People often let loose when travelling, there is nothing wrong with this but they think that they wont be attacked or robbed but it does happen. Be Smart, Travel Smart, Travel Safe – tourists go on holiday and forget their common sense at home, don’t be one of these tourists! So the question is how do you travel safely?
Tell someone you where you are travelling and when you will be moving. Most people have family members or friends who care about them and worry when they travel. I know we do!
Get Travel Insurance, I shouldn’t need to remind people but it’s surprising how many people don’t take it out! We are all big babies inside and if we get hurt, we just want to go home to “mummy”. If you get seriously hurt and are hospitalized, you may require to be flown home to get the right treatment. This can be VERY expensive if you are paying for it yourself and some hospitals may not let you leave until you have paid all of your medical bills!
Do your research into the country you will be travelling to, make sure you know what the major laws are or faux pars. It would be a bad end to your holiday if you ended up in jail because you did something that was acceptable in your country but against the law in another. EG: In Thailand, to say anything bad towards the King or royal family is against the law, you can and will be put into jail.
DO NOT buy or take drugs, while it might be fun to get high and party, if you are caught purchasing drugs or taking drugs in a foreign country, it can be a serious offence, jail time or the death penalty! In some countries, the police will go undercover to sell drugs to tourists and then you have to pay a huge bribe or go to jail.
Don’t go into dark alleys alone, this isn’t something you would do at home, so why would you do it in a foreign country? With that said, don’t do anything you wouldn’t do at home, just because you are in another country, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea or that you wont get in trouble or hurt.
If you get mugged DO NOT fight back, the items stolen can and will be replaced by your insurance. It is not worth getting injured or killed over a phone or camera or wallet. Back up your photos each night if you can, because in the end they are not as replaceable as a phone or camera but it’s not worth getting hurt or killed over.
We have come up with a few tips extra tips that might help – What do We to do before going on trip.
Hey Megan.
Thanks!! Sadly crime is a part of travel and while it doesnt’t happen to everyone it doesn happen. I would be sadder to loose my photos than my camera I think!
I find that common sense goes a long way when it comes to travel or anything else in life. Sometimes I’m shocked to see young backpackers doing things abroad they wouldn’t do back home.
I couldn’t agree more!! Sometimes people need to be reminded of that 🙂
Thanks for the reminder to travel safely. As someone who has travelled regularly as a solo female traveller I am usually even more cautious if I am by myself and I definitely try to be more aware of my surroundings.
So far I have been mostly OK and our only loss was when our camera was stolen a few years ago on a trip to Italy. Fortunately we were able to buy a replacement camera and retake our photos.
Hey Anne!
I think being a single travelling you are generally more aware of your surroundings. Sorry about your camera!! I was be devastated, my camera is like an extra arm for me!
Interesting… good tips, and i totally agree, most tourist once they go on holiday, they would do things that they wouldnt do at home! GOOD POINT 🙂
Thanks MO!
Good stuff, great tips.
I’ll add one more, never put your home address on a luggage tag, just Email and phone #.
Regards, JR
Thanks for the great suggestion JR