Safety and Security when Traveling with Children

Safety when traveling with children is one of the most important things you have to take care of not only before the trip. Safety when traveling with children is something you have to take care of during the entire trip.

Safety when traveling with children is not only about your physical safety. It is proper preparation for unexpected situations or knowing what to do in the event of an accident and how to avoid it.

“Traveling with children” based on our extensive travel experience and in cooperation with financial experts from myTU, has prepared a mini-guide for you that will help ensure your safety when traveling with children.

Travel health insurance

Travel insurance

The most important thing is to take care of travel insurance before preparing for the trip. Even if you have travel insurance with a credit card, make sure to check if it is valid in the country you are traveling to. Also, whether the insurance is valid only for you or also for your family members.

In addition, if you are going on a longer trip, it is important to know how long the insurance is valid. When we went to Thailand or Tenerife for the winter, the insurance that came with the bank card was only valid for three months. In this case, if you are going to winter in another country for a longer time, consult with an insurance agent in advance, because in many cases it is quite difficult to insure people who have already left.

It is also important to find out if you need to have a bank certified letter with you when you travel that you are insured.

The European Health Insurance Card

If you are traveling in the European Union, the countries of the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the United Kingdom, it is important not only to take care of travel insurance. You also need to have a European Health Insurance Card (ESDK). This is a document confirming the right of a person covered by compulsory health insurance (PSD.) With it, you can receive essential medical assistance services paid by the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund (PSDF) while traveling or on vacation in the EU.

It is important to know that even those who did not have time to prepare or forgot to put the European health insurance cards in their suitcase, the health insurance specialists remind them of a quick free way out – a card replacement certificate can be instantly downloaded to your mobile phone. The certificate, like the European Health Insurance Card (ESID), confirms the right of a person covered by compulsory health insurance (PSI) to receive necessary medical assistance, the costs of which are fully or partially covered by health insurance funds. More information can be found in our article Tips for preparing for a trip with children.

Documents during travel

We have already written about this in the article Tips for preparing for a trip with children.

We remind you – check the validity dates of both your and your children’s documents. Make sure your identity documents are valid for the duration of your trip. Some non-Schengen countries require a passport to be valid for at least 6 months. after leaving the country. This is especially relevant when going away for the winter or traveling for a longer period of time. If the document is valid for a shorter period of time, you will have unpleasant problems when returning home.

Children’s documents are valid for a much shorter period of time, but they are subject to the same requirements as adult documents.

Be sure to take photos of your ID and keep them in your email. You can also make hard copies. Then store them separately from the documents. They will come in handy in the event of an accident, lost or stolen documents.

If you have both ID cards and passports, take both with you on the trip. Keep passports separate from ID cards and keep them safe in a hotel or apartment safe when traveling abroad. If you lose one, you’ll know you have other documents.

Security of cash and payment cards

One of the most important elements of safety when traveling with children is to do everything that would allow you to protect yourself from possible thefts and frauds.

Security of payment cards

Before you go abroad, find out which number to contact if your bank card is lost or stolen. Believe me, fraudsters try to withdraw money or pay with a card very quickly, so in the event of an accident, there will be no time to look for the bank’s phone number. In addition, consider the cost of the Internet for searches, because mobile data is expensive, especially outside of Europe! And what is the price of a call to Lithuania if you call from Thailand or the Caribbean islands.

Inform your bank or payment card issuer if you are going to a remote or unusual country, so that there are no problems with paying by payment cards. Because banks have often noticed suspicious activity from unusual countries, for security reasons, they are left to block cards. This ensures your own safety – therefore it is very important to inform the bank about your trip!

Travel with the myTU card

Why it is useful to have an myTU card in this case? If your card is lost or stolen during your trip, you can lock it immediately in the myTU mobile app, so that it cannot be used. You can do this by going to the card settings window and tapping on “Lock Card”. The card will be blocked until you unlock it or receive a new travel card. Locking the card takes just a few seconds.

myTU Advantages

myTU card has another advantage when traveling – if you go to the market or any other public place where there is a possibility of theft, you can simply disable payments in the app temporarily or also disable cash withdrawals.

In case of theft, your money is safe. And when you return, you will re-enable payments with one click and you can continue to use all the benefits of the card. Always think about it, because financial security when traveling is one of the most important elements of a successful trip!

Safety and Safety with myTU

myTU card provides another safety advantage when traveling. You can also control the card limit with one click of a button. If you need to pay for a hotel or plane tickets, you can increase the limit. However, if you are going to the city for dinner or you know that you will not have big expenses, you can reduce the limit. This will make you feel safe and secure that you won’t lose a large amount of money if you lose your card.

People often ask if it is safe to travel by public transport, attend large gatherings of people (events, festivals) after activating the contactless payment of a payment card. myTU financial security expert Tomas Navickas answers that it is not really safe.

It is necessary to take additional measures to protect yourself from digital theft. With myTU mobile banking, it’s very easy to do, just “Lock the card” or turn off “Contactless” payments with the touch of a finger in the app. So-called travel wallets with RFID protection or travel-friendly document cases and wallets in one, with the same RFID protection, also protect against this type of theft.

Cash

Never keep all your cash in one place. It is better to distribute them among different purses and handbags. And it’s even safer to withdraw the necessary amounts of cash when needed. myTU card  gives you the opportunity to make free withdrawals up to 2 times a month, not exceeding the amount of €200.

If the amount is exceeded, a 2% rate is applied in SEPA (common euro payments area) or a 3% fee in non-SEPA countries. Next time, it’s safer to pay extra for cashing out than to hold larger amounts of cash. Please note that private ATMs in other countries often charge an additional withdrawal fee that is not your card issuer’s or bank’s fee, which is the so-called ATM service fee. It is always worthwhile to look for another ATM, especially if the withdrawal amount exceeds €2-3. Most of the time, such private ATMs are located at airports, but they can also be found outside.

General safety tips

Safe online ordering – tips

When reserving accommodation or a car, be extra careful. Try to book in reliable reservation systems. Feel free to ask for advice and recommendations from more traveling friends, in communities of people who travel, or directly from Traveling with Children.

In its articles, “Traveling with children” presents proven safe reservation systems. If necessary, we can recommend or advise individually or direct where to look for such information.

Nowadays, the so-called scam is a very common case. The vast majority of travel bookings are now made online. The biggest danger is fake third-party websites posing as legitimate accommodation or car rental operators or systems.

Our recommendation is to book in secure reservation systems, carefully check little-known and unfamiliar systems. Contact them, look for reviews. Reserve hotels, cars, tours in proven systems recommended by reliable sources.

Keep your personal and important belongings safe

Try not to take expensive jewelry and extremely valuable items and documents on trips. If you have already decided to go with expensive things for this reason, keep them in the hotel or apartment safe when you are not using them.

Will you be traveling by rental car? Never leave important items and documents in the car, even if you stop for a short time – you can lose them very quickly and without noticing.

When visiting touristic places, on excursions, always try to be very careful, keep the most expensive things with you in front. Under no circumstances put them in a backpack that you carry on your back. Be careful even in places where you feel safe.

We wish you safe travels. We all do – both “Traveling with children” and myTU does. This article is published in the myTU blog too.

myTU is a partner of “Travels with children ®”.

Simplify your everyday gift shopping with the whole family by using myTU Lithuania mobile banking. Parents can conveniently use free financial services, and from the age of 7, open a mobile phone account for their children as well.