With your preparations completed, you are ready to travel and that brings a whole new list of issues for you to consider. Some relate to security, some relate to health and some potentially relate to the difference between being alive or dead.

Home Security

Most people go away for a few weeks on holiday each year. When you are away. and your house is unattended, it is vulnerable. In the excitement of planning your holiday remember that there are some basic precautions you should take.

Deliveriesg

In everything you do, remember that you are planning to be away between given dates. Packages waiting on doorsteps are tempting to a casual thief, as well as advertising to a whole range of people that you are not at home and may not be around for a few days.

Leaving Notes

No matter what the excuse, never ever leave a note on the door. Notes such as ‘Milkman – we are on holiday – no milk until 18th August’ or perhaps ‘On holiday until 18th August ALL deliveries to Number 7 please’ are a gift to criminals. Remember, even a note saying ‘Gone to shops, back in five minutes’ may be enough to tempt a burglar.

Junk Mail And Circulars

Your letterbox and front step are important areas in maintaining your security. For a few weeks before your departure keep an eye on what is delivered. Not just the usual post and milk. It is the ‘unwanted deliveries’ that could be a problem. Free newspapers, circulars, flyers and pizza advertisements are often just dumped on the doorstep. Unfortunately, these are the deliveries that can cause you problems.

If not collected and disposed of, within a few days they could overflow your letterbox and doorstep, cascading out to blow around the garden for all to see. That is a very clear indication to everyone that you are not at home. By the time the doorstep is stacked up with this rubbish you clearly haven’t been there for some days, which will attract the attention of the local criminals.

Make sure that though you have carefully managed and cancelled all deliveries. these free deliveries don’t spoil all your good work. Where possible get somebody to check the property each day. and if possible spend a few hours there, to make the place look ‘lived in’. Remember to ask them to make absolutely sure that they secure the house when they leave though!

Central Heating

If you are going on a winter holiday you may have to leave your heating on, so that the water pipes are protected from frost damage. A low setting will not use too much fuel, but it will prevent the pipes from freezing and keep the house safe and comfortable for your return.

Lights On Timers

While away, try to make the house look as occupied and lived in as possible. Any action you can take to make it appear as though somebody is around will be an extra deterrent to a criminal who could be considering attacking your house.

A number of manufacturers supply electrical timers. They plug into an electrical socket and you can plug a light or other device into them. The timers then work off the electricity and at set times programmed by you they will switch the device plugged into them on and off. So you can make a light come on and go off at times you have set.

The better electrical timers have a battery backup function. Without the battery. in a power cut the timer could lose its programmed operation and stop working, or carry on working with a clock that was running a few hours late. That could make lights go off and on in the early hours of the morning, which would attract the attention of criminals rather than put them off.