(Lebanon, N.H. – February 26, 2024) Overpacking is by far the biggest traveler mistake, according to the world’s most experienced travelers responding to the 2024 Winter Global Rescue Traveler Sentiment and Safety Survey. More than a third of respondents (35%) said overpacking was their biggest travel mistake.

Harding Bush, associate director of operations at Global Rescue, advises travelers to “pack light, and buy what you need there.” While overpacking continues to be a persistent traveler mistake, the improvement has been substantial since February 2020, immediately before the pandemic when three-out-of-four survey respondents (75%) said overpacking was the biggest mistake travelers make.

Ambitious itineraries and failing to schedule free time during trips are frequent mistakes among travelers. In 2020, before the pandemic, 40% of respondents admitted creating ambitious itineraries that did not include free time landed in second place on the list of biggest traveler mistakes. Last year, the percentage decreased and only 28% of respondents said their itineraries were too ambitious and they did not plan or schedule free time. In 2024, significant improvement continues. According to the survey results, only 9% said having an overly ambitious itinerary was their biggest mistake, placing third on the list of top 10 traveler mistakes.

Bush advises travelers to plan a trip that aligns with your travel style and interests, making sure to prioritize what is important to you. “You don’t need to do what others say to do. But you must accept that you won’t see everything and that is okay,” he said.

While overpacking and ambitious travel itineraries remain among the top mistakes travelers make, the percentage of people making those errors is dropping meaningfully. But other mistakes abound, some familiar and a few new ones.

Today, the second most reported traveler mistake was flying with connections instead of nonstop, an error that had not made the list in any past survey. Twelve percent of survey respondents said air travel that required stopovers or layovers was an error to avoid in the future. Despite the inconvenience of airline travel staff shortages, most survey respondents (66%) did not cancel any trips in 2023 and more than a third (38%) did not postpone any travel plans.

Before the pandemic, more than a third of travelers (38%) reported that forgetting to obtain medical or security travel protection was their biggest mistake, ranking third in the top 10 most common mistakes made by travelers. In 2024, the percentage of travelers who said they forgot to get medical or security travel protection plummeted to 1%, placing tenth on the list.

Forgetting an international plug adapter, leaving prescription medicine behind, failing to change phone data plan, and drinking or using unsafe water have each remained on the top 10 list of biggest traveler mistakes since before the pandemic, all garnering low, single-digit responses.

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Contact Bill McIntyre at bmcintyre@globalrescue.com or +1 (202) 560-1195 (phone/text) for more information.

About the Global Rescue Traveler Sentiment and Safety Survey

Global Rescue, the leading travel risk and crisis response provider, surveyed more than 1,500 of its current and former members between January 25-30, 2024. The respondents revealed a variety of behaviors, attitudes and preferences regarding current and future travel.

About Global Rescue

The Global Rescue Companies are the world’s leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services to enterprises, governments and individuals. Founded in 2004, Global Rescue has exclusive relationships with the Johns Hopkins Emergency Medicine Division of Special Operations and Elite Medical Group. Global Rescue provides best-in-class services that identify, monitor and respond to client medical and security crises. Global Rescue has provided medical and security support to its clients, including Fortune 500 companies, governments and academic institutions, during every globally significant crisis of the last two decades. For more information, visit www.globalrescue.com.