It was a week of natural disasters recently when the Philippines and Hong Kong had to deal with Typhoon Mangkhut, and the Carolinas in the USA had to deal with Hurricane Florence.

The storms left a trail of destruction in its wake, as well as deaths and injuries.

If you’d been scheduled to travel to those destinations when the storms were taking place, you may have been anxious trying to decide what to do.

Here’s some advice on the steps you should take if future travel plans become affected by natural disasters such as storms or volcanic eruptions

1. Has your embassy issued a travel advisory?

1. Has your embassy issued a travel advisory?
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Your country’s Foreign Office may issue a travel notice advising that non-essential travel to the affected area should be postponed.

For example, if you have a family emergency, you may still consider going ahead with the journey, but if it’s for a holiday, you should postpone your trip, or look for alternative destinations.

If safety is a priority when you travel, you might want to keep these destinations at the top of your list.

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2. Get in touch with your airline

2. Get in touch with your airline
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Airlines will likely cancel flights during the affected period, such as the time the storm is predicted to make landfall.

Affected passengers will likely be allowed free rebooking for a certain period so do get in touch with the airline to find out the details.

Not all airlines are the same, though. These are the top 10 airlines around the world, ranked.

3. Call your accommodation provider

3.  Call your accommodation provider
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If you’ve booked rooms or accommodation that have flexible cancellation schemes, you can easily make changes to your booking.

However, it may get trickier if you’ve booked a room that has strict non-cancellation policies.

In this case, try getting in touch with them directly to work out a solution.

It was a week of natural disasters recently when the Philippines and Hong Kong had to deal with Typhoon Mangkhut, and the Carolinas in the USA had to deal with Hurricane Florence.

The storms left a trail of destruction in its wake, as well as deaths and injuries.

If you’d been scheduled to travel to those destinations when the storms were taking place, you may have been anxious trying to decide what to do.

Here’s some advice on the steps you should take if future travel plans become affected by natural disasters such as storms or volcanic eruptions

4. Check your travel insurance

4. Check your travel insurance
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This is one of those times when you will be pleased that you have purchased travel insurance.

Just make sure you’ve read all the fine print to see what coverage the policy offers for trip postponement, disruption or cancellation.

Make sure you check these 4 things off your list when shopping for travel insurance.

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