8 Travel Mistakes Retirees Should Avoid

It is Mr. Stover's opus John Stillman here joined today by Kristin Staley. Kristin is a travel consultant she's working with us here at Rosewood will help you as our clients make sure that you're making the most of your travel obviously for most folks who are retired traveling see the world is a big part of retirement for you and we believe strongly that that needs to fit in with the overall financial plan. We don't want you to spend $15,000 on a vacation when you could have exactly the same vacation for 12,000 or we don't. You have headaches on vacation that you can avoid. Also Kristin's here to help with that and be sure that everybody's travel goes as smoothly as it can now today were to talk about the eight common travel mistakes you should avoid Kristin.

Thanks for being here. First of all thank trying so we have this list of mistakes and you can kind of explain why each of these is bad and I'm sure you probably seen what happens in people make some of these mistakes so mistake number one. Pay attention to your passport yet we talk about their so you can't travel if your reservation is not in the same name and birthdate that is on your passport and there are a lot of people that go by their middle names or nicknames and forget that that is not the name that's on their passports and the flight there name or their middle and then realizing to get to the airport that their passport is different and it creates a lot of time and sometimes monetary penalties for changes just so what happens, can you just not get through. In some cases, or is it just more headaches to get through what exactly happens it usually requires going to the airline desk and having them change and a lot of times that's a $50 change penalty or it could be more, sometimes a let you through but it might take you longer and miss the connection nor, so be careful that expiration date to yes most places that you travel out of the country require six months validity on your passport so you need to have a passport valid for six months after you return. So if you're traveling in June ways that that doesn't make sense coming back in June or July and it expires in December was that problematic because if you were to get caught in the country something happen. You need to have your passport into the countries just do that for their safety. There side of things interesting yeah and the other thing that I discovered the hard way. I don't let your passport expire. You can get it renewed, essentially for free right well is not free but he lost you a lot more. Right now I want longer time to renew.

If you don't renew it have time. Second, exactly. So attention your passport. Mistake number two that people may a lot is. I can't believe this is a thing but you can explain why booking flights the wrong airport so there are places that have the same name like Birmingham, Alabama, and Birmingham United kingdom and they are not the same place as culturally could not be more different.

Alabama in the UK, and also there are a lot of cities that have multiple airports and you might think that you are flying out of JFK but you're really flying out of LaGuardia so you might want to pay is actually happened to be likely done that they will show up in the wrong airport and sometimes allow not enough time to get to the other airport so there's a Seinfeld episode about this happens, George is trying to pick him up at JFK in their actually LaGuardia or vice versa along those same lines booking the wrong airport. Number three is booking the wrong date, which it seems like you know when you're going on vacation so you knowing about the wrong date but it does happen, yes, especially if you are booking things in separate portions you might procure a resort area land portion and then book your flights on miles separately and not pay attention or your flight might get in really late and you think that you don't really need that night at a resort but really you do, you need to have somewhere to sleep when you get there self making sure that if you are arriving on January 30 that you have a hotel itinerary, 30th, and not on the 31st so I was a couple years ago I was going to a conference in Fort Myers, Florida and for whatever reason, so I was speaking at the conference, and I thought for some reason, like wires, a gun cross.

I thought that the folks that were having me speak at the conference were taken care of. Hotel accommodations and so I got there and it was like you know January in Fort Myers. So apparently it's a popular time in the winter to be in southern Florida who knew. But I get there I get to the place where I'm speaking. I do my talking like 1 o'clock in the afternoon and on asking about hotel situation. No go work where you stated part about you tell me what turns out I was supposed to book the hotel and I thought they were doing. So anyway, I remember Molly is calling you in a frenzy to find a place because I called a couple close to the menu and there was nothing available, and so you had to coordinate with hotel that I could get that night and had to get a car easier to figure that out months in advance. Then the day you arrive so you lesson learned on that right.

Mistake number four is traveling without insurance. None of this kind of a controversial issue for some people because love people feel like it's sort of like buying a warranty when you buy new computer at Best Buy so I don't leave the warranty just like it only travel insurance but explain what might be a good idea in traveling insurance is a gamble just like any insurance is a gamble. You might use that you might not but I've seen a lot of situations where a hurricane comes and you don't expect hurricane to come and the island is wiped out, and now you have nowhere to stay and you just lost $4000 that you can't get back because you didn't have insurance or buying the wrong type of insurance is another problem because you might think that you're buying a full coverage insurance and you actually just have a voucher or credit thing that doesn't actually cover you for anything. Okay so explain what that would look like you you bought insurance that is it's just not comprehensive enough where I did my cover just the land portion.

It may not cover the air or it has a lot of take up to go through are a lot of exclusions that applies to just read through what you're buying her to pay for it now. You raised a good point before we were taping here and go about like what happens if you have some kind of medical need. Like I think your example was you in Mexico and get pinkeye. What happens if so, your health insurance in the United States does not cover you out of the country, so making many of the travel insurance is.

Do you have a medical coverage also said they will have cancel for any reason plans they will have cancel recovered trees and plants, but they will also cover you for medical for missed connections for a variety of things to make sure you read all of the fine print and know what you are being covered for. But does medical coverages can help when you are out of country, something I never think about is what it flows in a different country needed some kind of medical even minor medical like when you break up armor something in your silicate.

You need some attention right so what things to think about their mistake number five would be always going with the cheapest option. So the cheapest is not always the best. Sometimes you end up probably fair to say the cheapest is really the best rarely. Yes, you can still find value sometimes but a lot of times you had to pay attention to where the hotel is, that might be 25 minutes outside the city, and you spend all your time going back and forth. It might you have minor amenities or minimum amenities. It could be and I really loud area or it just kind of knowing all the things that could happen by booking just the cheapest.

This seems like something where you probably seen people do it the wrong way. Had some horror stories I've I had someone come back on a Carnival cruise and they knew what they're getting into this.

They knew that they wanted to present a specific port they got back and said they would never say on that ship again. It was one of their older ships had terrible service and terrible food and they said next time they would look at your ship, even if it meant it cost them more because they to go farther or interesting all right with the eight common travel mistakes you should avoid mistake number six you actually just kinda referenced it a minute ago but not really understanding how four-part things are correct so you might get to a city and tried to work and a lot of things in one day and not realize that it takes you 45 minutes to get between attractions or you're trying to book a two week trip to Europe and fit in six destinations. When you really can't get to that many things you'll spend all of your time on trains and planes and in taxis instead of actually seeing a place where I think you probably been guilty led to like you look at a map of a place you traveling like look at a map of LA is like all right will this is a 8 miles apart. No big deal.

Eight minutes well that 8 miles in LA is not 8 miles in southern there.

You know that's probably a 90 minute drive to go the miles if not more, especially when you get out of the country and not having or not knowing how they are transmission systems work well, but it probably the extreme example of this is I remember when my dad was in India and he went to see the Taj Mahal which was, you know, I think 40 miles from where he was staying but is about a 4 1/2 hour drive because your dodging cows in the road and you're driving to the middle of no bazaars and stuff is a disaster and took all day to get there and back right. Mistake number seven would be biting off more than you can chew what we mean there while trying to do too much and too little time, which is similar to what we're just talking about that people have different traveling styles but in general, if you really want to see a place you want to do a little bit less said that you can really enjoy and really see the place instead of just jumping between one thing and another so as an example of this would be we maybe Europe something right.

Like if you're going to roam you to do Roman today correct and just because you're in Europe doesn't mean you need to head London and Paris and Rome and Athens, all in a two week trip well yet another personal example of this a few months ago when we did our Disney cruise that was like Monday through Thursday. We get off the ship Friday morning and the plan was all right will. It was blood cheaper get a flight out on Saturday than on Friday when Windows got the hotel where you can stay right there at the airport so made sense to stay there Friday night and fly out early Saturday morning well rethinking great will have the day Friday in Orlando just got it. This will do magic kingdom for a day.

Well of course the calculus that we didn't do was all right. We get off the ship. It port Canaveral early Friday morning but you know still close to nine before we get actually get off the ship and out through customs and everything shuttle back to the airport to check in our hotel at the airport.

The Orlando airport is not close to Disney now so shuttle from there to magic kingdom. It's noon. It was afternoon, actually before we even got in magic kingdom, then you have to get a monorail or a boat over to magic kingdom that are your kids have been up early that morning, yet we get the monorail were past lunch time.

By the time you get there is about the first thing we do it is after Louis goes to meet Ariel is go eat lunch at the Pinocchio Tavern or whatever that thing is.

And so egoist.

It's 2 o'clock before you get started. No naps. The kids been up early was it wasn't a horrible day but it could have been executed much better if we plan little bit better. Lesson learned will try to do magic kingdom in the day. You probably also not going to do the entire continent of Europe in a week.

The last mistake. Mistake number eight falling for Internet pictures. Now this would apply to your tender act when you're looking for a date, most likely people in pictures. In fact, I was talking to a guy the other day. He's actually from Richmond and he was down here for the day and apparently added new tender does this but when you're traveling to a different area tender like alerts other people in the area. Hey this dude is normally from Richmond is here North Carolina ladies check them out. So he's getting blown up on tender by all these girls who are wanting to meet and I'm looking at him, really, let me see your tender picture because I'm confused by this and I look is pictures oh okay. Will those pictures are not very representative view of you so I understand.

But you have the same thing happens with places you might want to trip so you need to just keep in mind that the pictures on the Internet. Are there marketing teams trying to sell their resort so it is not always know what the same and places change, especially beach resorts. Their beaches are not always the same because weather and tides and everything. Someday you will have seaweed and someday you want and some days they'll be working on the beach or construction. Some days they won't sell you have to go into it knowing that just because the pictures online, look great does not mean it's cannot be the same and get there Saturday. Find out how you really a true picture with places like the question I mean sometimes there's yet looking at multiple sources and not just going by something the first time you see it in your checking Instagram picture sometimes all of the filters they are make it hard. People will just post a picture looks beautiful but I've seen article before on give us. Maybe the top eight or 10 destinations that you like to travel like the pyramids, and it showed what people's Instagram pictures look like and then showed what it actually looks like from farther away and so just kind of doing a little bit more research talking to people that have been to see if it really looks like what it shows on the Internet so there you go and review the eight travel mistakes you should avoid pay attention to your passport. Avoid booking flights through the wrong airport. Believe it or not, that's the thing. Be careful of dates.

Be sure you booking everything on the right days that fit your travel plans consider travel insurance would be number four number five don't always go for the cheapest option number six understand how far apart things actually are in real life and how long it might take to get from one place to the other number seven.

Don't bite off more than you can chew and number eight. Don't fall for Internet pictures Kristen thank you very much think again. Kristen services are available to our clients for help with travel. If you'd like some advice or some help booking things Christians available to you just give her a call that number is 919-636-1526 again 919-636-1526. Or you can email her kristen@customtravelprofessionals.com and that's Kristen with eyes are the only vowels in their kristen@customtravel.com will talk with you again soon. Right here on Mr. Stillman's opus