Safety tips for travelling

Having travelled to several countries, mainly Asia and Eastern Europe, I have seen, heard and even been thru some precarious incidences. Thus I have made an amalgamation of certain things one should prepare before and be aware of during ones travels.

1. Before going to your destination, do some research on the area. Find out if there are any risks in that area, be it crime, diseases, sanitation, weather or potential environmental calamities. If there are potentially high probability of being exposed to these risks, then one should consider the worthiness of travelling there. This decision is based on one’s situation: travelling alone,gender, age,health, martial arts training, and one’s mental toughness.

   

   Calamities can strike anywhere

    

2. Situational awareness. This is a fancy term for being aware of your present environment. Mindfulness is another term that can be used. But, nowadays, I find the term mindfulness has been butchered up by the self-help community, that people forget what the term really meant to be. The main thing is to be “awake”, and not staring down at one’s cellphone, or walking around with earphones blasting music. Even if one is in a conversation, still be aware of our surroundings. I don’t mean being paranoid, but just be conscious of one’s milieu.

   

   No need to be paranoid!

3. Scan your room. When I first enter my room, either in a guest house or hotel, I always check it out. I’ll examine the whole place, the washroom…yes, even under the bed. This is just to make sure there are no surprises. Check the locks on the doors to make sure they work properly.

4. Keep important items(passport, wallet etc) with you always. Unless the place you are staying has a reliable safe, keep the items on you. Having a fake wallet can be useful to have too, just hope you don’t get mugged twice the same day!!

5. Have an actual paper map. Having GPS on your smartphone is very convenient, but if it breaks, gets stolen or have no access to WiFi or no more data, having that real map will come in handy.

6. Avoid scams. I fell for one , once. Once was enough. Do your research on certain scams that happen in the location of your vacation. Even if not on a list, if you feel uncomfortable or unsure about something, trust your gut instincts, and walk away.

7. Have a backup plan. Should something arises that inhibits your travel plans, have a second plan. This could be simply from something being closed, or worse, such as civil unrest. In the latter case, that would mean to have some sort of plan of getting out safe.

8. Have important contact’s information always available. Should an incident happen, be it a crime, accident, major injury or a natural disaster, one should get in touch with the proper contact without any research needed. Inform a next of kin or friend about your exact location. This way they can rapidly assist you in case of difficulty by contacting the government or wire money. Making known to your embassy/consulate that you are travelling in that country is a good option too. Although I never did contact the government on my travel location, looking back on some of the precarious countries of been too, it might have been a good idea!

9. Learn some of the basics of the local language, with keywords in case of an emergency. Having an attempt to learn of some of the language, you might get more respect form the locals, rather than “How come no one speaks English here?!?”, which I’ve people say and not get a very nice feedback from the locals!

10. Don’t make yourself an easy target, looking like a tourist. No gaudy/expensive clothing, jewellery, or electronic devices. Don’t stand out.

    

    Don’t dress like him….

12. Check with your financial institute if it is a good idea to let them know where you are. Some have a travelling notification systems in place to reduce the rick of fraud.

13. Make yourself aware of the local laws and customs. Never assume that you will be given special treatment because you’re a foreigner…quite the contrary many times.

Hope these tips may help you out. Most important your travels is have fun and enjoy it! Travelling to different countries is one of the best way to learn about this world and respect others. I learned more about myself and this fantastic planet more than all my years in school!