Are You FULLY Prepared To Travel?

SummerTravelsIt’s hard to believe that one third of our year is already gone.  It’s an exciting time, however, as we look forward to dryer, warm weather and lots of summer activities.  This is a popular time of the year to “get away”, so I wish everyone safe travels!

Speaking of traveling, I remember when my wife, Cheryl and I took our first trip without the kids.  We went to the National Funeral Directors’ Convention in Boston, MA in 1998.  Our oldest was 5 and our youngest was 1.  It occurred to us shortly before the trip that we didn’t have a will.  I seriously considered booking different flights so our kids wouldn’t be orphaned if our plane went down (for the same reason the President and Vice President don’t fly together).  Call me paranoid, but if you’re in this business long enough, your mind wanders into the dark recesses and you can’t help but think of the tragic “what ifs”.

I literally scribbled out a will on a legal pad and told Aunt Rose and Uncle John (who were staying with the kids) where it was, along with life insurance policies, car titles and other legal documents that would be needed upon our demise.

Fortunately we came back alive and our kids were not orphaned.  But it got us motivated to have our first will written, so the next time we left without them we had a bit more peace of mind.

This leads me to the question:  Are you affairs in order?  Does your spouse or other immediate next of kin know where to find a will or other important documents?  Do they know what your final wishes are?  When I do a pre-arrangement with someone, the question invariably comes up, “what if I die while traveling?”  The short answer to that question is call your funeral director back home.  He or she will take care of everything and you’ll probably save $1500.

But even more in-depth would be the questions, which funeral home should I use.  Do I want a traditional burial or cremation?  Do I want a service in the church, the funeral home or graveside?  What kind of budget do I want my family to have?  I want to make sure they don’t overspend, etc.  These are all very important topics to discuss with your family.

So before your vacation this year, I challenge you to have this discussion with the appropriate person in your life.  It’s been my experience, that it’s not as bad as it seems.

Here is a link to another article that may also help in this situation. A growing number of companies are offering this.

Stay safe and have GREAT summer!!