How To Stay Safe When Traveling
Whether you are traveling alone or with family or friends, you should always take precautions to stay safe. Just because you might be staying in luxury hotels or staying with a friends, doesn’t mean you are immune to anything happening.
Let’s take a look at what you can do to keep yourself safe.
1. Plan your routes
This seems simple, but whether especially if you are driving, plan your routes to get to each destination. Look at all the different routes and what would benefit you more as well as keep you safe. Also plan to have to possibly detour in the event of accidents or road closures. We are used to having the GPS on our phones and don’t even think twice about the worry of detours, but what happens when your phone dies, signal is lost, or maybe you even lose or break your phone? You should always be prepared. Print out or write down your directions and have them handy just in case. You don’t want to get lost and end up in an unsavoury part of a town or country.
If you are going to walk from place to place once you reach your destination, preplan your walks as well. You do not want to go walking through the wrong neighbourhood and get attacked or robbed. Make sure you use Google Maps to map out your walk and click on the little Yellow person in the lower right corner to get a street view. This will help you see what kind of neighbourhood you’re walking through. I have used this multiple times to re-route my walk based on how the area looks and how it made me feel. Fastest route isn’t always the safest!
2. Keep spending money separate from the rest
Always keep your spending money separate from the money you need to pay for hotels and transportation. If possible, put all your spending money on a (or many) prepaid credit/debit cards. Don’t use your debit/checking account card for these purchases. This will help keep all of your funds safe from fraud. If you decide to use many prepaid debit cards, only take 1 or 2 of the cards with you while you are out. This will help ensure you still have money available if your wallet or card gets stolen or lost while out. This is why you should’t take your debit card out with you as well. Although many bank/debit card companies have features to help lock your funds or not make you responsible for transactions you didn’t authorize, it can still be a pain, especially if you find your card and need it unlocked. This is just an extra step you can take to help minimize inconvienance as well as help you stay on budget!
Also, try to prepay for most things prior to your trip, such as accommodations and transportation. This will give you less to worry about and you can enjoy your trip, as well as help keep you from getting charged for something you weren’t expecting and keep a handle on your budget.
3. Check reviews
Always check the reviews on places you want to go and things you want to see. You don’t want to end up paying money to a non-legit “company” and not get what you were wanting or not getting anything at all or possibly even getting robbed or attacked because you were in an unsafe area and it was set up to look legit. Reviews are your best friend when making accommodations too! Make you sure you leave reviews yourself based on your own experiences as well to help out others.
4. Be Observant
Although you should always try to let loose and have a great time on your trip, it pays to be observant as well. For many, like myself, it comes easily. I’m just an observant person but for a lot of people they have a hard time being able to notice things while still enjoying themselves. You don’t have to analyze every little thing but making small observations cans help you in the long run. Be observant of people, traffic, weather, sounds and irregular activity.
Also, research where police stations and hospitals are in conjunction with your location or how to get ahold of emergency services, if it’s not 911 (other countries) or if you need police assistance that isn’t considered “emergent”.
5. Self Defense
Have some basic self defense skills. You don’t have to go all ‘Jackie Chan’ on someone but knowing how to get out of an unwanted embrace and to stun an attacker so that you can get away, can be life saving. Lots of places have self defense classes but you can also search on YouTube for easy self defense tips. Make sure you practice them with a friend or family member so you really know the mechanics of it. If you have kids, make sure they have some basic self defense skills. With a lot of human trafficking going on these days this is essential. Being in a busy place where someone can easily grab your child and be hidden in an instant can be scary but you don’t want to scare yourself into not enjoying life. Just make sure you and your children have the skills needed if necessary.
6. Have a Emergency Plan
In the event of an emergency such as an unexpected weather event or, heaven forbide, a terriorist attack; you should always have a plan. If you get separated from your party on purpose or accidentally, you should always have a place that you will all meet at. For instance, my friend and I went on the spontaneous trip to NYC one weekend. We are from a small city in West Virginia so going to a big city that has tens of thousands of people per square mile can be a bit overwhelming. Being a teenager when 9/11 happened, I always think of being in NYC or any big city during a terror attack. I made sure my friend and I had a plan of where we would meet in the event of a terror attack or just being separated somehow. We both looked around the area where we decided would be our meeting point that way we could recognize it, with or without signs. Make sure your kids know what to do if they get lost. For instance, I have told my son to go to any store or restaurant and tell a worker or manager that he is lost and stay there until police come or someone has found me. Now that he is a little older, he knows my cell phone number that he can give to someone, as well as having his own cell phone. Whatever works for you and your family, just a have a plan for the unexpected!
So, in summary, just plan and be aware when you are on vacation. Don’t think that nothing can happen to you because the moment you feel that way is the moment something happens!
Stay safe and happy travels!
