9 Common Travel Scenarios
Here's the first thing you should do when you wind up lost, check into a hotel, enter
a historic site, and other travel situations.
When you get out your suitcase:
Update the luggage tags. Remove your home address and add your cell-phone number.
Most of us dutifully write our full name, home phone, and home address on our tags, but
that reveals too much personal information, says Anne McAlpin, a packing expert and the
author of "Pack It Up: The Essential Guide to Organized Travel." Instead, print your first initial and last name — a safety precaution
for women, since it doesn’t signal your sex or that you might have jewelry in your bag.
Second, leave off your home address. It tells a potentially unscrupulous baggage
handler, “No one’s home at this address.” Third, instead of including a home phone
(which isn’t much use when you’re not home), include your email address and your cell-
phone number. Other information to include on the airline’s paper bag tags (which you
can update for each trip): a phone number for (1) your first hotel and (2) a friend or a
relative at home who can reach you.
When your flight gets canceled:
Avoid the long line at the airline counter. Instead, call your carrier’s
reservations number.
You may get faster help by contacting the airline directly, says Peter Greenberg, NBC’s
travel editor and the author of "The Complete Travel Detective Bible. Politely ask to be rebooked on the next available flight. If it’s going
to be a long wait, ask the representative to transfer your ticket to another airline
with a more immediate flight. Although not all carriers are required to do this, some
agents can work it out. Stranded overnight? Ask about meal or hotel vouchers. (Every
airline has a different policy.) By the way, the possibility of a delay is a good reason
to avoid flights later in the day, since there will be fewer same-day rebooking options,
says Greenberg.
When your bag goes missing:
File an in-person report at the baggage-claim office right away. If your trip has
just begun, ask for a toiletries kit or a voucher for necessities.
When you fill out claim paperwork, get a copy of it and write down the direct phone
number for the baggage office; you don’t want to call the airline’s 800 number to follow
up, says Marybeth Bond, the author of Best Girlfriends Getaways Worldwide.
Then carry on with your trip. “In most cases, it’s the
airline’s responsibility to deliver your bag to you when it arrives — even if you’re
hundreds of miles away from the airport,” says Bond.
When you check in to a hotel:
Request a room below the eighth floor, far from construction, and on a floor with
a booster pump.
Why below the eighth floor? It’s a scary thought, but in case of, say, a fire, the fire
department is equipped to reach you more quickly than folks on the upper floors, says
travel editor Peter Greenberg. As for booster pumps, “high-rise hotels have trouble
maintaining consistently great water pressure on all their floors, so every few floors
they install booster pumps,” explains Greenberg. “You want to be on one of those floors
so the pressure in your shower is as strong as a fire hose’s.”
When you enter a historic attraction:
Ask the staff for advice about special exhibits, must-see artifacts, and unusual
features.
Staff — or, in a pinch, security guards — can often point out little-known gems the
guidebooks miss. They might even suggest a way for you to tour the facility (“Go to the
third floor and work your way back down”) without getting swept up in the crowds, says
tour guide Dave Fox. Another tip: Hit popular sites at lunchtime, rather than first
thing in the morning, when tour buses arrive.
When you walk into your hotel room:
Fully check it out (turn on the air conditioner, the shower, the TV) before you
unpack, in case you need to switch rooms.
Better yet, ask to examine the room thoroughly before you register, in case something
isn’t to your liking, says Jessica Singerman, a Trek Travel guide who leads group tours
in Europe and Central America. This isn’t rude; it’s just savvy. Prefer a room that
isn’t next to the elevator? Ask. Once you’re satisfied, Greenberg suggests a quick
cleaning: Wipe the TV remote and the phone handset with disinfecting wipes. Finally,
clean water glasses in hot water, in case the housekeeper forgot to replace them after
the last guest checked out.
When you’re offered a local delicacy that makes your stomach turn:
Suck it up: Try a small bite.
Let go of preconceived notions and just try it, says travel guide Jessica Singerman. You
might enjoy it. At worst, you can smile after tasting it and say, “My, that’s
interesting.” The locals will probably appreciate your willingness to try something new.
The only exception is when you’re offered food that may not have been stored or cooked
properly — a common concern in street markets. Don’t risk your health; simply smile and
say, “No thanks.”
When you find yourself lost:
Sit down or duck into a café so you can look at your map without looking like,
well, a tourist.
Sitting down gives you a few minutes to get calm and avoid becoming a target for
pickpockets, says Desiree Reyes of Backroads, who led cycling and sports-travel tours
for six years. “I always attach a little compass to my belt loop so I can figure out
which way is which,” says Reyes. If you still can’t get your bearings, ask a local for
help. In a foreign country, college-age folks can be your best bet, since they have
probably studied English.
When you get sick in a foreign country:
Enlist the help of your hotel concierge.
Hotel staffers often deal with ill guests and can help you get care more quickly — the
name of an English-speaking doctor who makes room calls, a cab to the emergency room, or
a suggestion for an over-the-counter drug for a minor illness. Many health-insurance
plans also have overseas phone numbers of representatives who can provide a list of
nearby doctors or pharmacists.
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