18 Most Common Mistakes People Do While Travelling Abroad

Two seasoned travellers give you a heads up on the common blunders we tend to make while vacationing abroad.

- Paula And Gordon McInerney

1 Not checking your passport

Passport processing can take up to six weeks or even more. So as soon as you start planning for your trip, you need to check the validity of your passport. Apply immediately if you don’t have it yet. If you already have yours, make sure that it hasn’t expired or nearing expiry. Remember, some individual countries require that you have at least six months on your passport before expiry to be allowed to enter. Also, if you have one of those older handwritten passports, get it reissued as many countries do not consider those valid anymore.

2 Not making copies of your documentation

Keep a paper copy of your passport, visa and airline tickets, should you lose these essential documents. While many people photograph them and have it on their phones, this can be problematic if your phone is stolen, and the rate of the of phones left idly on a coffee shop table is high. As a back up, always email yourself scanned copies of these essential documents, or save them on a cloud, so that you can access them anytime from anywhere.

3 Not figuring out airport transfers

Have you given yourself sufficient time between interconnecting flights? Some airports are huge and require a great deal of time to traverse between terminals.

4 Not knowing how to get from the airport to where you are going

What time are you arriving? What airport transfers are available? Do they run all day and all night? Certain airports stop their transfer services between certain dark hours of the night. Many people do not have a game plan to travel from the airport to their hotel, resort or place of stay. This needs to be pre-organised in many cases.

5 Not booking a place to stay—at least for the first night