Personal Travel Safety Tips

Employ the following travel safety tips at your dream vacation destination.


Register with Your Country’s Embassy or Consulate When You Arrive

When you arrive in a foreign country, contact your own country’s embassy or consulate. Inform staff of your visit and provide them with a copy of your itinerary and a schedule of where you expect to be on each day. If trouble develops within the country, staff can assist you.

Be Wary of Others

Start by trying to keep a low profile while you travel in a foreign country. Don’t attract attention to yourself. Take the following precautions:

1) Do not dress like a wealthy tourist (expensive clothing and jewellery).

2) Don’t be predictable with your travel itinerary. This can give thieves advanced planning time to set up a scan just for you.

3) Don’t talk loud enough that strangers might overhear your conversation. Those who speak English stand out in the crowd, especially in non-English speaking countries.

Most of the people that you will meet are friendly and will not cause you any trouble.

Then there are "the others".

Unfortunately you cannot distinguish between these two groups.

Use your best judgment but be wary of everyone. Don’t make it easy for pickpockets, thieves, muggers, scammers and other undesirables to target you.

Start by hiding your valuables inside a money belt.

Think pickpocket if:

1) You are suddenly swarmed by children

2) You find yourself being jostled in crowds

3) A stranger “accidentally” spills something on you and then someone else tries to help you get cleaned off.

Lodging Precautions

Protect yourself at your place of lodging with the following travel safety tips:

1) Hotels in particular are always filled with strangers and security may be lax.

2) If hotel desk staff calls your room number out loud, ask for a new room.

3) When you rent a room for the night, check the doors and windows carefully - make sure they lock.

4) Keep your doors and windows locked whether you are in the room or not.

5) Do not open your door to anyone even if he/she claims to be one of the staff.

6) While you are out, leave you lights and TV. Passersby will believe that someone is inside.

7) Don’t leave your room key at the reception desk when you go out. Only return it when you check out.

Other Precautions

Here are several travel safety tips for ATM and automobile use:

1) Never use an ATM when other people are around you. If you are traveling with someone else, have him or her watch behind you for anything suspicious.

2) Keep your car door locked at all times, whether you are in the car or not.

3) Lock your belongings in the trunk and do not leave anything visible on the car seat.

If You Are the Victim of a Crime

Should you be the victim of a crime during your vacation, contact the local police. Remember however that in some parts of the world, the police force is corrupt and you could make little headway as a result.

If you are the victim of a crime at your hotel, don’t just contact the police; report the crime to the front desk staff as well. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that staff perpetrated the crime.

Chapter 16 of Turn Your Dream Vacation Into Reality: A Game Plan for Seeing the World the Way You Want to See It addresses travel and safety considerations in greater detail.

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