Yes I am guilty of the worst travel mistake. I wore special earrings on a trip; these were more than special. They were created from diamonds of my mother’s wedding ring. In the cabin of our Ponant ship, I lost an earring and regret it deeply. Tip One: do not bring important jewelry on a trip!

When traveling, you will misplace and probably permanently lose things. Fatigue, unfamiliar surroundings, excitement, jet lag all contribute to lack of concentration. One expert stated 80% of travelers will lose something on a trip. I left a Mac computer at JFK’s TSA, a back pillow in a Dubai hotel. I dropped UK Pounds in a taxi. We all have moments; but you can limit losses with a few practices. (PS at JFK, security had the computer. They asked me to go on; when the screen said Hello Phyllis, we all laughed and they returned it.

No 1 Create a routine for your travel possessions.  The night before you leave, put your packed suitcase and carry on in the same spot of your home. Store cash, credit cards, passport, medicine in the same carry on and place next to the baggage. Always file documents in the same order. Any change in a departure routine can be dangerous. See below. (Always move your old passport to storage so you don’t grab it. Expired passports have a hole punched through but are still easy to mistake).

No 2  Paperwork is easy to store. Simple method: copy documents and carry on. Less simple but smarter: photo documents with a smart phone, file in photos which are automatically in chronological order.  Professional: take photos, label them and create a file for the trip.

After using any paperwork, put items back into the same place and in the same order. In other words don’t pop a passport into a coat pocket thinking you’ll put it away in a few minutes. Same with medicine, almost as you swallow, put medicine back where you hold it

Some paperwork cannot be in photo form. Some entry visas must be hard copy; India for example. Vaccine certificates? Prescriptions?

No 3  Moving around during the trip. Before you leave home and at each step of the trip, check credit cards and cash again put in the same order. Some foreign cash, British Pounds are an example, are slippery and hard to secure. Warning: most old European cash is invalid and no longer convertible. Give it to your grandchildren.

Luggage: before you leave home, count every item you intend to bring: suitcase, carry on bag, personal item like purse, backpack, money belt, coat, hat, gloves. Force that number into your brain. From place to place in your journey, do a count down in the same order. This is especially critical if you are using a new bag or anything not in your travel brain. The first time I used it, I abandoned a  brand new pack back at my front door. Don’t ask the cost of a return trip from JFK to Manhattan and back again. And yes it was bright green and I still left it.

If you are transiting especially from one airline to another, consider investing in an air tag. Tags need charged batteries. These tags saved my son’s lost luggage in Paris.  He had a cancelled and rebooked flight. The first flight was on BA; the new one on Air France. He was able to find all 5 bags in Air France’s ‘lost luggage’ warehouse with the beeps from his air tags.

Boring things are a synch to leave behind.  Bathroom products like the toothbrush left on the sink, or conditioner in the shower, the ring you removed to wash hands. Pills! As you finish with each bathroom item, repack it promptly. That way your pile shrinks to only the last few iobjects easier to view.  Do not leave that hotel room until you check the safe, bathroom, inside the shower, the closet, around and under the bedding and all electric outlets.  (Put the hotel key in the same place in every hotel room so you can find it with a fast exit).

Here is the last trap: the hook in a public bathroom stall. We rush to get out of public bathrooms; it is easy to leave something on the hook. I did it in Mexico City Airport; the wonderful cleaner same running out with my bag, whew…. it had my life in it and I left it hanging in the stall.

It is not stupid to create check lists for all of the above.  My final paperwork system is to put a note on the hotel room dresser: Empty safe. Tip maid.  Check bathroom, bedding, outlets, closet and floor. Locate room key.