When you plan out a trip well in advance by carefully reviewing your cheap travel options, including cheap fares, cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, cheap auto rentals, discount travel deals, and cheap vacation packages, the last thing you want to happen while traveling is making a mistake that will ruin your trip.
The following are travel errors that could have serious health or financial consequences that can haunt you long after you return from a trip, according to Smarter Travel:
Crossing the wrong border can lead to extended imprisonment and the payment of exorbitant fines. For example, three Americans were imprisoned from 2009 to 2011 for supposedly crossing into Iran while hiking near the border in Iraqi Kurdistan. The hikers were accused of being spies and sentenced to eight years in prison. Ultimately the hikers were released after spending a range of 14 months to two years in jail and paying over $465,000 each in bail money.
Contracting unseen, microscopic, parasites, that may reside in your body for months or even years, before revealing themselves, can ruin your health. Drinking contaminated water, eating undercooked meats, or improperly washed fruits and vegetables, or via a bug bite, can result in the transfer of parasites.
Getting rid of bedbugs can cost more than your trip, often thousands of dollars in extermination fees, furniture replacement, and laundry bills. Bedbugs can live almost anywhere, including in luggage, on clothing, or on furniture. A single bedbug from a fabric airline seat or hotel bed can infect your entire home. Always check your hotel mattress for signs of bedbug infestation, wash your clothes immediately after returning from a trip, and consider traveling with hard sided luggage to keep bugs out.
Identity theft can happen when making a transaction at an unfamiliar ATM, using a public Wi-Fi connection, or being a victim of a pickpocket. Once your information has been accessed, identity thieves can open fraudulent accounts in your name and ruin your credit for years before the problem can be resolved. Make certain you only use secure Internet connections, check your credit card, bank, and credit report statements carefully and frequently after traveling.
Being away from home for an extended period of times can make your house attractive to burglars. Mentioning an upcoming vacation on Facebook can alert thieves. Limit who you tell that you will be gone and stop newspaper and mail deliveries so they do not signal you are out of town.
Avoid getting locked up abroad in part by making certain you know the local laws of your destination. This is no joking matter. In Singapore officials can legally require anyone, including tourists, to take a drug test which means that you can get in trouble for illegal substances consumed before you traveled. A British couple received a one month prison sentence for kissing in public in Dubai.
Travelers, particularly business travelers, are sometimes targeted by kidnappers looking for financial or political gain. Before making travel plans check the State Departments website for travel alerts and warnings for region that you are planning to visit. You will find useful information concerning the risk of kidnapping and which areas should be avoided.
Getting too drunk can have serious implications. Just ask the former executive who lost his job after getting drunk and slapping a toddler on a plane. You also need to watch your surroundings carefully since there are reports of tourists being robbed after their food or drink was drugged with a sedative. Drink alcohol in moderation while traveling. Being tired, jet lagged, or dehydrated can make travelers feel more drunk than under normal conditions. Never accept a drink from a stranger.
Always remember to turn off your cellular data when traveling abroad or set up an internal plan. Tourists have been hit with unexpectedly exorbitant bills (as high as $10,000) because they used their phones briefly while abroad or they forgot to turn off cellular data/roaming.
While mistakenly buying a fake handbag in a foreign country may prove annoying, it may be far more serious if you consume a fake product. Travelers have experienced dire consequences from taking counterfeit medicines while abroad. Similarly, multiple tourists have died in Indonesia from drinking methanol, a lethal substance that was sold to them as normal alcohol in a money swindling scheme. Avoid potential problems by only drinking bottled beer in places where counterfeit alcohol is a known problem and purchase your medications before departing on your trip.
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