Thinking of travelling, whether it's domestically or internationally anytime
in the next year, there's a whole bunch of watch outs need to know,
and mistakes that other travelers are making that you need to avoid if you are
thinking of travelling during this whole pandemic
situation that we find ourselves in. I'm Gary Bembridge, this is tips for travellers.
I want to talk about things you really need to know, some of the things i'm
going to discuss include: should you be using a travel
agent or self booking, how your whole packing situation
can change, the big mistakes that people are making
that you need to avoid, and probably the single most important
thing you need to think about plan for and
know exactly what you're going to do when you're traveling in the current
situation. The first key watch out is when you're
thinking of travelling is assume that everything will change and change
really quickly. So even if you can go to a certain country
today, or to a certain state today, that could change
overnight, and we've seen lots of examples happen where
it's probably fine to fly to particular country, like Spain for example
out of the UK, but within hours all of that could change.
Countries are constantly evolving and looking at what they see as
safe places to travel, whether you have to have quarantine when you go in,
whether you have quarantine when you return home,
and it changes really fast. I've had friends get on a plane heading off to
Spain for example, they've arrived learned that the UK government was about
to bring in quarantining at midnight, and they've got on
the plane and come back because they didn't want to
go into 14 day quarantine. So when you think about traveling,
assume that things can change really quickly, and it's really really important
that you stay on top of all the advice. You need to really stay well connected
to the news. What I recommend you do is try and book as last minute
as you possibly can. You likely to get really good deals
nowadays by booking last minute. So you're booking when you know that the
chances of everything going smoothly is pretty
high. It's really hard now to book in advance, because we just don't
know what the situation is going to be. Secondly though if you book, even if
you're booking way ahead, is ensure that everything is
cancelable, refundable or movable. So if things change you can
move things around without any penalties. The good news is a lot of
providers, whether it's airlines, cruise lines or hotels,
are making it much easier to move things, but absolutely critical
make sure that things are cancelable, refundable and easy to move, so you can
basically go with the flow. The second big watch out
is that if you do your own booking, which I used to like to do, i'd like to book my
hotel separately, my flight separately, my accommodation separately, whatever it
was separately, one of the things you might want to
decide is don't do that and book it all through a travel agent.
The reason being that if you have to change things it becomes very
complicated, because it's four or five different contacts or calls
to change things. If you've booked everything through a travel agent, it's
one call or one email, and you can sit back and let them get on
with everything. You don't have to sit on phone lines for five hours / six hours to
try and get through to change flights etc. It takes an enormous amount of stress
out, and it makes things so much simpler. So even if you're
a sort of person that normally likes to pick and mix and choose your own thing,
I strongly recommend that you book through a travel agent.
What i'm doing with all my travels
over this period of time is using a travel agent to make it simple. The great
news is also, particularly if you're abroad and you have connectivity issues
or there's time difference issues, with that one call, that one email you can
basically relax, keep calm and know that it is under control. It's
been a great plus in the past when i'm travelling when there's been lots of
disruptions. I've been able to contact the agency, at that time was Mundy
Cruising, i could then sit back relax, go to the beach,
while everyone else was scurrying around, and i knew that they were sorting out
all my problems. So seriously think about using a travel
agent at this point of time. They can manage all of the changes, all
of the refunds and basically, very importantly linked to my
first point, is they make sure that you know exactly the
situation as it changes, they will keep on top of all those
potential cancellations and changes in quarantine rules or whatever.
The third watch out that I have, and this is a really really important one
as well, is don't assume that everything has returned to normal. I think one of
the big mistakes that people are making is they assume that everything
when it comes to travel is back to normal. There are three critical things
that you need to bear in mind. First of all you need to absolutely
check, and make sure, that everything is open. Just because the lockdowns are
ending, it doesn't just mean that everything is
open. Some things may have even gone bankrupt,
or are just simply not opening because for whatever reason
they aren't able to the government regulations, that country aren't letting
them open, the beaches may not be open, you may have
to book to go to the beaches, you might have to book a time slot at the pool,
the attractions may not all be open, they or you might have to have certain
restrictions before you can go in to see the sites of the museum that you wanted
to see, the theme parks may not be entirely open or only certain rides might
be open. So there's a multitude of things you
need to make sure that are open before you actually
decide that is where you want to go, because you may not be able to do what
you really want to do. Secondly, things may not run as you
used to expect them to, or maybe very different. So for example many
islands in the Caribbean, some states in the USA, some countries
around the world require you to do a Covid-19 test
within 72 hours of heading there for example. Other countries,
so for example Greece, you have to register online 24 hours before you go
to get a special QR code, which you have to show when you
check in so hundreds and thousands of people have
missed their flights to Greece because they didn't understand
that whole process, and didn't get the QR codes
or didn't do the paperwork correctly. So you need to assume that things are going
to run differently, and it's going to be really different requirement.
The third thing, which is as important of all those, is
the protocols and rules may not suit you. So for example even today that i'm
recording, France introduced a whole bunch of new rules around Paris and
other parts of the country, where you had to start
wearing masks outdoors. Some countries require you to wear them on the beach
whatever that may be, so you might find some of the protocols
just don't suit you because you don't want to wear masks, you don't wear a mask
or you don't want to spend money to go on a vacation where you need to wear
masks. There may be really different and
complicated protocols. One of the most dramatic ones we've seen that for
example in cruising, where cruise lines are doing
things like they've removed buffets, there's no
self-service anymore, you have to book to go into certain venues, there's controls
on how many people can be around the pool.
In some countries around the world, for example Spain, you have to book a
specific time and spot on the beach before you can go. So
you might actually find that the rules and regulations, the protocols
don't really appeal to you. So you might be heading off on a vacation thinking
it's how it used to be, but the way it works is different. You
need to be absolutely sure that those protocols
and the way it works you understand, and suit the way that you want to travel.
Another key watch out is around travel insurance and what it does and doesn't
cover. If you travel against the advice of your
country, so if your Foreign Office or your State Department has recommended
not travelling to a country and you travel there, your travel insurance will
be invalidated. There are some places where you can take
out specific insurance for that, but it's very limited and quite expensive.
Very importantly, I also recommend when you look at travel insurance first of
all make sure that it gives you Covid-19
cover if anything happens related to Covid-19 you're covered,
also make sure that you take out travel insurance when you book
so that it includes cancel for any reason. That's very important that you
make sure you have in there that you can cancel for any
reason, but also make sure you take out travel insurance
which covers longer than your initial period.
So if you were due to end your holiday on a certain date but something happens
and you find you're quarantined in a country, or you're stranded in a
country for whatever reason, or you can't move out of a country, that your travel
insurance is covering you, and all of those things that are
happening after your travel. Really important, don't travel without
travel insurance because the on costs with everything that's going on could be
very very large. The other aspect with travel insurance
is with lots of bankruptcies and companies closing down, having travel
insurance should hopefully cover you if your car hire, your hotel or the
resort you're planning to go to goes bust,
and you can't go there. So really important when everything's so unsettled,
make sure you travel with travel insurance and you know what it covers.
Another key watch out that I have, and this is something that a lot of people
encountered when they got caught up in the original lockdowns at the beginning,
is make sure that you have a good secure way to communicate with trusted people.
The most important thing is to make sure that you have
a roaming plan for your mobile phone, so wherever you're going to
you're able to check online with data the latest news and the latest advice,
but importantly you're able to communicate with your agent with your
family, with your friends or whoever you need to do. Really
important that you have that cover, because you can't necessarily rely
on wi-fi where you are. Also what i would recommend is focus on
trusted sources. A lot of people look at a lot of social media. There's
lots of misinformation. So when you are abroad,
when you're travelling, make sure that you're focusing on key
news sites, government sites, so the latest information you're getting is genuine
information, not all the kind of hype that comes through social media.
The next key watch out is around packing, and making sure that you're packing not
just for your vacation but on the assumption that things could
go wrong. You might get caught up with quarantining, you might find that
you have to self-isolate for whatever reason, or you find things get cancelled
or you're kind of stuck in a place. So make sure that you when you pack you
think about "what if i'm away for extended period of time". There's some
really obvious things that you should do: so if you take
prescription medicines make sure that you're covering yourself for many many
weeks ahead, or perhaps you can take a copy of your
prescription so you know or you can work with doctors there with
what you need also. I recommend you take some kind of first aid kit, where you
pack all the sort of things that deal with daily upsets, whether it's
stomach upsets, toothache, headaches,
whatever it is that you normally may suffer from at
home. Make sure you take first aid kit so if you have any
bumps or scrapes you can deal with that. Critically important,
take with you a dental repair kit. One of the things that happened when people
away, and it happened during the lockdown, is dental practices were closed in many
countries. So if you broke a tooth or a filling fell out,
you basically had to wait and couldn't get any
dental care. So having a dental repair kit really really important.
It actually happened to me during lockdown, where a tooth broke and i
couldn't see a dentist for months and i was really reliant on a
dental kit even at home, but certainly when you're abroad
travelling make sure you've got one of those. Again make sure you've packed lots
of masks, lots of hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and also pack
entertainment. If you've got a tablet or whatever pack it full of books or
shows downloaded, so if you do find that your holiday is extended or you're
waiting around you're kind of well prepared for that
situation. For me one of the biggest watch outs, and probably the
most important issue of all, is understand what will happen, and what you
will do, if when you're away travelling you start
getting symptoms of coronavirus and you find that you then
forced into some sort of lockdown. So understand, for example,
if you're travelling into a country that requires Covid-19 tests, or a state that
requires Covid-19 tests, what actually happens
if you fail that test. Will you have to pay for your own isolation? Your own
medical fees? If you're flying into, going to a country that
requires quarantining, what sort of quarantining is it?
So for example, if you're going to Australia there are limits on who can go
in, but still you have to pay for your own
quarantining in a government facility, which is a hotel, other countries you
self-isolate. If you're going on a cruise and you fail
the Covid-19 test or further health screening,
what happens? Who pays for what? What do you have to do? So really
important understand what happens if you get
symptoms, or you feel ill, when you're away. So you understand what
your plan is going to be, and you're prepared for that. If you're
planning to travel whether it is domestically within your own
country, between states or internationally,
travel has got much more complicated. There's lots of mistakes people are making,
lots of watch outs and need to knows before
you plan. Hopefully this has helped you give you a sense of the most important
things that I think that you should be focusing
on. Certainly what i've been focusing on as i go out traveling. I have loads more
travel videos and cruising videos with tips and
advice, so why don't you watch another one of those
right now?