Who do you actually put as your emergency contact?

Hey all — I’ve been to 30+ countries and the one thing that still trips me up every single time is filling out the emergency contact field on indemnity forms.

For context, I’m single, in my 30s, and my parents are getting older. I don’t want to worry them over something minor — and honestly, I just don’t want to be a burden on anyone. But I get it, you need someone there so the activity organiser can reach next of kin if something goes wrong.

So I end up staring at that field and just… putting my mum’s number anyway. Even though she’s 8 hours behind, probably asleep, and wouldn’t know what to tell a hospital in Bali about my blood type or insurance.

Sometimes I wish I could just put my travel insurance provider — they’d probably be the first ones who need to know anyway.

So genuinely curious: who do you guys put down? And if something actually happened to you while diving or climbing or whatever — would that person know what to do?