Carol Margolis is a 30-year road warrior, traveling the world as CEO of an international consulting firm. Her travel knowledge and experience is shared to help others travel safer, smarter and with more enjoyment. Business Travel Success, Inc. was founded by Carol Margolis. She and her team bring practical, implementable solutions to meet today’s corporate travel-related challenges. Carol is an author and international speaker, as well as a frequent guest on radio and television shows and contributor to numerous magazine articles. Find Carol at Business Travel Success, Inc. and Smart Women Travelers, Inc.. Join Carol on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedln.
Š Copyright 2016 by Carol Margolis. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. DISCLAIMER: The information and recommendations contained in this guide have been compiled from sources considered to be reliable. Use of the information and recommendations contained herein is at the discretion and sole responsibility of the reader. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is distributed with the understanding that Business Travel Success, Inc. is not engaged in rendering legal or any other professional advice or service. If legal or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional advisor should be sought. Published by: Business Travel Success, Inc. P.O. Box 950903 Lake Mary, FL 32795- 0903 Phone: 877.619.8930
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77 Secrets to Safe Business Travel
Contents Introduction 4 Always Be Identifiable
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Keep Your Possessions Safe
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Safety Going Through The Airport
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Be Prepared with Key Information
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Transportation Safety
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Keep Your Home Safe While You’re Away
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Be Safe in Your Hotel Room
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Conclusion 18 Online Resources
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Introduction Early on Monday morning, our hotel shuttle bus approached Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport and the door opened. Within seconds, a traveler exited off the bus with his luggage and hustled into the airport for his flight. The shuttle bus door closed and we headed to the next terminal. “He took my bag!” screamed a woman from the back of the bus. The bus driver kept driving. Another passenger jumped up towards the driver to yell at him to stop the bus. Frantically the woman looked for her bag and yes, it was gone. The bus driver finally stopped the bus, halfway to the next terminal. Luckily for the woman on the bus, the gentleman who alighted with her bag had quickly realized that the bag was not his. He could be seen running towards our bus. The correct bags exchanged hands and all was well. But I realized that this could happen to me, to you or to anyone in a matter of seconds. And it could be a much worse situation. Not only is our property at risk for being lost or stolen, but more importantly you and I are at risk for having our valuables taken from us, or worse yet, having bodily harm inflicted upon us. While these things can happen whether we are a block from home or thousands of miles away, truth is that travelers feel less secure when they’re on the road. Why? Primarily for these three reasons: • We are outside our normal routines • We are in unfamiliar places • We are often rushed Read and follow these practical and important travel safety tips. Do not believe that you are safe from serious or grievous events occurring to you. Remember, anything can happen as fast as a heartbeat. 4
Always Be Identifiable Things can happen. Imagine one day you are out walking or jogging. You take a fall, hit your head, and your identification is at your hotel; You become sick and feverish and are having trouble speaking coherently; You are driving a rental car and are involved in a car accident; Worse yet, you are mugged. Each time you are alone and no one knows who you are. Always be identifiable! 1. Keep importnt information in your mobile phone. Add a contact called ICE! (In Case of Emergency) into your contact list. Add the phone number of your spouse or key contact. Repeat this for additional key contacts (ICE2, ICE3, etc.). Many police, fire and paramedic personnel are now looking for the ICE number for an emergency contact in the event of an accident. Less than 25% of people are believed to have emergency contact information in their mobile phone so this is a key safety strategy. 2. Whenever you leave your hotel, keep hotel business cards on you. Keep a card in your pocket. Keep another card in your purse. If anything happens to you, someone who comes to your aid will find the name and has a contact to call. And if you are mugged and your purse is stolen, the hotel name is inside your purse in case it is recovered. 3. Wear a wristband, ankle band or shoe pouch that contains your name, mobile phone and contact information. A great source for these products is at RoadID.com. 4. Give a copy of your itinerary information with a trusted relative or friend so that someone knows your travel schedule. Or send your travel confirmation emails to a free account on TripIt and share your itinerary with family, friends or colleagues. 5
Keep Your Possessions Safe Stories abound about laptops being stolen, jewelry thefts, purses and wallets gone missing, luggage that goes astray and more. Nothing can ruin a trip faster than having possessions lost or stolen. Here are easy tips to implement to keep your possessions safe: 5. Attach a business card to the bottom of your laptop and include your mobile number. If you are traveling through an international airport, you also may want to add your international dialing code along with any translations of your name and contact information. 6. Attach a bright label to the top of your laptop so it is easier to see once it’s inside the dull gray bin of airport security. A piece of pink duct tape works well and does not rip off easily (yes, duct tape comes in many colors now!). Many of us put bright colored tags on our luggage so we can spot them coming around the luggage belt, so think of doing something similar for your laptop. 7. As a preventative measure, consider investing in laptop tracking and recovery software (Lojack is one) for your laptop, tablet and/or phone. This type of software that will help locate your laptop, remotely delete files, secure your documents and help recover your computer in case it is stolen. 8. Encrypt your laptop, making it really hard for any thief to access your data. A thief will generally ditch such a laptop, moving on to an easier target. 9. Use a laptop security cable to secure your laptop when you’re using it in a crowded area. If leaving your laptop in your hotel room while you’re away, either lock the laptop to the desk with this security cable or place your laptop in the hotel room safe. 10. Speaking of the hotel safe, yes, use this for storing your passport, money, electronics. I like to place a white sheet of paper at the bottom of the safe to make it easier to see anything that I’ve put into the dark safe. The desk in your room may have a few sheets of paper or the front desk will. 6
11. Have a list of the credit cards you’re traveling with. There are so may options here so consider the alternatives for the level of security you’re comfortable with. Perhaps have a list of the credit card numbers in one document, password protected; have the expiration dates and security code listed in another document, password protected with a different password. Cloud storage is a place where you can access these documents from wherever you are. Apps for your smartphone or tablet are another option for storing sensitive information. However you do it, know which credit cards you’re traveling with in case they are lost or stolen. 12. Photograph all jewelry and valuables that you are taking with you. Better yet, leave all valuables at home. 13. Photograph your luggage. The luggage photo comes in very handy when reporting a lost or delayed bag to an airline, especially when traveling to a non-English-speaking country. When I’m checking a bag, I prefer to take the photo once it has the airline’s luggage tag applied, so now the photo contains the destination city from the tag. 14. For protecting your luggage, use twist-ties or a round key ring to secure the zippers on your luggage and make it difficult for a passer-by to open your luggage. An alternative is to use TSA-approved locks that can be opened by security personnel. Personally, I have used the TSA-locks but they have been removed by security personnel and never put back on. Since my purpose is to keep the zippers closed, the twist-tie solution works well. I always have a few extra twist-ties in the outside pocket of my luggage since they wear out after a few trips and need replacing. 15. Zip ties (also known as cable ties or tie-wraps) are another great locking mechanism for the zippers on your luggage. They’re much stronger than twist-ties, though do need a scissors or knife to cut open. Your hotel front desk can help with this upon your arrival. 7
16. Shrink-wrap your luggage if traveling from, to or through airports that are more known for luggage thefts. Read this article on 5 Reasons to Shrink Wrap Your Luggage.
Safety Going Through The Airport While it’s important to keep our bags with us at all times (except for checked bags while in the airline’s possession), it is easy to get separated from our possessions as we go through airport security, use airport restrooms and eating facilities. These safety tips will help ensure that you and your possessions never get permanently separated! 17. When using a public bathroom, keep all of your items with you inside the stall. Hang your purse inside the stall, wrapping it around the hook twice or placing your coat over your purse. This eliminates the chance that someone on the outside could reach over the doorway and grab your purse. 18. When standing in line for take-out food, to make a purchase in a store, or sitting down to a full serve meal, always keep your bags next to you and within your eyesight. This may seem so basic, but I have seen many bags left behind at restaurants, umbrellas, coats and scarves left in booths or on chairs. Especially at risk at the shopping bags from purchases made while traveling, as those are outside of the routine luggage plus laptop bag. 19. When checking luggage, always ensure that the luggage tag put on by the ticket agent is sending your bag to the correct airport. Know the airport’s code (i.e. ORD is Chicago O’Hare, LGW is London Gatwick). This helps you quickly determine if the tag is labeled correctly. If you do not recognize the code, ask! With many airlines having us check in for our flight and print luggage tasks via airport kiosks, a luggage tag from a previous passenger may still be sitting in the machine and we may mistakenly apply it to our bag. That’s why it’s so important to not only know the airport code of where you’re traveling to, but the flight number for validating the luggage tag. 8
20. Many travelers within the United States are now enjoying the TSA PreCheck process where shoes and belts can remain on while going through security, as well as laptops kept in their bags. While this reduces the number of items left behind in security, due to the hustle of this line to get you through quickly, it is the driver’s license or other id shown to the TSA agent that is most at risk. Keep your driver’s license and/or passport in the same location all the time. Period. I have heard from many travelers (and witnessed many panicked travelers in person) who have lost their driver’s license sometime after they went through airport security. Thus why taking the time to put your id back where it belongs, even if it takes a few extra seconds in the security line. And if you do lose your driver’s license, don’t panic! Here are tips for those of you traveling in the U.S. on how to get through airport security without your driver’s license. 21. When placing your laptop through the security machine, put your shoes on the belt immediately after the laptop. You may be challenged to always remember your laptop, but you will most likely never forget your shoes! 22. To keep your laptop within your sight (as well as your wallet, money clip or purse), only walk through the security machine yourself once your bins are going through the x-ray belt. Avoid sending your laptop and wallet way in advance of you getting to the other side of the belt. If you are delayed in getting through the security machine, keep an eye on your bins as they come out the belt and watch for anyone who might be lingering around the out-coming bins.
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23. Create a little ditty to remember your valuables. Here’s something silly I just created: Remember to collect my purse, laptop, liquids and Shoes, or else I’ll be letting out a curse and be feeling the blues. Another idea: remember the first letter of each item: PLLS = purse, laptop, liquids, shoes 24. If you realize you forgot your laptop or any other item while you’re still at the airport, head back to TSA as fast as you can (assuming you have time before your flight leaves). To contact the airport’s TSA office at a later point to locate an item, here is the list of airport TSA Lost and Found offices.
Be Prepared with Key Information 25. If you have an auto club membership, add the telephone number and account number to your mobile phone in case your car is stranded. Also, phones are doing a lot these days with applications. Auto clubs such as AAA have applications for most smartphones that allow a stranded driver to easily contact AAA and have them determine your location. 26. Add your hotel phone number into your mobile phone for in case you need directions to your hotel or need to call ahead and ask for someone to escort you in from your car late at night. 27. Whether you travel with your own GPS or use a rental car’s navigation system, store your hotel information into the GPS when you first arrive at your destination. In addition to having the GPS direct you to your hotel upon arrival, each day or evening’s return trip to your hotel will be easier by quickly searching for recent history and selecting your hotel. 28. Write down the toll free phone number from the rental car key or put in your mobile phone in case the car key needs replacing.
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29. Always have your hotel reservation number, your car rental reservation number and any other information with you that you will need during your travels. 30. Have your medical insurance card with you, as well as any travel insurance information. Employees of many organizations have company-provided travel insurance so have this information with you. 31. Have your travel agent’s contact information. Whether this is your corporate travel department or the travel agent you used personally, have their contact information for when travel changes are needed or issues occur. 32. Have the contact information for your airline, hotel, ground transportation providers, credit card company. Also have your account number for each provider, if applicable. 33. If you have family at home, ensure they have all medical and dental information that they may need in case of emergency, as well as numbers for household repair (electrician, plumber, etc.). 34. If minor children are at home, have a Child Medical Consent form completed with the name of the person or persons who have your permission to act as your agent in the event your child needs medical care. Talk with your attorney on this or search online for sample consent forms.
Transportation Safety Driving (Your Car or a Rental Car) 35. When you first get into a rental car, find out where these key items are turned on and off: • Door locks • Headlights • Wipers • Emergency lights • Emergency brake It is very unsafe to be fumbling around the dashboard trying to find out where to turn on the headlights when it becomes dark as you are driving. And it is distracting
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to your driving to be turning on the wipers accidentally and not know how to turn them off. 36. Always have your car key in your hands before heading out to your car. Have the key ring around your finger and the key pointing forward in a firm grasp. • This eliminates fumbling for keys while outside at your car • Allows for quick access to the Panic button on the car key • Good for jabbing an attacker 37. As you walk to your car, act as if you are talking with someone on your mobile phone, even if you are not. Let a would-be attacker think that you are not alone and have someone to scream to. 38. When nearing your hotel late at night, phone ahead and ask for an escort to meet you at the main door. Hotels would rather have you request an escort than to risk your safety in their parking lots. With 68% of women travelers having reported traveling solo at least once in the past three years, this is a great approach for ensuring your safety. 39. Use your car’s glove compartment to store your maps, car rental agreements, GPS systems, and anything else marking you as a tourist. 40. Place your laptop bag in the trunk of your car as you depart your hotel, home or office. Do not wait until you reach your destination to put your laptop bag in the trunk as wouldbe thieves may see this and know that there is a valuable item in your car. 41. Remove your laptop from the trunk of the car and take it with you everywhere! Do not believe it’s safe just because it’s in the trunk of the car! I know of so many people who have had their laptops stolen while they were enjoying dinner in a restaurant or doing a bit of shopping. Some of these laptops had very sensitive corporate information on them, which had major ramifications for the person who lost the laptop and thousands of other people.
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42. When you are putting fuel in the car, take the keys out of the car and lock the doors while the gas is pumping. 43. Buy a local newspaper and leave that visible on your car seat. This gives the appearance that you are a local. 44. Based on many experiences of not remembering where I parked my rental car (and not remembering what the car looked like!), I recommend that you take a photo of your rental car and where you parked it so that you are not wandering around a parking lot looking for your car. Apps for your smartphone are also available. Search your app store for ‘car finder apps.’
Taxis and Public Transportation 45. Keep a hotel business card with you. Take two cards--one in your bag and one in your pocket. When hiring a taxi to return you to your hotel, show them the business card. This is especially useful when in a foreign-speaking country when you cannot distinctly pronounce the hotel name or street. 46. When traveling via bus, know the fare and have it ready upon boarding. This is better than searching through your purse and looking like a tourist. Also, sit up front near the bus driver in case anyone bothers you. 47. Never get in the car of someone who claims to be a taxi driver. It is common at airports, bus stations and busy tourist areas for someone to say that they will drive you, but they are not truly a licensed taxi driver. Only go with a taxi from a taxi stand or one that you flag down. 48. Have an idea of the direction your taxi should be going and the approximate time it will take. In addition to having this information before you even get in the cab, ask the driver for similar information, such as “Are you taking Highway X”? This gives the impression that you know where you’re going and the taxi driver is less apt to take you the long way around. 49. Be alert when in a cab. Make a note of the cab or driver number. I once had a cab driver take a turn down an alley in downtown Chicago in an evening when there was 13
no traffic issue that would warrant this. I told him to immediately stop and I exited the cab, quickly got myself back to a main street and phoned the police. 50. If using ride-sharing (Uber, Lyft, and many others that are around the world), send the driver’s info (name, license #) to a relative or friend once you’re in the car. Uber’s app has a feature to share your ride information with someone via a text message. I’ll use this to send my husband or a colleague the route we’re driving and the expected arrival time.
Keep Your Home Safe While You’re Away 51. Turn off or unplug electronics. Cancel your newspaper and any other scheduled deliveries. 52. Stop your mail for the length of your trip. Read this article: Is Danger Lurking in Your Mailbox and You Don’t Even Know It? 53. Contact your local police department (non-emergency number) to let them you know you’ll be away (if your city or suburb has an offering to drive by your home for a look-see while you’re away). Ensure your house alarm company has your mobile phone number in case of any emergency. 54. Set your commonly-used lamps or lights to a timer. Set the timer to turn on the lights and turn them off at typical times based on your schedule. Use a digital timer that offers variability in an on/off pattern so the random times give the appearance of someone being home. 55. Close all drapes and blinds part-way. This gives the appearance during the day that the house isn’t vacant, and yet also gives the impression in the evening that the windows are primarily closed. Check that all windows and doors are locked. Set your house alarm. 56. Ensure that your garage door closes completely after you pull out of your garage. The door could get stuck on something and go back up and you may not know it because you pulled away too quickly. It’s a very frightening feeling when returning home from a trip to an open garage door, as I personally learned. 14
Be Safe in Your Hotel Room Hotel room safety is the number one area of concern to women travelers. News stories such as that of Erin Andrews, an ESPN reporter who had video taken of her in the nude in her hotel room, elevated the concern of hotel safety.
Requesting Room Locations That Are More Secure 57. Ask for a room away from a stairway. Ask for a room near an elevator (not so close that you hear elevator noises all night long, but close enough that a long hallway walk is not involved). 58. If staying in a motel with an outside entrance to your room, ask for a room near the motel’s office where there is more activity going on rather than a more remote room. 59. Select a room no higher than the 6th or 7th floor. In case of a fire, most fire department ladders cannot reach beyond this height. 60. Ask for a room that has no adjoining door to the next room (unless you are traveling with family or friends and wish this access between rooms). If you do have a room with an adjoining door, first check that the door is locked. Then put the luggage stand with your bag atop it right in front of the door.
Safety During Your Stay 61. Keep a close eye on your luggage, laptop bag and purse when checking in. Do not get so distracted searching for your credit card and identification that you don’t notice someone lurking nearby intent on taking your valuables. 62. If the front desk staff announces your room number out loud, ask for a different room. Ask them to write down the room number or point to it if it is inside a key jacket. Ask for two keys to give the impression to anyone nearby that you are traveling with someone else.
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63. Do not leave your credit card lying on the check-in desk while you complete any paperwork. Also, make sure that your credit card is given back to you by the hotel desk clerk. 64. Ask for a business card that has the hotel name, address and telephone number on it. Keep this with you so that you have the necessary details to give a cab driver when returning to the hotel or in case you get lost. When in a location where you do not speak the language, showing a cab driver the hotel’s business card can easily get you where you want to go.
Safety in Your Room 65. Upon entering your hotel room, only use the door bolt after you have checked that there is no unwanted visitor in your room (behind the drapes, in the shower, in the closet); latch the door with the bolt. You want to be able to easily escape the room if there is someone else in the room. 66. When entering or leaving a hotel room, always check to make sure the door closed all the way. Especially with older doors, the hydraulics may be weak so the door won’t close without a push or a tug on the handle. I have seen this many times in my walks from my hotel room (and I’ll ask the front desk personnel to check that room with its door ajar). 67. Check that windows and sliding doors are securely locked. For sliding doors of first-floor hotel rooms, I like to see a metal bar across the door that prohibits the door from sliding open from the outside. 68. If you do have a room with an adjoining door to the neighboring room, first check that the lock is secure. Then place the luggage rack in front of this door. If someone tries to enter through this door, a falling luggage rack will make noise and hopefully scare away a would-be intruder. 69. Make sure that the telephone has a dial tone and is working correctly. I’ve had several battery-operated phones be non-operational. Know how to make a call to the front desk and also an outside call. 16
70. Just as it is important on a plane to know where the nearest exit is, the same applies to your hotel room. Know where the nearest stairway and fire exit is in the event of an emergency. 71. Never leave the door to your hotel room propped open. It may seem easier to leave the door open while you run down the hall for ice or await a porter, but anyone could enter your room. 72. Place your room key in the same place every time. I leave it on the hotel room desk next to my purse when I am in the room and place it in the outside pocket of my purse when I depart. This way the key is handy when leaving the hotel in an emergency, and easy to find upon returning to the hotel. 73. When inside a hotel room, no matter for just five minutes or overnight, always use the deadbolt or security chain. I learned this the hard way. I was working in my room and did not think to have the deadbolt on. Someone opened my door and started to come in. When I asked “Who’s there?” he or she immediately backed out of the room. Since I did not actually see their face, the hotel could not help. Always have the deadbolt on. 74. Only open the door to someone who knocks after looking through the eyepiece and verifying that you know them. Most often, it is the hotel maid ready to clean your room. If it’s not obvious who it is, ask if they say they work for the hotel and ask them their name. Call the front desk to verify that this person should be allowed to enter your room. 75. When ordering room service, ask the restaurant to phone your room as the room service attendant is near your door. 76. For overnight walks to the bathroom where lack of light can cause bumps into doors or stubbed toes, bring a small nightlight that will give off just enough light for safe bathroom trips and not add much to your luggage. 77. Better than a nightlight, bring a small flashlight. Keep this on the nightstand next to your bed. This flashlight can be used to find your way to the bathroom at night 17
or be used to help you find your way in a dark hallway or stairway in the event of an emergency.
Conclusion Travel is meant to be enjoyed, not feared. By making smart choices along with following these simple safety tips, your travels will be less stressful and more pleasurable. Overall, trust your instincts. If you feel something is wrong or strange, take quick action to move away from the situation. Many more travel safety tips, as well as hundreds of travel tips in many other areas, are in my book, Business Travel Success: How to Reduce Stress, Be More Productive and Travel With Confidence! There is so much more we could talk about in regards to travel safety. Visit Business Travel Success and Smart Women Travelers often for new articles on travel. We invite you to join us on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedln. Wishing you a many enjoyable and safe travels! If you would like to reprint these tips in your newsletter or website, or if you would like content created for your audience of travelers (videos, written articles, ebooks), please contact Carol Margolis at Business Travel Success, Inc. traveler@businesstravelsuccess.com 877 619 8930 BusinessTravelSuccess.com
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Online Resources These are just a few of the many sites where you can find further information: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The CDC provides users with credible, reliable health information on travelers, health, and much more. U.S. Department of State The State Department’s Office of American Citizens Services and Crisis Management (ACS) administers the Consular Information Program, which informs the public of conditions abroad that may affect their safety and security. Country Specific Information, Travel Alerts, and Travel Warnings are vital parts of this program. Websites of U.S. Embassies, Consulates, and Diplomatic Missions Air Safe Air Safe provides a range of information and resources, including information on fear of flying, aviation-related books, and links to numerous travel and travel-safety oriented sites. Road ID Road ID offers identification products such as the Road ID original, a wrist or ankle band that offers up to 7 lines of laser-engraved text. The Road ID Interactive allows you to build a fully updateable, secure Emergency Response Profile (ERP) that is available to first responders via telephone and internet. You can also personalize the first 2 lines of text.
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