Aging In Place Directory

#31 - Don't Let Vacation Woes Ruin Your Getaway: Top Safety Tips

• Esther C Kane CAPS, C.D.S. • Season 2 • Episode 5

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Speaker 1:

Hey there and welcome to another episode of the Aging in Place Directory podcast. I'm Esther Kane, a retired occupational therapist and currently an Aging in Place specialist, and today we're going to look into a topic that is going to be popular very soon, and that is travel. Most people travel during the summer, although I know if you're retired you're probably traveling all the time. I have friends who love to travel. I personally do not. It is the last thing in the world I want to do, but for a lot of people it's what they enjoy. But you do need to do it safely, and that also includes preparing your home for leaving it. I have a story to tell you.

Speaker 1:

My neighbor next door a couple of years ago left her house to go visit her mother during the Christmas holidays. We live in North Georgia and we do get freezing weather at times. During that particular holiday season, the weather did get to freezing, and when you do that, if you live in northern cold weather, you know that you're supposed to have water dripping a little bit in order to keep the pipes or help to keep the pipes from freezing. But what she should have done and actually is to turn off the water completely. But she did not and, as a result, one morning someone was walking their dog in front of her house and noticed water coming out from the front door, from underneath the front door, so you can only imagine how much water was in that house now that it pipes had burst and the entire first floor had to be gutted and redone and furniture lot and it was an absolute mess and she had to cut her vacation short and run home to take care of the mess. So, yeah, so turning your water off is one thing you definitely want to do. When you go away for an extended period of time, even if it's just a weekend, you want to make sure to turn the water off. All right, so we're going to talk about some of these tips, not only on how to secure your home, but how to travel safely. So the last thing that you want is to be on a beautiful beach somewhere sipping a pina colada, only to be worrying about whether you lock the back door or if anything is happening at home. So let's talk about some of the things you should do before you start packing, you know, before you walk out the door after you've packed your bags.

Speaker 1:

So, number one you want to lock up everything. You want to check all the doors and windows and make sure even the ones that are that are rarely used, and make sure even the ones that are that are rarely used and make sure that they're locked. You don't want to forget the garage. Many people overlook that, overlook this. I can't tell you how many times I've gone out to my driveway and I look around and I see people's garage doors open during the day, which you really shouldn't do this anyway. But I know that one or two are away on vacation and they probably thought they closed the garage door as they drove away, but didn't realize that the clicker didn't work or something happened and the garage door is now wide open. So then, of course, you have to call them and figure out how to get that garage door closed. If you have, if you happen to have a garage door opener that gives you an app, that app may be able to tell you whether the garage door is open or closed and you can control it from there. If you have sliding glass doors and I know those are extremely popular down in South Florida, maybe Arizona too, I don't know, but anyway you want to use a rod or a bar in the track in order to help prevent any forced entry through those doors, because they're usually pretty easy to break through you want to set up.

Speaker 1:

Number two is to set up timers for lights. If you have a dark house, that is, you know, dark throughout, you know all night not all night necessarily, but night after night after night then that's a dead giveaway that no one is home. And you know, especially you want to have the light on, especially, like you know, between 4 pm or 5 pm, depending on when the sun sets, you know down to 10 or 11 pm. You want to try to do it during your regular times and you can use smart plugs or timers to do this. If you use smart plugs, then you can control them with the app on your phone and then the app can tell you whether the light is on or off and you can you manually control it if that's what you want to do. And one thing that I like to do is I put my TV on a smart plug because I want that TV to turn on as well. Having a light on is one thing, but having a TV on is another because the TV, then it's more likely that it seems like someone is home. If the TV is on or a radio, anything like that, it creates noise and it just makes it seem like someone's home.

Speaker 1:

You want to put mail and your deliveries on hold, if you can. I know it's difficult to do with, like Amazon products or anything like that, but if you do have those kinds of things coming, then you can ask your neighbor to. You know, be on the lookout for those and pick those up as they come. But nothing screams. You know we're not home, more than like an overflowing mailbox or packages piling up at the door. So, obviously, put your mail on hold and you can do that online. You don't have to go to the post office and if you still get newspaper deliveries, you know, go ahead and pause those as well.

Speaker 1:

You want to secure any of your valuables and documents, especially if you have someone coming in to care for your pets. Now, unless you know this person for a very long time, you want to make sure that you lock up your jewelry and your cash, important documents, things like that, or you want to take them to a safe deposit box at a bank. I personally, you know, like to put them in fireproof folders that I got on Amazon and then I put those in the safe deposit box at the bank. If you have a safe deposit box in your home, that's great. Put them in there. And another thing you can do is you can take photos of important documents like passports and credit cards in case, for whatever reason, you tend to lose them, or you lose them while you're traveling, or they get stolen, or anything can happen.

Speaker 1:

You want to adjust your thermostat so that the house doesn't get too hot in the summer or it doesn't get too cold in the winter. In the winter, I can say open your kitchen cabinets. If you have piping behind those cabinets and the cabinets are up against an outdoor wall, then I would definitely keep those cabinet doors open to help keep those pipes from freezing. Obviously, if you have your water turned off, that will help your pipes from freezing, but a little bit of extra help won't hurt if you're leaving in during cold weather. If you have a home security system, make sure, obviously, that it's activated. And if the home security system, if it gives you an app on your phone, then you can always check it on your phone.

Speaker 1:

Doorbell cameras are great. I have one in the front, I have one in the back, I have one in the back. I have outdoor cameras all over the place outside. Those are wonderful, especially if they're connected to your phone app so you can get alerts and you can check in on live feeds at all time. If you happen to have Wi-Fi enabled cameras, then make sure that they are charged before you leave so that you don't have to worry about them running out of juice. Obviously, have a trusted friend or neighbor. Keep an eye out for your home. They should have, you should have a few people, hopefully, in your neighborhood that have a key in case of emergencies or can somehow get into your home. You know, via the garage code pad or anything like that. If you have happen to have door locks in your home that are, you know, the, the number door locks, that usually comes with apps on your phone so you can let people in and out of your home, or you can give them the code so they can do it in case, for whatever reason, you know they can't reach you or you're not by your phone.

Speaker 1:

All right, so we're going to talk about traveling safely. So, now that your home is prepped and secure as much as it can be, let's talk about staying safe while traveling. The number one rule I give to everyone is please do not announce that you're not home. Don't go on social media. I'm at the airport now. Oh, we just boarded the plane. Oh, you know we landed in Rome and you know we're going to be staying at such and such and here's a great meal that I'm having in Tuscany and don't do that. Don't do that. You can take all the pictures you want, keep them on your phone and when you get home, then you can put them on social media and let people know that you had a great time there, but that you are now back home, because potential burglars definitely look for that on social media accounts. It's basically putting up a banner on your house saying, hey, the house is empty, come on in. So why would you want to do that? Don't do that. Keep copies of important documents, you know, like your passport, id, travel insurance and all of that, and in addition to copies, you also want to have photos of them on your um, on your, on your phone, you know. Keep them in a separate place in your luggage um, so that they're all together.

Speaker 1:

The use of a money belt or an anti-theft bag is a no-brainer, especially if you're going to a major city, if you're going to a place that has a lot of pickpockets, you know being reported, any place that you're going to be that's crowded. If you're going for a festival or anything where there's a lot of people, you want to make sure to keep the things that you have that are yours yours. So a money belt or an anti-theft bag is just the easiest and the most common-sense thing to do. Obviously, like anything, be aware of your surroundings. Check online to see if there are any common scams going on where you're going. Stay in well-lit, populated areas, especially at night. Try not to stay out late at night in cities that you're not familiar with.

Speaker 1:

And if you're using ride shares like Uber or Lyft, anything like that, double check the car and the driver before getting in. Usually, when you use a ride share, you get the name of that driver on your phone. So as soon as you open the door to the car or they open the door, you say, excuse me, I forgot what was your name again and make sure that it's the name that's on your phone. That's a great way to know that you're getting in the right car with someone who is as legit as hopefully, and then, of course, share your ride with others so that they know where you are, just in case, and you can give your itinerary to someone, so that one person at least one person should know when you're leaving, what's your flight number or train or whatever, what time you're expected to be there, what hotel or airbnb or bed and breakfast, when are you coming back. All that information it's important that other people know, especially lately. It seems like there have been a lot of air crashes lately or close calls and it's important for someone to know what's happening. Especially if you have a pet at home, somebody has to be designated to care for that pet and to do whatever it is that you wish them to do with the pet in case something were to happen.

Speaker 1:

If you're traveling internationally, make sure that you have like a roaming plan or something like that on your phone. Contact your provider, your cell phone provider, to find out what is available, what's the cost, what are the limitations, all of that, and just check in regularly by texting. You know with people so that they know you're safe. That's what you can do instead of social media. Just check in via text. Pack a small emergency kit, of course, especially if you are on specific medications. Make sure you have those with you. You also want to have things like a portable phone charger they have solar phone chargers that you might be able to use a little flashlight, some first aid supplies like a Band-Aid, a know, tylenol, whatever, um, anything like that that you think you might need. Um and have a plan for lost or stole items. If your, if your passport gets stolen, obviously you're overseas, then you want to head to the nearest embassy. You want to keep a list of emergency contact numbers, including your bank, including the bank information on there.

Speaker 1:

In case you have a credit card that is lost, you want to be able to freeze that. I use the Discover card. I love that card because I can freeze it online. It dings my phone every single time a charge is made. I have never had a bad. Well, that's not true. There was one time when it dinged there was a charge made at a restaurant that I was not at, so I froze my card immediately right on that app and then was able to contact Discover for them to change the card number. So obviously the number got taken somewhere, I'm not sure where, but anyway. So look for if you don't have a credit card like that. Look for something like that. That's one of the easiest ways to keep track of what's happening with your credit and being able to freeze it immediately, just via the app, right away. But, of course, if you do lose your passport, you can't do that. You have to head out to the embassy. So do your best to keep everything as safe as possible.

Speaker 1:

All right, so I hope that this information helps you to have an easier, a safer, a more secure travel vacation. I'm sure so many of you that are listening to this right now are probably planning your trips at this moment it's currently March 2025. So I'm sure a lot of people are already planning their trips. Whether you're going to see family or going sightseeing or doing some, you know, amazing adventure photography trip or safari or anything like that. Let me know how it is, let me know how your trip went.

Speaker 1:

That's as close as I want to get to traveling. Don't judge me. It's just not something I enjoy doing, but all of these tips should help you. A little preparation can definitely go a long way to not only help keep your home safe, but just to make traveling smoother and easier for you, your family and anyone else that's going with you, all right. If you have any travel safety tips of your own, let me know, put them in the comment, let me know what you think of this particular podcast or the podcast in general. Don't forget to subscribe, to share, leave us a review. Safe travels everyone, and until next time, take care, I'll talk to you later.

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Esther C. Kane, CAPS, C.D.S.

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