Overpacking is by far the biggest traveller mistake, according to some of the world’s most experienced travellers responding to the 2024 Winter Global Rescue Traveller Sentiment and Safety Survey. More than a third of respondents (35%) said overpacking was their biggest boo-boo, along with flying with connections and overly ambitious itineraries.

Harding Bush, associate director of operations at Global Rescue, advises travellers to “pack light, and buy what you need there.” While overpacking continues to be a persistent traveller 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 travellers make.

Ambitious itineraries (and subsequently failing to schedule free time during trips) is another frequent mistake among travellers. 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 traveller 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 traveller mistakes.

Bush advises travellers to plan a trip that aligns with one’s travel style and interests, making sure to prioritize what is personally important. “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 travellers 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 traveller 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 travellers (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 travellers. In 2024, the percentage of travellers who said they forgot to get medical or security travel protection plummeted to 1%, placing 10th 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 traveller mistakes since before the pandemic, all garnering low, single-digit responses.

(Founded in 2004, Global Rescue is a leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services to enterprises, governments, and individuals).