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Life

14th Sep 2019

Over one third of Irish people would cancel their holiday if they forgot their mobile phone

Rory Cashin

Would you skip your flight entirely if you left your phone at home?

You’re heading on holiday!

It is exciting! Some sun (or snow, or whatever the weather is where you holiday), some time off work or college, just doing what you like for a few days or weeks.

But if you’re literally uprooting your entire life for a short period of time, it can be very easy to forget to bring something along.

Sometimes that “something” can be small and unimportant and can probably just be purchased where you’re holidaying, but sometimes you’re already at the airport and you realise that it is something that is potentially irreplaceable, and the entire going-on-holiday bit has now been thrown into question.

iCarhireinsurance.ie surveyed 1,000 holiday-goers in Ireland and asked them about stuff that they’ve forgotten, and how much of an impact that had on their potential trip.

Some of the reasons for deciding not to take the flight at all, with 42% saying they’d have to go back if they forgot their foreign currency at home, and 25% saying they would skip the holiday if they’d forgotten to pack their prescription medication.

That makes sense. You need your money to do things on the holiday, and you need your medicine for… well… to stay alive? Probably important, best not to leave it behind.

However, 35% admitted that they wouldn’t go on the holiday if they’d forgotten their phone. Apparently the idea of taking a little “social detox” doesn’t agree with everyone. I mean, if you go on holiday and don’t update your ‘gram, did you ever go on holiday in the first place?

The most common forgotten items on in the packing process are sun cream (26%), toiletries (20%), sunglasses (20%), electronics chargers (20%), and pyjamas (16%).

76% of men have forgotten to pack something for the holiday, and 74% of men have left something behind when making their way back home, compared to 68% of women heading on holiday, and just 57% of women coming back.

28% of people surveyed admitted that the stress of forgetting to pack something has resulted in an argument with the person / people they went on the holiday with, which… doesn’t surprise us in the least.

Ernesto Suarez, founder and CEO of iCarhireinsurance.ie, said “Forgotten items can cause serious headaches for holidaymakers. With one-quarter of travellers saying they’d miss flights if they forgot their insurance documents, we wanted to investigate what people are likely to forget and how this can be avoided in the future.

“Making checklists, packing tidily, and double-checking important items with another person can all help avoid leaving something behind.”

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