Interview with the Author and Travel Expert of Travel Smart Blog – Nicole Hockin

X

Hi! Hola! Previt! Bon Jour! Ciao! Guten Tag! Sign up Now! for fun info on traveling to Latin America!

Nicole Hockin is a travel veteran & author of Travel Smart Blog that loves giving travel advice, tips & recommendations to her readers.

I had the great pleasure of interviewing her and getting some tips, that were completely new to me and will now be applied to ALL my travels!

Hi Nicole! Thanks so much for joining me today.

It’s great to be here, thanks for having me!

Can you tell me a little about your background. How did you begin in travel as a business?

I grew up traveling. I come from a family of travelers so I’ve been exposed to it from the beginning. I went to journalism school and have been working in public relations for many tour companies & hotels for the last 10 years helping them with marketing & communicating what they need. This helped me understand how these companies work and now I am able to share that with consumers as well as my love of travel.

You are saying you have worked with all these companies so can you tell me is it mainly from the PR aspect of advertising, marketing, social media, and other forms. What exactly was it that you did for them?

It’s been marketing & communications from the PR side. I was the manager of marketing & communications for websites like hotels.com for a couple of years. I was also the manager of public relations for travelweb.com which back then was a contortion of 5 of the largest hotel chains.

And now are you focusing more on the traveling issues & safety or is it just a part of what you are offering?

Now I’m the author of travelsmartblog.com. That is my way of communicating to consumers & offering everything about travel. For instance talking about destinations, what they offer and must sees, plus travel safety.

Right now let’s focus on travel safety: We all know that travel safety is extremely crucial. However, bad things happen no matter what, from crime to different kinds of illness. So let’s start with: what is your take on illnesses when you travel? What is your advice for travelers getting ill somewhere away from home?

It depends on where you are but if it’s at your hotel the first thing I would do is to let the hotel know what is going on. It is also a good idea to let the hotel know where you ate and if you know exactly where it was that you got the illness.

In most hotels they have an on-call doctor for emergencies, if not tell them that you need urgent medical support and that you need an ambulance.

Another important thing is that if you are traveling outside of the US you should register you trip with the Department of State or your Country’s Embassy so that when things happen you can have quick and easy help.

So you are saying that travelers should contact the embassy as soon as possible after you have talked to the doctor?

I would advice to register with your Embassy before you leave on your trip so they have all your information. The Department of State has this program called smart traveler enrollment program (STEP) where they assist US citizens if they get sick, lose their passports, get their wallet stolen, etc. They can guide you in terms of what to do and where to go. Even if you don’t have an emergency they can give you tips and updates of where you are traveling to.

Can you explain to me how does STEP works? It sounds very interesting.

It’s an easy thing that you can do inline. It is also a free service provided by the US Government for US citizens while they are traveling or living on a different country. The best time to do this is before you leave so they can give you a better service if there is an emergency. The website is https://travelregistration.state.gov/ibrs/ui/.

Now about crime: What can we do to prevent & deal or to handle crime whenever we travel?

First of all don’t make yourself a victim and don’t make yourself a target. Before going to foreign country you have to figure out how people dress over there? How can I not stand out so much? How do people travel over there? It is different in every country so you have to do your homework before you travel.

But whatever you do and wherever you go there is no guarantee that you will be 100% safe. So I recommend leaving all your bank account information so someone at home can get you money or put your account on hold in case of an emergency you can also leave them your insurance information.

But most importantly always travel with a purpose. Having things planned and letting people know where you are going and what you are going to do helps too. Have fun but be cautious!

What’s your take on travel insurance?

I was not a huge fan of travel insurance until last year with the eruption of the volcano in Iceland. There were all this people stuck in Europe and the ones that got travel insurance were able to get back the cost of being stuck for a week or so. That made me realize it is great for situations when events out of your control occur while you are traveling or even before your travels. You can get one at such a minimal cost and it will help you recuperate the cost of your trip.

Thank you Nicole for this great info. And I know it’s your anniversary coming up and you are going to Rome. I hope you have a super time and most importantly a safe and healthy trip! Looking forward to hearing all about it.

It was my pleasure, Marina, and I’ll definitely tell you all about it once I get back! Thank you for having me.

Follow Nicole on Twitter!