The two most common travel times are during the summer or winter holidays when families can spend some time away from home together. Of course, the point of any vacation is to have fun, relax and get away from it all, but it is important to take a few safety precautions to make sure your trip and return home is trouble-free.
Prepare For Departure
Getting ready for a vacation involves choosing a destination, reserving a hotel, making travel arrangements and packing for the journey. But there are several other things you should do as well. Before you leave for any trip, make sure that a friend or trusted neighbor knows where you are going and how long you will be gone. That way if you are not back when you should be, they will have an idea that something may be wrong. Give them an emergency contact number in case they need to reach you. Ask them to drop by your home now and then to check on it, and give them a key so they can get inside.
Have newspaper and mail delivery service temporarily stopped while you are away. This is done to prevent your home from looking temporarily vacated. A criminal who passes by your house and notices a full mailbox or several days’ worth of papers on the lawn will realize that you are not around, and may view it as an opportunity to break in. After you take care of these details, there are a few other tricks you can use to make the house look occupied.
Fool A Burglar
Every criminal looks for an easy target, so a burglar watches for a home that is dark and seems to be temporarily empty. You can do a few things to give the illusion that someone is still at home. First off, just having a friend drop by now and then will be a clear sign to a potential intruder that someone has access to the house. When no one inside, you can make it appear otherwise by purchasing timers for your lights and television. These will turn on at a pre-determined time each night so someone who is stalking your house will believe somebody is home. You can also turn on a radio to a talk station to emulate the sounds of a conversation going on in case a criminal comes close enough to listen.
Just in case a burglar does get close, make sure the ringer on your phone and answering machine are turned off. A phone that is never answered will arouse suspicion, and may cause the law breaker to perform a more thorough inspection. While you’re at it, you may want to trim back any hedges that are directly in front of your house. Eliminate any possible hiding spaces that a criminal could use to remain concealed if they decide to take a closer look.