic copies of them
Ignoring government travel warnings
Not itemizing the contents of a suitcase
Not preparing for emergencies
Taking too many credit cards
Not bringing extra passport photos
Not leaving your itinerary with your family

My advice on travel
pre-trip mistakes
#1 to 5

Overpacking

Overpacking adds weight and leaves you no room for gifts and souvenirs you'll buy. As author Susan Heller quipped, "When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money."

Not notifying your bank and
credit card company that you
will be traveling abroad

They may suspect that someone is using your card illegally - and to play it safe, they freeze your accounts. This would prevent you from making more withdrawals and credit card charges. You would be in a serious payment bind when tying to pay your hotel, restaurant, and other bills.

Not making printed copies
of essential documents

Make certain you have printed copies of your passport's photo page. The time it takes to replace your passport abroad is significantly reduced if you have printed a copy of the passport's photo page.

You can carry that copy with you as a surrogate in countries that permit you to leave your passport safely in your hotel.

Also make printed copies of your credit cards, tickets, driver's license, hotel reservations, and travel insurance summary.

And create and duplicate a quick-reference list of the overseas phone numbers and e-mail addresses of your embassy, bank, credit card company, and travel insurance company.

Keep a set of those printed documents in your suitcase and another in your carry bag.

Not also making digital copies

Scan the documents mentioned in #3 above, then e-mail the digital versions to yourself. If you lose your printed copies abroad, you can print the digital ones.

Not leaving your itinerary
with family or friend

Leave them a copy including the places you will be staying so they can contact you in case of an emergency back home.

Click
for travel mistakes #6 to 10