Tips for Your Safety While Traveling 

By Doug Elms

Travel is an important part of business, even with all the technological advancements today. Most of us have travel routines that help make traveling more enjoyable. We have our favorite airline, hotel chain, and restaurants at each stop. Although we have our routines for traveling, it is important to incorporate health and safety elements to prepare for worst-case scenarios during travel. Many people plan for the travel but forget to plan for the what-ifs. What if you get violently sick? What if your important documents are lost or stolen? What if you’re involved in an accident? By incorporating a few health and safety elements into your travel routine you can be prepared for whatever comes your way.     

Let’s explore a couple of scenarios to challenge your thoughts on how prepared you are when you travel.  Let’s say you’re traveling to Washington, Dallas, or Mexico City and you come down with the flu, or what may be food poisoning —— the worst kind that restricts you to your hotel room for several days with a do not disturb sign.  You know where your favorite watering hole is… but there’s no trusted clinic down the street, so where would the nearest and best hospital be?  And if you are in Mexico City, San Jose, or Shenzhen, are you able to effectively communicate your symptoms and do you trust that you are going to receive the best care?  Can you describe the medications you take regularly, and what about communicating your allergic reactions to certain medicines to a foreign language speaker?  

Another scenario is you’re traveling out of the country, and like most of us, every name and phone number for your closest 8,000 business contacts are in your smartphone… and you have no idea where it went.  These days we don’t commit phone numbers to memory like we used to.  How will you make your meeting, connect with your buddy back at the office, or remember the names, addresses, and contact numbers of the 20 people you plan to meet during your trip?  

I’ve traveled the world providing executive protection to CEOs, C-level executives, and at-risk families, and while the first thing that comes to mind when one hears “executive protection” may be images of bodyguards talking into microphones in their sleeves, the reality is that safety and security during travel are more about considering your risks, logistics, and a little pre-planning.    

To prepare you for any scenario while traveling, here are a few key ingredients to add to your travel routines just in case.   

• Research Your Destination: Understand the local customs, laws, and potential risks of the place you’re visiting.   
• Make a color copy of your passport, driver’s license, and credit cards.  
• Make a written list of your medications and allergies.   
• Keep a copy of your health insurance card.  
• Ask a family doctor for their personal cell number and email in case of emergency during your travel.  
• Create a simple itinerary with contact information for your airports, hotels, business contacts, and meeting locations. Give a copy to a trusted person.  
• Ask your doctor for the name and contact information of a trusted medical provider in your area of travel.    
• If traveling for business, your company may provide an emergency medical contact and even medical evacuation, should the need arise. 
• Ask your trusted hotel to arrange transportation. Having printed addresses of where you will travel will help you communicate with the driver if you do not speak the language.   
• Create a list of all contacts from plumbers to bankers to leave at home for your family back home in case you normally handle those things, and they wouldn’t know who to call.   

If you work for a large company, you may be able to request some of the support suggested above through your travel department, human resources department, or security department.  

If you are traveling internationally, there are additional resources available:  

• You may want to translate documents with names and addresses into the language of the country in which you are traveling. There are websites such as www.translate.google.com to help you do this.   
• While you are away from home, consider hiring a security company to patrol your home and immediate neighborhood to ensure your family is safe and has a contact in case of an emergency at home.  
• In each country around the world where there is a United States Embassy or Consulate, it is the responsibility of a Department of State Regional Security Officer to protect the Ambassador, Embassy, or Consulate. The RSO is also responsible for providing information to US citizens about security and safety conditions in that country. They do this through personal contact or www.state.gov -click on countries or regions.   

Taking these health and safety precautions will make your trip much smoother knowing you are prepared, and your family is safe at home. 

SafeHaven Security Group provides consults with businesses and individuals in areas of Security, Threat Assessment, & Management including Workplace Violence, and the Protection of Executives and their Families.  Call 844-Safe-Group or visit the website to learn more. www.SafeHavenSecurityGroup.com