There’s always so much to do when preparing for and while on vacation. Arranging transportation, booking hotels, creating an itinerary of activities, getting the whole family packed, gathering all your device chargers, etc. – it’s exhausting! In addition to travel plans and packing, though, there are some other keys items you might want to add to your “to do” list. This is a collection of a a few of the things I do to protect my ID while traveling and that of my family. Hopefully this will help you on your next vacay too.
This post was brought to you by LifeLock. All opinions are my own.
Sharing 5 Travel Tips to Protect My ID
- Stop mail. This is super easy and lessens the chances of your personal information getting into the wrong hands. If you rely on a friend to get your mail, it could be sitting in your mailbox for hours or even days until they pick it up, just waiting to be stolen. Just go to https://holdmail.usps.com/holdmail/ to put a hold on your mail.
- Clean out your wallet. Leave extra credit cards you don’t need at home so, in the sad situation that your stuff gets stolen, you only have a few accounts to worry about and take care of.
- Don’t tell the world you’re traveling. This is just common sense these days. Saying, “I’m leaving for vacation for X number of days” is like saying, “Feel free to rob us anytime while we’re gone.”
- Use the hotel safe. While we hope all hotel staff will be 100% trustworthy, it’s better to be “safe” than sorry and use the in-room safe. Don’t leave money, documents, etc. just loose in your room.
- Act fast. If you lose any of your important documents or credit cards, report it immediately. The quicker you do this, the less damage will be done. I have LifeLock Ultimate keeping an eye on my accounts so I can take action as soon as a credit or identity threat is detected. You can also go to the LifeLock site and use the promotion code “LifeLockSafety” to save 10% off their services to add to your anxiety-free vacation.
Getting Some Help While You’re Away
These points were inspired by a post on the LifeLock site but are things my family and I have always done when it comes to traveling. Taking the family out for summer vacation should be something to be look forward to and enjoy. The last thing you need is to find out your identity or that of your kids has been compromised and that you need to abruptly go into “troubleshoot” mode in getting things fixed. So why not follow these tips and enlist the help of LifeLock to help protect you while you’re gone.
Also, to help you better understand the threats involved with identity theft and know how to ramp up that protection, LifeLock has a new book, Stolen Identity: What Anyone with a Name, Birthdate and Social Security Number Needs to Know Now. What is it about? Here’s official summary:
Identity theft is one of the most widespread and fast-evolving crimes, but many people don’t realize that it goes far beyond having a credit card number stolen. It can jeopardize your healthcare, block you from receiving the tax refund you’re due, interfere with a job or loan, and even run up debt for your children or elderly parents. Learn more about the alarming ways identity in which thieves operate today and what you can do to reduce your chances of having your identity stolen.
You can purchase Stolen Identity: What Anyone with a Name, Birthdate and Social Security Number Needs to Know Now on Amazon. Or, you can enter win one right here!
64 comments
Those are great tips! I always stop my mail and I have a neighbor check my house for the pets and bring in any packages that may arrive as well.
A friend of mine is currently dealing with identify theft and I’m sure she’d appreciate the information!
Great tips. I never tell anyone but family that I am going to be gone. You can’t trust anyone!
I do 1-4 and hope I don’t ever need to do #5. 🙂 Excellent tips!
These are great tips to safeguard our ID. I know friends and family that have had their identity stolen and it is a mess to clean up.
So many people are affected by stolen identity! this is such a great product. Thank you for the tips to keep my own identity safe!
These are definitely some great tips for protecting your identity while you’re traveling. I love having Lifelock because it alerts me whenever there is a potential problem (i.e. applying for a credit card, etc).
I always have someone stay at my house while I am away (to watch my dog), so I never worry when I go away 🙂
Lifelock is a great option. I usually use an AmEx to protect my cash and save copies of passports.
It is so scary how fast identity theft happens. Since I end up sharing most of my travels on social media for blogging purposes, I also let people know that I hire a house sitter while we are gone. They stay AT the house. My neighbors are also on watch and collecting mail.
those are great ideas. I’m bad about telling people we’re away on vacation
Thanks for the tips. I used to be much better about this when we traveled to Europe before the kid was born, for some reason I am not as concerned traveling in the USA. Perhaps I need to rethink that!
thanks,
Mitch
I want to learn more about this and how people get other’s info.
Great tips. I always try to clean out my wallet before a trip. I don’t need half the cards & info in there – the less I bring the less chance someone has of stealing it!
Great tips! I travel often and I should be more careful about my identity.
[…] CLICK TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY! –> […]
We always keep a spare set of our travel documents on our phones, so if we misplace the printed ones we aren’t left without.
My kids thought I was crazy when I wouldn’t let them post vacation pics until we returned from vacation. They finally understood when I explained someone could rob us and steal their computers and games
These are really great tips! Identity theft is such a huge issue these days.
Identity Theft has been a good investment for us. I feel it is one of those things that is worth every penny.
that worries me so much about travelling. I try to keep my travelling a secret but man it’s hard.
As soon as we walk into our hotel room we set the code for the safe. We always keep all our important documents and valuable items either on us or in the safe. Great tips!
These are all great tips. I have to admit, I am one of those who let my friend pick up my mail when I am out of the country. I am not sure how to go about stopping mail in Trinidad, so i’ll have to look into it. Thank you for sharing.
I follow most of these tips whenever I travel. I didn’t know that you could request mail to be held online though, I have always gone to the post office to ask!
Ya know, I’ve never use the hotel safe – ever. I just never really think to. And I see so many people announcing on FB when they are leaving on vacation. It’s crazy.
First tip I have is never ever tell people you are going out of town, at least not on social networks. Very bad idea to do that. 🙂
Having had my identity stolen, these are great tips. You should also stop your newspaper as well. Newspapers sitting up is also an indicator that no one is home.
Great tips! It’s important to take whatever steps we can to keep our identities and property safe. (My FIL still posts his trip info on FB! So dangerous.)
My friend is dealing with identity theft right now! She just signed up for lifelock actually.
These are some great tips. LifeLock sounds like such a great idea to sign up for.
These are great tips! I get nervous everytime I travel!
Those are some great tips. Travel is a time when many people are at risk.
I don’t think I’ve ever used a hotel safe. But, that’s because I never travel with more than a pocket wallet so I can always take everything with me when I leave the room. Traveling light is traveling safe 🙂
Great tips, I love LifeLock. I was explaining this program to my daughter and her boyfriend. You need to be extra careful traveling.
LifeLock does come in handy. There is nothing worse than having your identity stolen. It’s happened more than once to me.
I’ve heard so many amazing things about life lock. Dealing with identity theft is so serious. Best to have the best of the best!
When I go to Africa, I bring one credit card. I have one of those ugly looking passport pouches you tie around your waist and I always notify they bank we will be there!
These are really great tips. It’s so important to protect yourself.
These are great tips! I travel as much as I can, so these will definitely help me.
I always say I’m going to leave my credit cards behind, and then I feel so naked w/o them. You’re right though not carrying them all is the smart thing to do when traveling.
I love these tips! Good advice, i always use the room safe!
These are some great tips. My daughter has had her identity stolen twice. It is such a mess to clean up.
I try to stay on top of my online security and keep everything safe, but you just never know. Thank you for the tips. These are definitely additional steps I need to be taking.
Great tips! It’s important to keep your identity safe and even more so when traveling.
Losing my purse traveling is one of my biggest fears. Great tips.
These are really great tips. Thank you for sharing them. I do hate that we even have to worry about stuff like this though!
These are great tips! I’ll definitely keep these in mind for future travels.
My family is planning a vacation overseas, I would love to read this book first
Great tips! I think we’ve only used the hotel safe when we’ve traveled overseas. To many things that we need to keep up with and the safe came in handy.
Great tips! I just pinned this to my Travel board on Pinterest to remind myself!
So many people announce their trips on social media. It’s very confusing why someone would think that’s a good idea.
We are traveling internationally in just over two weeks so I definitely needed a good reminder. Thanks so much for sharing these important tips.
Great tips! I agree about don’t tell the world you are traveling. I get you may think you can trust all those 500+ facebook friends of yours but you never know who is going to be a bad apple.
These are definitely tips I follow when traveling. As much as the boys and I are on the road, you can never be too careful.
These are some really great tips to use while traveling. Travel is a stressful time quite often, but this is a great way to reduce some of that stress.
We don’t travel a ton but I might, and I would love to protect myself the best way I can like you shared! Thanks for the great tips!
I am always conscious of who I tell and I stop my mail for long trips.
These are fantastic tips, you never can be too careful these days.
I want to read it because it has great tips to safeguard our ID
Curious to see why the rating is so low.
I would like to read it because it looks very useful!
I would like to read it because I would like to help prevent identity theft.
I never tell others when I’m going on vacation (except for immediate family). Also, I always have someone house sit, considering I live in the city, and you never know what could happen!
Those are great tips. I hate it when hotels don’t have in-room safes.
Comments are closed.