Italy Suspends Schengen Travel With Spain in What Officials Call an Unprecedented Rupture

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A buddy of mine left town for 10 days last summer. Came back to a puddle in the basement from a dehumidifier that stopped draining when the hose kinked, a $200 electric bill from a thermostat he forgot to adjust, and a pile of packages on the porch that announced "nobody's home" to the entire street. Nothing catastrophic. Costly and annoying. But every one of those problems was preventable with 15 minutes of preparation before he left.

Here's what I've got this Sunday.

Securing Your Home Before You Leave It

We've hardened doors (Issue 66), secured garages (Issue 101), and set up monitoring systems (Issues 47, 82, 141). This week covers the specific steps to protect your home when you're away for extended periods: vacation, work travel, deployment, or any absence of a week or more.

Water is your biggest risk while away. A burst pipe or failed appliance in an empty house can cause catastrophic damage before anyone notices. Shut off the main water supply if you'll be gone more than a week (Issue 74). This single step prevents the most expensive category of homeowner damage. If you can't shut off the main (irrigation system needs, etc.), at minimum shut off the supply to washing machines, dishwashers, and ice makers.

Temperature management prevents pipe freezing and excessive energy costs. In winter, set your thermostat to 55 degrees minimum (prevents pipe freezing). In summer, set it to 85 degrees (prevents mold-promoting humidity without running the AC full-time). Smart thermostats let you monitor and adjust remotely.

Mail and packages accumulate and signal vacancy. Hold mail through USPS (free, online at usps.com). Pause package deliveries. Ask a neighbor to pick up anything that arrives. A porch piled with packages is the clearest "nobody's home" signal possible.

Light timers create the illusion of occupancy. Set interior lights on timers with varied on/off times: living room from 6 to 10 PM, bedroom from 9 to 11 PM, kitchen briefly in the morning. Smart plugs make this easy to configure. Consistent illumination patterns deter opportunistic burglars.

Unplug non-essential electronics. This prevents damage from power surges and reduces electricity costs. Leave the refrigerator, security system, and any monitoring devices plugged in. Unplug everything else.

Your security system and monitoring devices (Issues 47, 82, 103) provide remote awareness. Verify cameras are working, alerts are enabled, and batteries are charged before you leave. A driveway alarm (Issue 141) alerting your phone gives you real-time approach awareness from anywhere.

The pre-departure checklist: water off (or appliance supplies off), thermostat adjusted, mail held, timers set, security active, neighbor notified, dehumidifier checked, trash emptied, perishable food removed, and a trusted person with a key and your contact information.

Create a pre-departure checklist and post it by your front door.

Write every step you should take before a trip. Laminate it. Check each item before you lock the door. The list prevents the "did I forget something?" anxiety and eliminates the problems I came home to last summer.

1 in 4 Americans Have Had a Package Stolen From Their Porch

Package theft is now routine: about 37 million packages will be stolen this year, and roughly one in four Americans (64 million people) have been a porch piracy victim at some point, with 9 million hit in just the last three months. Thieves make off with about $8.2 billion in goods annually, an average of $222 per stolen package. The fix costs nothing: a free USPS mail hold and a heads up to a neighbor closes the exact window a thief is watching for.

Source: Security.org

EJ Snyder's military career required leaving home for extended deployments, knowing that his property needed to function and remain secure without daily oversight. His approach, refined over 25 years: systematize the departure so that nothing depends on memory.

Snyder's pre-deployment checklist was exhaustive and non-negotiable, and the same discipline runs through his book, Emergency Home Preparedness (about $19 for the paperback), which applies the same checked-off, nothing-left-to-memory approach to civilian disaster planning. The same discipline applies to travel: a checklist executed consistently prevents the avoidable problems that turn a vacation into a homecoming headache.

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Italy Suspends Schengen Travel With Spain in What Officials Call an Unprecedented Rupture

Italy reintroduced border checks on air and sea arrivals from Spain for one month starting August 1, after a mass crossing into Spain's Ceuta enclave from Morocco by thousands of men within the span of 24 hours. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called it "an extraordinary measure adopted to protect national security." Spain summoned Italy's ambassador after Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called for suspending Spain from Schengen entirely; Finland, Denmark, and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis backed restrictions, while the European Commission rejected a broader suspension and said no illegal migrants had reached mainland Europe. The Schengen Agreement is what lets people cross borders between most European countries without passport checks, treating the participating countries almost like one big open-border zone for travel.

A larger 2021 Ceuta surge, roughly 9,000 crossings in two days, produced nothing like this. Ceuta's regional assembly and multiple outlets are calling the crisis unprecedented, and this looks to be the first time one Schengen member has restricted a fellow member's travelers over a migration dispute rather than its own border.

Preparedness angle: intra-EU travel rules can tighten with almost no notice. Check entry document requirements before departure, not at the airport.

Source: Euronews, Anadolu Agency, IMI Daily

Pre-Departure Laminated Checklist

My checklist has 18 items organized by category: Water (main shutoff, washer valve, check under sinks), Climate (thermostat set, dehumidifier checked), Security (cameras verified, lights on timers, driveway alarm active), Mail (USPS hold, neighbor alerted), Electrical (non-essentials unplugged, surge protectors on), and Household (trash out, perishables removed, plants watered or removed).

I run through it before every trip. It takes about 15 minutes. Since creating it, I've come home to zero problems from three trips. Before the checklist: problems every time. Free to create.

Budget alternative: A handwritten list taped to the inside of your front door. Same information, less durable. Replace when it wears out.

Overrated: Hiding a key under the mat for a neighbor. Every burglar checks under the mat, under the planter, and above the door frame. Use a combination lockbox ($15, mounted out of sight) or give a trusted neighbor an actual key in advance.

Underrated: Shutting off the main water supply before travel. The average water damage insurance claim is over $10,000. The main shutoff valve takes 5 seconds to turn. The ratio of effort to risk reduction is extraordinary.

USPS: Hold Mail. Schedule a mail hold online for free.

Ready.gov: Home Safety. General home protection guidance.

Grokipedia: Home Security. Background on residential security during absence.

This Old House: Winterizing. Protecting your home during cold-weather absences.

New topics, new challenges, and deeper dives continue. The foundation of 160 issues supports everything that comes next.

PS: My friend’s $200 electric bill from last summer? The thermostat was set to 72 degrees while nobody was home for 10 days. Setting it to 85 would have cost about $40 instead. The kinking dehumidifier hose? A 30-second check would have caught it. Fifteen minutes of pre-departure preparation prevents every one of these problems. The checklist is now non-negotiable.