Safety when traveling Internationally

Here are a few tips to staying safe while travel.

Know Before You Go: Make sure you know what local customs are. What is considered offensive and what is customary. For example, when doing research on my upcoming trip to Egypt I found that it is offensive to the locals for women and men to wear shorts in public. You should know whether you will be expected to tip. You also will want to know about local scams, like when I went to Rome. I was told by someone who had already been there that the guys dressed in really cool Roman costumes standing in front of the Colosseum, waving people over to take pictures with them will ask for a large amount of money after the picture is taken and they will follow you harassing you if you don't pay enough. Travel message boards are a great place to get tips.

Know the Risks: Check with the State Department to see if there are any advisories or warnings for the area you will be going into. Pay attention to the warnings. Register your travel plans so in the event of an emergency they will know how to find you. Take the State Departments over sea's Citizens Service number with you (found on website) so you can contact them during a crises.

Keep In Touch: Bring a prepaid, international calling card with you. Make sure it will work in the country you will be going to. Not all card work in every country. Take the local card contact numbers with you.

Buy Travel Insurance: You can buy travel policies online. If you will be traveling with a tour group or on a cruise, you can purchase a policy from them, however you do not have to, you can purchase insurance through an outside company. The policy will actually be a fair amount cheaper if you do. Make sure you know what your policy covers and doesn't cover. Insurance doesn't just give you a refund if you have to cancel your trip but also for delays, lost luggage and other trip interruptions and inconveniences.

All the Hidden Charges

Airfares these days can be deceiving. You search for a fare, you find one and are happy at the good price you found but... then when you go to checkout your great price sky rockets!

Some sites, in order to seem like they have great price fail to tell you up front about all the extra fee's. Sometimes these fee's can be several hundred dollars. You also have to be aware of any luggage fee's.

But the fee's don't stop there. Some airlines have an a la carte type service. Fee's are often charged for checked luggage, food, water, a pillow, blanket, and on board movies. To counter act some of these fee's some airlines will offer a small discount or on board voucher if you agree to forgo earning any airmiles.

Some airlines are charging an extra fee for booking with an airline agent rather then online while at least one European airline charges customers just to talk to them on the phone. Where will these fee's end. I soon expect the airlines to charge for using the restroom.

All these add on fee's make it more difficult to research airfares. Besides comparing the price of the ticket itself you have to campare extra ticket fee's and taxes plus on board fee's and luggage fee's. So some extra work is now needed in order to find the best price.