Emergency preparedness checklist for travellers

Before you leave: documents

The most common travel emergency is not an accident. It is a lost passport, a stolen bag or a medical bill.

1. Photograph your passport photo page, visa, and travel insurance policy
2. Store them somewhere retrievable offline, not buried in a camera roll
3. Email a copy to yourself so it exists somewhere other than the device you might lose
4. Note your insurance emergency assistance number — this is usually different from the general customer number
5. Record your embassy or consulate details for each country on your route

Learn the emergency number, properly

911 is North America. 112 works across the European Union and, on many networks, redirects sensibly elsewhere. 999 is the UK, 000 is Australia, 119 and 110 split between services in parts of East Asia. There is no universal number, and guessing wastes time.

Look up the number for every country on your itinerary before you go, and note whether police, ambulance and fire are separate numbers — in many countries they are.

Sort out connectivity before you need it

Decide deliberately how your phone will work abroad, rather than discovering it at the airport.

• Check whether your plan includes roaming, and specifically whether outgoing SMS is included — some prepaid plans exclude it
• If you are buying a local SIM or eSIM, know that your usual number stops receiving texts, including two-factor codes
• Download offline maps for each destination before you leave, on Wi-Fi
• Save any address you will need — hotel, embassy — as text rather than a link that needs data

The two-factor point catches people regularly. Swapping to a local SIM can lock you out of your own bank at the moment you most need it. Set up an authenticator app rather than SMS codes before you travel.

Medical preparation

• Carry medications in original labelled packaging, with a copy of the prescription
• Check whether any of your medication is restricted or illegal at your destination — this is more common than people expect
• Know the generic name of anything you take, not just the brand — brand names differ between countries
• Record allergies somewhere a stranger could find them, ideally in a form that survives a language barrier
• Check vaccination requirements well in advance; some need weeks

A communication plan

Agree with someone at home how often you will check in and what they should do if you do not.

1. Share your itinerary, including flight numbers and accommodation
2. Agree a check-in cadence — daily is plenty for most trips
3. Agree explicitly what a missed check-in means, and at what point they act
4. Account for time zones so a missed message is not just you being asleep
5. Make sure they have your passport details and insurance number

The evening you arrive

1. Confirm the emergency number for the country you are now actually in
2. Note the address of your accommodation in the local language — a screenshot works
3. Locate the nearest hospital with an emergency department
4. Check that your downloaded map covers the area you are staying in
5. Send the first check-in message so the pattern is established

Writing your accommodation address in the local script is a small thing that repeatedly turns out to matter — for taxi drivers, for police, and for anyone helping you get back.