Common Travel Emergencies (and what to do)!

Hello and welcome to All Things Travel. 

Travel emergencies are never what you envision when you've planned the perfect trip, but today we're going to tell you how to handle various situations that may pop up so you're prepared for whatever comes next.  

Listen in with travel advisors and destination experts Ryan and Julie. He is your travel professor teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation, and She's a Disney-loving Maryland mom of three and a half years specialist in family travel. 

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Transcript

Julie: 0:00

Hello and welcome to All Things Travel. Travel emergencies are never what you envision when you've planned the perfect trip, but today we're going to tell you how to handle various situations that may pop up so you're prepared for whatever comes next. Listen in with travel advisors and destination experts Ryan and Julie. He is your travel professor teaching you everything you need to know to have a magical vacation, and I am a Disney loving Maryland mom of three and a half years specialist in family travel. Whether we're discussing incredible destinations, Top vacation tips or sharing our personal stories. It's always all things travel. So travel emergencies, nobody likes to talk about them until they happen and you don't know what to do. And, you know, often when we talk to people about travel protection or travel insurance, they have a very specific thing about what could happen, but travel emergencies can be Anything from before the trip, during the trip, or after the trip, and all the variables in between. So, today, we're going to talk about how do you handle that, and what are some things to keep in mind. If you missed last week's episode, I would encourage you to go back and listen to find out about Julia and my favorite travel gear that we're using right now. Okay, so let's start with some of the more common travel emergencies or issues that may arise and what you should be doing in real time to handle them. When people think of travel emergencies, they tend to think of like the absolute worst

Ryan: 1:37

Right, right. They're falling off. You know, Machu Picchu or something like that.

Julie: 1:43

Let's hope that doesn't happen, but let's start with a really simple one. So you forgot your passport or your ID, or you just realized that your passport is expired and you're traveling. Tomorrow or next

Ryan: 1:53

Yep, I've had those texts.

Julie: 1:55

So there's a couple of solutions here. The first one is sometimes if you're already at the airport, you can provide additional information to the TSA agent and they might allow you through security. This is like a very. case by case basis. So don't go in and say, Oh, they're going to let me through. Stay calm, talk to the agent, explain that you have misplaced your identification and try to provide another form such as another document or another card that might have your address or your photo on it. If you're with your family, they might have your family verify that it's you when you show a family photo. They will probably also ask you a couple other questions, but I'll hope it's not lost.

Ryan: 2:34

And I will say, don't plan on doing this if you're traveling internationally.

Julie: 2:39

Yes, this is, this is really not going to work for international travel. This is really just more so for domestic travel. There are some places that if you are going internationally, you can get an emergency passport appointment. There's a number that you can call and that's 877 487 2778 or just go to the State Department website and you can find the closest location to you. And these are appointments that are kind of held back for people who are traveling within the next two weeks. And then there's a whole nother rule for if you're traveling for an emergency, like a family emergency, something like that. There's a whole nother slew of appointments held aside for those things. If you're already outside of the United States and you have misplaced your passport, then you need to go to the U. S. consulate or embassy. They may only be open on a weekday, so you might need to make some adjustments to your travel

Ryan: 3:35

If you did not look and see where that was before your trip, just get on the U. S. State Department website. They'll have those all listed out. So, the second area is your flight is cancelled or delayed. This happens a little bit more frequently than you didn't bring your ID. Or it's expired. So obviously one of the first things to do is have that airline app. For whatever airline you are flying have your flight put in there so that you can get the quickest updates possible talk to the gate agent What I would also say is what i've done in the past is get on the chat On the app or on the website while you're in line because then you can kind of figure out Which is going to get to you fastest sometimes the chat can actually help you By the time you're in a line if there's a longer line I would also say if you want to call The airline help desk or ticket line a hack that I have not used But I have heard being very effective is call one of the international numbers rather than the u. s number because when there's a a large flight in chicago that gets cancelled or moved All of those people who are calling are calling the U. S. number, but they're not calling the Canadian number, or they're not calling the number in Mexico and getting someone who can help them there. So that's a little, that's a little hack Contact your travel advisor to help you with adjusting, connecting your flights. But I will say from a travel advisor standpoint, we are here to support you. We are here to help you as much as we can. You being there in person, you could possibly have a little bit more power than we do.

Julie: 5:22

yeah. That's more so like if you're definitely going to miss your connection,

Ryan: 5:26

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pre, preemptively change things around. Yeah,

Julie: 5:30

Yeah, we'll be able to change those things around or contact your destination, contact that

Ryan: 5:36

absolutely, absolutely.

Julie: 5:37

it tonight. Things like that is where we come in. We are definitely not the first contact for a flight issue. And I try to warn all my clients of that. So another common emergency that you might run into or be worried about is a medical emergency. I always tell my clients, Hey, kind of give me the update about this. And then you know, a couple of weeks later, if something medical happens, please contact the front desk. First, they are going to know where the closest medical services are. Sometimes there is a doctor on site or some sort of care on site. If you're on a cruise, there's going to be medical care on site. If you are at a resort, there's likely some sort of medical care on site. If you're in Disney World, they're going to tell you which hospital to go to. Sometimes they may even bring a doctor into you. And then But please do not call us as the first line of defense. And also, you know, don't freak out. Don't just sit there googling what to do. Just go straight to the front desk or concierge and they will be able to direct you where to go.

Ryan: 6:32

The next travel emergency is you've lost your luggage. So let's say you're flying somewhere, your luggage doesn't arrive. This has happened to me in the not so far past. Obviously report it to the airline. And I will say, stay on top of it. Once your luggage kind of goes to the warehouse, if you will, you really need to stay on top of it. If your luggage is going to be delayed enough purchase the items that you need for your vacation and, the airline will work with you to reimburse you for those items or obviously, you can claim that as part of your travel protection.

Julie: 7:11

Yes. A lot of people don't know that that is covered with your travel protection

Ryan: 7:15

Absolutely. Yes, absolutely.

Julie: 7:17

your luggage is lost and you need stuff they have like a little allowance for

Ryan: 7:22

Yeah, yeah,

Julie: 7:23

This is just a very general one But if you have some sort of travel emergency going on with your room when you arrive at your resort or your state room Wherever it is that you're traveling an issue with your room may be something like, it's not clean enough for you or something is not working. The air conditioning is broken or something like that is going on. Or if while on site, you need to adjust your dates or your package for something that is going on and you need to leave early. Always go straight to the front desk or the concierge. We can't really do so much. Once you're there, that is going to be best for you to handle in person and just sort of keep us in the loop.

Ryan: 8:00

I agree with Julie talking to somebody in person there is the best first step, but keep us apprised because we, will try to help you from the back end we have folks that can be helpful, especially if there's major issues or, problems, so, Julie, these are really good suggestions for travel emergencies, but before we go on, I want to talk about where in the world does all things travel? Alright, so for today's show, I wanted to find an international destination, and as I looked at locations, a new one for me that came up, and I apologize if I'm mispronouncing this, but Coquitlam, British Columbia.

Julie: 8:40

Oh, that sounds

Ryan: 8:41

Yeah, so one of the things as I looked around British Columbia, Vancouver are really well known for And so in Coquitlam proper, a lot of different films and TV shows have been there. So Deadpool 2 Godzilla, War for the Planet of the Apes, The Mountain Between Us, TV shows like The Good Doctor, The Twilight Saga, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Elysium, Riverdale has been filmed there. So X Files, The 100, all sorts of stuff has been filmed in the Coquitlam area. And that's where I want to meet our listener. I want to go see some of these famous sites.

Julie: 9:28

that's awesome. Ha

Ryan: 9:29

Hey, British Columbia, we are so glad that you're listening to All Things Travel. Do us a favor, reach out to either Julie or I via Facebook or email, because I have a little thank you gift for being featured on the show. Alright, so, we've mentioned it several times, and you've heard it on this show many times. But purchasing travel insurance is the number one thing you can do to prepare for a travel emergency. And the key word is prepare. Again, we know maybe you've never needed it. I'm not planning on doing anything crazy. Trust me, when you need it, you need it. So, anything from covering trip delays, to interruptions, to cancellations, medical emergencies and so much more. Now, what's important is, as your travel advisor, we are not your insurance agents. Our job is to provide you options, and you can make the best decision for you. And then from there We provide you all the information so that you are set to go with that insurance during and after your trip.

Julie: 10:37

Yeah, exactly. Everyone, whenever I bring up travel protection to a client, I, you know, I offer it for every single one of my trips that I plan and everyone always says, well, I'm going to go on this trip. I'm not going to cancel. And I always remind them it's about more than just going or not going. What if on your way to the airport, you get in a car accident and you miss your flight and then you miss your cruise or. You're in destination and you miss a step when you're walking and you break your ankle, then what are you gonna do? There are so many scenarios that you don't think are ever going to happen to you, and they happen so much more frequently than what you think. So I want to share a few other tips to help you prevent a travel emergency. The first one has become super popular over the past couple of years. So using an air tag in your luggage to track your luggage. If it gets lost

Ryan: 11:27

I lost my luggage once and I bought AirTags and I'm so glad I have them. HA HA

Julie: 11:33

you can also track your children with an air tag. Fun fact apply for, and then secure your TSA precheck or global entry prior to traveling. And that will save you a lot of time at the airport in case you are delayed when traveling. You hit a lot of traffic on the way and you may be not going to make it through security. Well, if you have prechecked. You really don't need to worry about that at all. A few other things. So research and become familiar with your destination. You'll feel a lot more comfortable and confident going into your trip if you're a little more aware of where things are situated. And this last one is so big. Read your travel documents from your travel advisor. We spent so much time preparing documents for our clients prior to their trip. And they typically contain all the terms and conditions about anything that you've booked, as well as all the information about your travel protection plan that you've purchased. Make sure you read this, you know, what you're getting into, you kind of know what to expect. You know, what's coming and you'd know what to do and who to call if you need them.

Ryan: 12:34

So I've got one last tip, and this has to do with kind of those unforeseen medical issues that pop up. If you are traveling someplace Internationally, maybe, or someplace where you're not gonna have access to a pharmacy or you're unfamiliar. Make sure that you take medicine that you are comfortable with and bring several doses So that you can have some time to feel better Before you have to go out and find that cold medicine or that stomach medicine Because the last thing you want to do is be in an unfamiliar place Even if you're in the united states, but you don't know where the nearest pharmacy is In the middle of the night, when you're having a gallbladder attack, or you have a migraine, or something like that, take that medicine with you, and know that you have it, at least to get you to the point where you feel better enough to go out and get it later.

Julie: 13:29

Yeah, that's a great tip. And especially if you're international, make sure you're taking that whole bottle with you and not just a pill randomly.

Ryan: 13:37

Yes. Yep. Yep.

Julie: 13:38

Customs won't really love that. So we are here as your travel advisor to be a resource in any of these situations, but we are not on site with you. Please just keep us in the loop, but understand there's not as much that we can do from a distance that you were able to do on site. We are able to make new travel arrangements if needed, like if you're going to miss your connecting flight and you need to reschedule or book a hotel, you have questions about getting around in your destination, we can advise you on things related to your itinerary. We may have some insight on nearby medical care, and we may also have a copy of your passport or ID, but that isn't guaranteed to help you if you forgot them.

Ryan: 14:20

You want to plan a trip to an amazing destination but don't know how to get started? As your travel advisors, we work with you to create a customized itinerary for your vacation and take the stress of planning away so you can focus on the fun and creating the memories. Reach out to us at ryan at creatingmagicvacations. com.

Julie: 14:40

Or Julie at CreatingMagicVacations. com.

Ryan: 14:44

We look forward to talking to you next week on All Things Travel when we discuss some of the motivations why you and your family might want to plan a vacation.