Tidewater Traveler - January 2012

Don't Do Nothing!

by

George W. Sellers

Please forgive the double-negative. As I understand, it is a writer’s prerogative to occasionally bend the conventional rules of grammar, syntax and propriety in order to make a point. You, the reader, will determine if the point is made. How is this for a New Year’s resolution? Don’t do nothing!
May I suggest two travel-related resolutions for the new year? First - travel. Second – before you travel - don’t do nothing!
Travel! With the possible exception of homebodies, few folks would disagree with a resolution to travel in 2012. All industry projections seem to indicate that record numbers of Americans will venture out to experience destinations here on our home continent and around the world.
Don’t do nothing! English majors, those still tolerating this article, are probably riled and eager to reword this phrase to be “Don’t do anything.” But that will not make the point. There are challenging travel-related circumstances that can be seriously compounded by having done nothing in preparation for a trip.
For example, I was recently seated with a client at her dining table located in an upscale suburban townhouse. While I was looking up the answer to a travel-related question on my computer, my hostess, an intelligent, alert, middle-aged, self-employed lady, was sifting through the day’s mail and came to focus on an envelope containing her monthly mobile phone bill. She slit the flap, extracted and unfolded the statement. She gasped, “This can’t be right - new balance – over fifteen hundred dollars!” The detail section of her bill showed that most of the unexpected charges occurred about a month and a half earlier.
“What is this?” she managed to speak. Then she remembered the dates – three days in the Punta Cana. The Dominican Republic, for a family wedding! “How can this be?” The problem – she did nothing. Before leaving the USA, she gave no thought to the potential behavior of her smart phone outside of its contracted area. All those text messages from banks, credit card companies, retailers, friends and family flowed in as always. All those fun and convenient apps for shopping, gaming, weather and networking continued to operate as usual. Since the phone could not find its home network, it automatically sought channels of communication with foreign networks and service providers. My client did nothing in advance to prevent this from happening. The result of doing nothing in this case was an out of control mobile phone bill. Don’t do nothing!
“I know I packed those blood pressure pills in my suitcase. I had enough in my pocket for a few doses.” At the last minute, while packing, Joe had picked up the prescription container, shaken out a few tablets for his pocket and thrown the plastic bottle into the suitcase. How could he have known that his suitcase would not arrive in Dublin on the same flight as he?
Once the pocket supply of meds was used up, Joe found himself in an awkward situation. The problem – Joe had done nothing about his prescription medicines in preparation for the trip. He should have put the pills in his carry-on bag; he could have asked his doctor for a back-up supply for the trip, a second container that could have been stored separately – maybe in his wife’s purse. Joe did nothing to prepare. Don’t do nothing!
Sally always uses her bank debit card for daily purchases. She has a credit card too, but rarely uses it. When she showed up at the rental car desk in Vancouver, British Columbia, the rental car company asked for her driver’s license and a credit card as a condition of receiving the car. Because Sally had not notified the credit card company of her travel plans, the card was declined by the fraud-prevention unit, leaving Sally in an awkward situation.
Rental car companies usually do not accept debit cards, but under the circumstances she was able to convince them to do so temporarily until she got the problem resolved with the credit card company. But Sally forgot that her bank, like most banks, has a daily cap on debit card transactions. Since she had already used the card several times that day, the cap had been reached, triggering a shut-down. Ever try to reach a bank on a Saturday afternoon?
All of this could have been avoided by making contact and inquiry with both financial institutions before leaving on the trip. In the absence of taking such preemptive steps, Sally’s choice, by default, had been to do nothing. Don’t do nothing!
Ed is an avid knife collector. To him a knife would never be a weapon; it is a collectible work of art and fine craftsmanship. You can guess what happened when he placed one of the high-value objects in his carry-on bag while traveling to attend a cutlery trade show. Don’t ignore what to pack or not pack and assume it will all be okay. Make sure you understand what cannot be taken on a plane. Don’t do nothing!
Even after the best, most thorough preparation for a trip, once you arrive at your destination, there can be a slew of unpredictable issues to handle, and things can seem twice as hard when there is a language barrier. Imagine the comfort of knowing you could make a call any time, day or night, from anywhere in the world (that has phone service) and have access to a knowledgeable travel counselor, especially in the unfortunate event of a problem or when in need of on-the-spot language translation.
For example, what if you could call someone to find your lost luggage, re-book flights and hotels, or coordinate flight tickets in case inclement weather wreaks havoc on your accommodations? What if you discover that your passport or credit cards are missing? Or, what if you just need help getting familiar with your destination, someone to find restaurants in the area or book tickets to an event for you? There is something you can do before your trip (instead of doing nothing) that will assure you will have such help if you need it.
For years I have been a strong advocate of travel insurance. Most people know that travel insurance will protect a traveler from financial loss in case a trip must be cancelled or interrupted due to illness, injury or death of a traveler, travel companion or immediate family member. But many people do not realize that travel insurance policies issued by reputable, reliable companies also include, usually at no additional charge, emergency assistance and concierge services accessible around the clock from any telephone in the world.
There are many travel-related issues where doing nothing leaves a traveler at risk for the development of unwelcome and uncomfortable circumstances. Don’t do nothing!
May all of your travels be happy and safe!

George Sellers is a Certified Travel Counselor and Accredited Cruise Counselor who operates the popular travel website and travel planning service www.SellersTravel.com. His Facebook and e-mail addresses are George@SellersTravel.com.