Tips for the Forgetful Traveler
At some point it’s bound to happen:
As you are rushing around to check out of your hotel room, you leave your iPod behind. Or, while you’re reaching into your briefcase, it tips over and you don’t notice that you cell phone has spilled out. Or, you reach for your credit card and can’t find it, then realize you left it at the restaurant the night before. Or, when you get home, you reach for your camera to download those photos, and can’t find in anywhere.
Ever happen to you? If so, you know the feeling of sheer panic that runs through you as you try to backtrack your movements to figure out where to start looking for your gadgets.
Here are some ideas to help curb your forgetfulness, or to retrieve your items is you can’t shake that habit.
In a hotel:
- Pack the night before your departure. You’ll be less rushed, and in the morning before dashing out the door, you’ll have fewer items to remember.
- Leave your electronic items in the same place, every time. I use my cell phone as an alarm, and I always put it in the same place. It’s become a habit, and I don’t forget it.
- Do one last check before walking out the door. Open drawers, closets, check in the bathroom.
Credit Cards:
- Keep them in the same place in your wallet or purse ALL the time. That way a quick glance will reassure you that you have them, and you don’t have to go searching through everything looking for it.
- If you’re really forgetful, consider the Card Beeper ($26), a sheath to protect your credit card. When you remove the card from the sheath, it emits a beeping sound at 20-second intervals, until you return it to its proper place.
Electronics:
- Limit your travel electronics to what you need for the trip. Packing less means remembering less.
- Label everything. Just using a name won’t help. Use an address or phone number (business numbers are recommended over home) so that anyone finding your gadgets will have a way to contact you and return the item.
- Consider Trackitback, a lost and found service where you can register all your electronic gadgets. You get a label with an identification number to go on each of your devices, and if the item is found, the finder calls a Trackitback phone number and the convenient return process begins.
One final tip: Remember the Golden Rule. If you find a lost item, do your part to return it to its owner. Ignoring it, misappropriating it, or just assuming someone else will take care of it, will all lead to very bad karma.
Tags: flight+attendants, Hotels, travel, vacationRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Travel Tips
2 opinions for Tips for the Forgetful Traveler
Astroprof
May 26, 2006 at 9:10 am
A checklist also helps if you are forgetful. At very high altitudes (like many observatories), the lack of oxygen makes you forgetful (and people thought that astronomers are just spaced out!), so many use a checklist of even the most basic things. That way you don’t forget something simple.
Also, when I am only going to be spending one night, I often don’t take anything more than I have to out of my overnight bag or briefcase, and I replace what I take out. That way, there is not much laying around when I get ready to leave.
Mary Jo Manzanares
May 26, 2006 at 10:18 am
Spoken like a scientist, and not a Flight Attendant.
I think we are genetically programmed to have to have everything with us — just in case. And most of us spread out stuff all over the room. Even when it’s just for one night.
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