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Keep Calm and Carry on: Taking the Stress out of Your Spring Break

Keep calm and carry on:  How to take the stress out of your spring break

Travelling over spring break can be fraught with delays, hiccups and mishaps. Whether you’re a seasoned or occasional traveler  make sure you’re prepared for any eventuality to guarantee a stress-free journey.  We thought we would put together some helpful tips to aid you in your spring break travel.

Here’s a quick reminder of the most typical scrapes, how to get out of them and most importantly, how to keep calm and carry on travelling.

airport suitcase“Um I think that might be my plane taking off…”

Airports are usually vast buildings filled with thousands of travelers and trip-inducing wheelie suitcases. Avoiding them and the numerous shopping opportunities as you attempt to get from A to B can be time consuming. Boarding the plane late and enduring the walk of shame to your seat may be bad enough, but missing your flight altogether is worse. We recommend that you get to your gate first.  Check first hand what your flight status is, and then do some window shopping.

What to do if you miss your flight?: head for your airline’s helpdesk. Ideally they will be able to sort another flight as soon as possible. However, if it’s deemed you are at fault rather than the airline, you may have to pay for the additional flight or pay those pesky fees. Check your travel insurance and the airline’s missed flight policy before you leave.

“Tickets, money, passport…where’s my passport?!”

Not only are passports expensive, they are also your ticket to travel. Without one most of the world is inaccessible, so it’s a complete pain when you discover it’s lost or stolen.

What to do: trying to get home without a passport is a little tricky and will take extensive knowledge of the movie, The Bourne Supremacy. So firstly you need to report your lost or stolen passport to the police and get a police report. Then inform the local Embassy, Consulate or High Commission and they will provide a lost passport form for you to complete, plus emergency travel documentation.

Lost luggage“Where’s my Louis Vuitton?!”

It can be tedious waiting and jostling with fellow passengers to retrieve your luggage on landing. However it becomes a whole lot more stressful when you realize your precious luggage is not one of the four unloved, battered cases left on the baggage carousel. Then what?

What to do: make a beeline for your airline’s helpdesk. They are all too familiar with lost luggage reports as literally thousands of bags are misplaced on a daily basis. You’ll be asked to fill out a lost luggage report/claim and in the meantime your airline will set about tracking your prized possessions. Most stories of wayward luggage have a happy ending and find owner and suitcase reunited within 72 hours.  If your luggage has headed to destinations unknown and taken a permanent break, you can always file a claim with your homeowners insurance.