How To Secure Pockets When Travelling

Photo by Michael Sheehan in Wikipedia.

The ideal travelling jacket has outside pockets for quick access to unimportant or not valuable items such as handkerchieves and combs, but secure inner pockets for money and credit cards and identity cards or passports.

If you don't have the time or money, some inexpensive items can be bought new or second hand. Search for photographer's jacket, fishing jacket, travelling jacket and pockets. Other words such as gilet may bring up more results. I check Amazon, Ebay, Pick pocet proof clothing.

You can also find belts with pockets at camping shops and ski and outdoor wear shops.

If the clothes you order on line have pockets which are not secure, or you have clothes which you love, but want to add security, here are some options.

1 Wear a belt with a zip compartment under your jacket.

2 Make a belt with a zip. Cut a wide hem off a long dress or old coat or old coat or jacket lining.  fold it horizontally and before seaming it up, add a zip in the middle.

 3 Secure all the pockets on all garments you intend to wear whilst travlling and clothes you are packing to wear at the destination.

When buying bags and tote bags, look for zips and press studs or Velcro (touch and loop closure).

Inserting a zip is easy. Decide where you want the pull part to be and pin or safety pin that in place. Decide if you want the zip visible or hidden half an inch inside. Sew down both sides of the zip. Secure the end by sewing across.

No time? No Zip?

Use a small zipped fabric toiletry bag. One you already own or buy a cheap zipped bag. Sew it inside a tote bag. Remove the inner pockets from a garment you were throwing away and keep them in a sewing box and add them to your travel garments.

Do you have a garment with false zips, ones which actually work but have no pockets behind them? Add a pocket behind. The simplest pocket is just a square sewn up on three sides.

Useful Websites
amazon
ebay
pickpocketproof clothing
https://www.facebook.com/ClothingArts
https://www.clothingarts.com/

About the author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer.

Holiday protection and the collapse of Thomas Cook - what safeguards can you take

When booking a holiday, check what safeguards are in place to protect yourself and your money. Have a plan B.

Various schemes could protect you.
ATOL - for flights and more
ABTA holidays without flights
Credit card
Debit card

Always have a book or activity to keep yourself happily occupied  in case you are delayed for hours at an airport.

See later post on stranded.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7496085/Thomas-Cook-Q-Im-abroad-trying-home.html

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Woman Overboard, Delays, Compensation - Is This Good News?

Problem
A woman fell or jumped overboard from a cruise ship off Croatia in August 2018. She was miraculously rescued ten hours later. Ten hours in the water! On Facebook a friend reported that somebody was claiming compensation for two days delay in Venice. The comment was, Lucky or not.

Lucky for the woman being picked up from the water. However, as for the delay, at first sight it could be good news for some.

What could go wrogn, go wrong, go wrong?
I wrote:

Lucky to sit in the sun. Lucky to postpone going home. Not so lucky if you have to sit all day in the hall waiting for the call, because the coach to a ferry or plane or muster point might collect you any time they arrange it.

I remember one year when we were on a flight from the USA at Xmas. We were on an American airline leaving American soil, so we knew our rights for compensation, or at least our fellow passengers did. On a flgight into the USA, or on another airline from outside the USA, the rules might be different. Check the latest.

The flight was overbooked and the airline staff made repeated requests for volunteers to be bumped. The compensation was a free flight. Plus, of course, a free night in an airport or city suburb or city centre hotel, but we were in transit, in a cold city, where good restaurants were all fully booked, and would miss a day of our short Xmas break in the Caribbean by the beach.

As the compensation increased, still not enough volunteers. As our hours of delay increased, I asked the people next to me why they had not rushed to volunteer. You'd think there would be a Ruby scrum of people fighting to get the free return ticket.

I heard these stories:
1 'I can't extend my long weekend break and take time off next week. I'm a surgeon and have operations booked. I would lose a lot of money, lose my reputation for reliability, and endanger seriously sick people.'

2 'I don't want to lose a day of my holiday. I can't take another day off. I am a teacher. I have to be back in school teaching my class. I can't abandon 30 children and upset them and their parents and the head teacher organizing a supply teacher, which costs the school more money.' (Again, she had to consider her own reputation for reliability, not to take a free holiday at the expense of being responsible to the pupils, parents, and staff.)

3 I am seeing my fiancee for a long weekend. We haven't seen each other for months. We had a special celebratory dinner planned for tomorrow. We'd miss the dinner and we wouldn't get our money back for the missed dinner.

4 What makes you think they will get you on tomorrow's flight? It will be overbooked like this one - with all the extra passengers bumped off today's flight as well?

We ended up getting a free flight.

On another occasion we were unavoidably delayed coming back from a beach resort to our home city. It sounded great. Unfortunately, I was dressed for the destination, Cold London, England, at Christmas. So I was plodding around a tropical hotel in boots and long socks, warm clothes and a coat.

The swimming pool looked lovely.

However, I had no swimsuit.

We had spent all our cash at the airport. At the hotel, for small items we could not pay with a credit card.

From then on we always made sure to carry onto planes: spare underwear, a swimsuit, and a book to read. I don't spend every last cent. I keep it for the next journey.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Please share links to your favourite posts.)

Hurricane and Disaster Packing and Preventing Damage

Problem
How do you prepare for a storm or hurricane.

Answer
At last, a comprehensive sensible plan in one place.

Much of it is common sense but it takes time and effort to organize and you need a list. A hurricane is not a holiday. It's bad enough on holiday to find you don't have enough money, food, or drinking water, sunglasses or underwear.

Which tips do I like the most? What do I remember.

Clothes:
Hats
Boots - waterproof boots for wading.
Socks - Quick dry synthetic fabrics. Spare socks.
Gloves - heavy duty gardening gloves for removing debris without getting hands scratched.
Clothes - layers for all weathers.

Bags
Folding carry bag in pocket. Bags for food.
Sealed boxes like Tupperware.
Insulated bags for hot or cold food or to keep food from insects and bears.
Drinking bottle.

Securing Your Property:
The fact that people die from drowning and flying objects. One of the first tips is:
1 Bring in objects such as children's toys from the garden.

Another is to:
2 Secure windows. Keep away from windows during storms to avoid flying glass.
3 Pull curtains. (So looters can't see tempting objects and flying glass is contained.

Prepare a
1 Go bag.
2 Sufficient water and food for three days for every member of the family including babies and pets.
3 Any family medicines, prescriptions and a first aid kit.
4 Torch (Americans say flashlight)
5 Originals or copies of ID, passports, credit cards, bank account numbers, birth certificate, driving license, and marriage certificate, and
6 INSURANCE DOCUMENTS - car, health, household, life, whatever.
7 Prescription for replacement varifocal glasses.
8 Binoculars. (Or use camera to take photos of distant objects and increase size.)

On a holiday you might leave documents and valuables behind. When evacuating a building which could be looted or destroyed you are more likely to need documents and valuables.

Just like a day or weekend trip:
Travel and Accommodation
1 Plan your route out.
2 Book your night's accommodation.
3 Have a backup plan if the accommodation is full. (Know the local evacuation centre.)

Communication
1 Have a family member out of state for everybody to call.
2 Have a radio.
3 Don't use landlines with wires during lightning strikes.
4 Keep pets nearby so you don't have to chase around hunting for them.
5 Fully charged phone. Adapters and plugs, and adapter plugging into car cigarette lighter to charge phone.
6 When email and phone won't work, a text message may be quicker and easier to get through.

6 Car -
1 Near house
2 Covered - in garage. So it won't get damaged, blocked in, float off, hurl itself against the house or people.
3 Garage key and car key handy. Maybe in your jacket pocket, either jacket pocket you are wearing or on hook beside front door and everybody else in house knows where.

In case you are trapped in the house:
1 Mobile phone in your pocket.
2 Ski jacket with built in wearer locator device used in avalanches.
3 Cereal bar in pocket or hiker's energy bars.
4 Phone alarm in pocket set to ring hourly or old fashioned alarm clock to ring hourly to tell dogs and searchers where you are if you are too weak to keep shouting or are unconscious.
5 Army dog tag or necklace with your name - you may have an old one in your jewellery box.

You might want to invest in:
1 Ski jacket with wearer finder.
2 Phone with printer attached. (Use it to take a selfie and print a photo for a new identity document.)
3 Window in roof to escape or wave flag to signal you need help during flooding.

Train Children
How to phone for help. Information to give: Your name. Condition of adults. Location of house. Location of your place inside house. Nearest outside door. Dangers. Help needed. Advice needed while waiting for help.
Place notices on help lines and evacuation centres by phone and front and back doors and beds.
Lock guard dogs away to prevent them from attacking or deterring rescuers entering house.

Medicines
Divide medicines into two.
You may need medicine boxes to show the hospital pharmacy which medicines you take.
On the other hand, some of my local hospitals throw away all medicines brought in by patients. Why? Costs you money. Sounds outrageous. means you have no pills when you get home. Why do they do it? Because they have previously had trouble with patients bringing in pills.
To prevent:
Patients forgetfully taking double doses by taking hospital pills plus their own.
taking pills whose contents increase the dose or counteract other ingredients in the hospital given pills
suicidal patients in pain taking the whole bottle of pills
visiting children thinking pills are sweets and eating them
pills taken at times not recorded by staff
patients with Alzheimers saying they just took the pill when they didn't.

Tips
https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/how-prepare-stay-safe-tropical-storm-or-hurricane-ncna796676

Author
Angela Lansbury

Instant Indonesian and Malay Language

If you go to Indonesia the language you see is the same as the language in Malaysia. If you go to Malaysia the language is the same as in Indonesia. If you go to Singapore, the four languages are English, Mandarin (Chinese), Tamil, Malay. You will see the Malay words on your train carriage and bus and at the airport. Your Malay Muslim taxi driver will appreciate hearing a few words of Malay.

Even if you don't know enough to speak fluently, you can point to written words, understand answer, follow what staff are calling to each other in restaurants and hotels, or asking at reception. If you are doing business, when you don't speak enough to converse, it helps to know roughly what people are saying, whether you will reach an agreement, stop for coffee, whether you are being praised, ignored, or insulted whether the man who is angry and leaving the room in mid-meeting has just heard there is a bomb scare, or a pizza delivery, or his pen has run out of ink.

Problem
How do I learn Malay or Indonesian in a hurry or easily?

Answer
Start with these words:
1 Words you often see on signs. (1 Because they are needed. 2 Because the frequent repetition will help you remember.)
2 Words which are identical or so similar in both languages that they are easy to recognise and remember.
3 Words which are essential.

Tips - words which are similar in English and Malay / Indonesian
Bahasa Malay (Malay Language) - English
a m b u l a n s - ambulance
apel - apples
apotek - chemist
bank - bank
b i r - beer
b o t o l - bottle
cartu credit - credit card
d o k t e r - doctor
d u a - two (as in "a duo" or 'dual citizenship")
Halo - hello
j a k e t - jacket
k a m e r a - camera
k a r t u - card
k a r t u p o s - postcard
kilo - kilo
komisinya - commission
k o n s e r - concert
lift - lift
m a n g g a - mango
melon - melon
mobile - car (not a mobile phone but a vehicle which keeps you mobile or moving)
nama - name
orang - person (as in orang u t a n g )
p a s p o r -passport
p i l - pill
p o l i s i - police
Pon sterling - pound sterling
p o s - post
rekening - bill/reckoning
tomat - tomatoes
turis - tourist
W.C. - toilet
ya - yes

English - Malay
Ambulance - a m b u l a n s
apple - a p e l (spaces inserted to thwart auto spell check)
bank - bank
beer - b i r
bottle - b o t o l
camera - k a m e r a
card - K a r t u
concert - k o n s e r
bill/reckoning - rekening
car - mobil
chemist (UK) or pharmacy (USA) - apotek
commission - Komisinya
credit card - k a r t u k r e d i t
doctor - d o k t e r
hello - halo
jacket - j a k e t
kilo - kilo
lift
mango - m a n g g a
melon - melon
name - nama
passport - p a s p o r
pill - p i l
police - p o l i s i
post - p o s
postcard - k a r t u p o s
pound sterling - pon sterling
toilet - w.c.
tourist - turis
two - d u a (as in dual citizenship or a duo)
tomatoes - tomat
yes - ya

Tip - Spelling
As you may have noticed, in Malay and Indonesian the letter c or ck with a hard coughing sound are show by the letter K.



Angela Lansbury, author and speaker. Books on Amazon and Lulu.com . Please like my posts, follow and share.

Why Have Photos Disappeared From My Blog?

Problem
Photos are not loading onto my blog on blogger.com . Why.

Answer
I am getting a pop up message saying I have exceeded my photo allowance, not just on blogger.com but on Google.

Story
I thought this might be a scam. Before paying anybody anything on line, I check with family and friends, and on the internet. My family assured me that this request was genuine. Basically, it's like everything else on line. You are offered a certain amount of free usage. They hope that you will become hooked and eventually want to, or be forced to, pay more for greater use of the service.

You might take the view that you will do everything to avoid making the leap and start again elsewhere.

Or, you might take the view that you are getting great value from the service. If you are running a business, the cost is coming off against tax.

For me, the next problem is payment. Which credit cards and which password. You may have to wait some time until I sort this out.

Tips
First check with colleagues whether the person demanding money is genuine.
Clear clutter so you are not paying for websites you no longer need.
Then get your business credit cards and passwords sorted so when and if you decide to pay you are ready.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, author and speaker.

Reciprocal Club Membership: American Clubs, Tanglin and others

If you belong to a club in one country you can find a list of reciprocal clubs in another country.

In a city full of museums and attractions you might want to be out seeing the sights, not sitting in a private club. Why would you want to visit a club?

A city you have visited many times before - you no longer want to be amongst the jostling crowds. You just want peace and quiet.

A place to wait for your friends who are busy with business meetings or cannot say what time they will arrive.

You want to take your local friends somewhere they don't already know.

First, get a list of clubs which have reciprocal arrangements at your destination. Then email or visit your club's office and ask for a letter of introduction.

Your club might send a copy to the club you are visiting.

Restrictions may apply.

For example, the American Club in Hong Kong says you may visit only twice in one year, for visits of up to a fortnight.

That doesn't affect me, but it's a bit disappointing. In the old days I was under the impression that if you were a member of a club, but missed out by being half the year at a home or business in a second country, instead you could use one of the reciprocal clubs. After all, they are benefitting from your spend in their restaurants.

The other question is, can you actually make use of the facilities? My prime reason for going to the American Club in Hong Kong would be to use their swimming pool, because we are not staying at a hotel but with a friend in a small apartment.

If the club says you can use the restaurant but not the pool, and all we get is the chance to sit at a restaurant beside a pool or overlooking a bay we might be better off going to a hotel with swimming pool.

Another factor is that when visiting the other other club you have to remember to take along your letter of introduction and your passport. I don't want to travel around Hong Kong carrying my passport. I had my bag and passport stolen in Singapore. It took days of going back and forwards to the embassy to get a temporary passport, then in the UK to get a permanent one, plus money to obtain both the temporary one week passport and the replacement permanent passport.

In Hong Kong there are two American Clubs, both on the main area, although one is called a town club and the other a country club. I looked at them and the Country Club seems to be the one with the pool.

If you are a member of a club you normally show your card and sign the bill and get sent a monthly bill to settle. As a visiting member you will have to pay by cash, or credit card.
You might want to check the method of payment, whether they accept American Express cards, and if you can have a bill for tax purposes if you are entertaining a business guest.

At the American club in Singapore I used to go to the Ladies Bridge game, which was weekly,(men could attend - I once took my visiting father who was in his eighties - the price including the simple buffet lunch. I also went the Tanglin Club mixed sex bridge game, where the price included a tea.

At some events, if you did not arrive early, you missed the food. At other events, if you rushed off early, you missed the food.

You might be disappointed and find that you can attend only one restaurant. On the other hand, you might make a friend of one of the members. They might be happy to take you to the facilities as their sign in guest, and you can reciprocate by paying cash or inviting them to dinner elsewhere another day or another week, or in your home country, or continue by drinking or coffee the same day at a venue outside the club.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.