Many of us our fond of lists, especially when preparing for a big international trip.
Whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, you may make a list of the pants you need, the shoes you want, and of course, the proverbial toothbrush. You don’t want to “forget anything,” and so you make lists. These days, you may also want to have an international travel security checklist, or if you are an HR administrator or manager, you may want to share a list of essential travel security todos with your employees or subordinates. As experts in international security, we conduct organizational security aspects (especially but not only focused on international travel security). Here are some pointers to some of the better international travel security lists out there.
- Travelers Checklist (US Department of State) – this isn’t so much a list, but rather a summary of publications and information bulletins provided by the US Department of State as to destination information, safety and security information by country, crisis planning, money matters, and special considerations for certain types of travelers. Of special import is to check the list of alerts and warnings by country to see if there are any warnings for your destination.
- Travel Abroad Checklist (MIT) – MIT’s International Travel Coordinating Committee provides a useful “conceptual list” starting with general issues (such as the need to have a valid passport), and moving to issues such as health, safety, mobile phones, and then as you are abroad todos such as checking in with the local US consulate or embassy. They also have an MIT International Travel Risk Policy link that helps you find information from the Department of State, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization.
- Security Tips for International Travel (UC Berkeley) – Berkeley, true to the San Francisco Bay Area’s focus on technology, provides a list of technology-centric todos (and don’ts). Here’s an interesting excerpt: ‘The best way to safeguard your data or device is to not bring them on the trip. If you don’t need to access data stored on your computer, leave your computer in a secure location at home and bring along a loaner computer instead. Consult your technical support staff to see if there’s an option to borrow a loaner computer for your trip.’
- Travel Checklist (TSA) – While we wish that the TSA did a bit better job focusing on tips that travelers should do to protect themselves, this list is nonetheless useful. It provides some information about what is allowed (and what is not) at US airports. If you’re not a frequent travel, you may wish to consult this list. That said, it isn’t particularly useful as a pro-active strategy for self-defense. It’s rather about avoiding long lines at the airport and not getting annoyed glances from frequent travelers when you’re the one with the heavily laced shoes or the person attempting to bring a 64 oz bottle of shampoo through security!
- International Travel Policy Checklist (Clements Worldwide) – this one is less for the individual traveler and more for the organization. It’s a useful checklist of food for thought for your organization and its security policy. It starts out with the incredibly obvious but important point: “This may seem like an obvious first step, but many organizations’ still allow for manager discretion which puts your staff at risk. You want to have a document that is centrally available to all employees and a protocol to ensure employees have reviewed it.”
These are just five good checklists of international security. Our hope is that they provide different types of travelers with a few pointers in the right direction. We work primarily with organizations (both businesses and nonprofits / education / government) and can help with both the audit of your international security vulnerabilities and with creating plans and procedures. If you’re interested, reach out for a consultation today.
Photo credit: Foter.com