Louise provides several travel tips for packing and preparing for an international trip. She recommends packing an extra outfit in your partner's bag and vice versa in case one bag is lost. Medicines should be carried in carry-on luggage. Photos should be taken of suitcases and their contents before checking bags to assist with identifying lost luggage. Photos of important documents like passports and itineraries should also be emailed for easy access if originals are lost. Traveler's checks are less accepted than credit cards, which can be used at ATMs abroad and should have chip technology and RFID protection for security.

1. Louise’s Travel Tips
 If traveling with a partner, pack an outfit or two in the other person’s suitcase and they should
do the same. If luggage is lost it is many times only one bag of the traveling couple. If one
bag is lost, then you would have at least a couple of outfits that you can retrieve from the other
person’s bag.
 Be sure to carry your medicines in your carry-on bag so it doesn’t get handled and lost with
your larger suitcases
 If you have a smart phone that takes pictures, take pictures of your suitcases before delivering
them to the airlines. That way if you have a bag missing you can show them exactly what to
look for. It is also a good idea to take pictures of the contents of your suitcases. This will help
if a bag is lost and you have to document what is lost in the case. Email attachments of these
pictures to yourself to an email account that can be pulled up on any computer (Gmail, Yahoo,
etc.). That way if the bag is lost you can pull up a picture using any computer worldwide.
 Also, take pictures of your important documents – passport, driver’s license, travel itinerary,
travel insurance, etc. Email attachments of these pictures to yourself to an email account that
can be pulled up on any computer (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.). That way if the documents are lost
you can pull up a picture using any computer worldwide.
 Traveler’s Checks are not accepted as often as they once were year ago. It is best to obtain a
credit card that includes one of the new electronic “chips” in it when traveling abroad. When
you enter each country you can use the credit card to obtain the currency for that country. Set
a daily cash withdrawal amount on the card….perhaps $500 maximum. You may also want to
get one of the “RFID” protected wallets to keep this credit card in…..it protects against the new
electronic card readers that crooks sometimes have. With that reader all they have to do is
walk past you to capture credit card info. Using the “RFID” protection wallet is warranted.
Web Resources
 www.allinlondon.co.uk
 www.visitbritain.com/en
 http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/
 www.londonpass.com
 www.visitlondon.com
 www.tripadvisor.com
 www.RickSteves.com
 www.tripit.com
 www.travelsmith.com