Staying safe abroad when traveling with youngsters

Allianz Global Assistance says in a useful article when you are overseas and need a replacement passport quickly that the more information you can provide, the faster the process will go -- documentation of your upcoming flights or train tickets, photo ID and a copy of your missing passport (keep one in your phone). You may be able to get an expedited, limited passport if you are traveling immediately, which you will need to replace when you return home.

Daniel Durazo, a spokesman for Allianz Global Assistance USA, notes that travel insurance policies that cover travel delay coverage can pay for extra expenses incurred while waiting to obtain new travel documents. (The company's new Travel Smart app has a lot of useful information, from local emergency numbers to translating the names of medications abroad.)

Comparison site InsureMyTrip is forecasting an increase in demand for travel insurance because of travelers' growing concerns about terrorism. They publish a comprehensive directory of current travel alerts and warnings. As I learned firsthand, travel insurance is also a good bet for families because it will cover out-of-pocket expenses when someone gets injured or ill away from home or you have to cancel the trip.

Wherever you are going, be mindful of what's happening around you! If I'd been, I wouldn't have gotten my passport lifted. People let down their guard on vacation at exactly the time they shouldn't -- me included!

Don't carry all of your cards and cash with you. Don't carry all of the passports together either. And most important, be mindful of what is going on around you.

Enroll in the State Department's free STEP program, an app that not only pushes notifications to you of travel safety at your destination but stores your contact information in case of emergency.

Don't disregard warnings -- that's one reason more families are opting for trips outside major European cities, suggests Greg Witt, the CEO of Alpenwild, which offers tours in the Alps and has seen an increase in family travel.

You can read country specific information pages, travel warnings and travel alerts on travel.state.gov, the Canadian Travel Advice and Advisories and the U.K.’s Foreign Travel Advice pages. It's easy enough to shift your plans when the State Department urges caution.

On May 1, the State Department issued a Europe Travel Alert noting "... Extremists continue to focus on tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, and local government facilities as viable targets. In addition, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, high-profile events, educational institutions, airports, and other soft targets remain priority locations for possible attacks."

With the U.S. dollar so strong, many Americans -- including my family -- are planning trips to Europe. We're just more aware than we might have been in the past -- about pickpockets, too.

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow "taking the kids" on www.twitter.com, where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments.)