Follow these simple tips to travel safe this holiday season!

With the holiday season at its peak, International SOS has issued guidelines for travellers to stay healthy and have safe and secure trips, which include minimizing weather-related disruptions and avoiding road dangers.

Senior Vice-President for Medical Services at International SOS, Myles Druckman said that travel during the holiday season and into 2014 is expected to be busier and more challenging than last year, especially for those going to more remote and exotic destinations.

In order to minimize the travel risks, the company suggests that one must be always prepared in advance for everything, from restaurants to medical and security threats.

For international travel, a personal should know the schedule, have access to good maps, learn a few phrases in the local language and research any issues in advance and must follow the news for the area one is headed to.

Another commonsense guideline is to check if communicating is smooth from and to the place one is traveling to. Basic things like cellphone's ability to make international calls to the way of contacting the global travel assistance provider must be kept in check.

Informing the family and friends about the place one is traveling to is equally crucial and it is also a good idea to leave copies of travel documents like passport and itinerary with friends or family.

Before leaving for a new place, one must be sure of their personal health. For example, travellers to high-risk countries are six times more likely to be hospitalized than in less risky destinations, as revealed by a recent research.

One must also do thorough research about places where foreigners can be an easy target of thieves, terrorism or natural disasters, along with checking if the medical insurance provider covers medical expenses in a foreign country.