Travel Safely: Essential Tips and Guidelines for a Secure Journey

Travel is exciting and is always thrilling to go on adventures and get to know new people and new places. 

However there are many myths, irrational beliefs when it comes to travel, that can make us scared to venture out.

You shouldn’t allow your fears to keep you from seeing the world, but don’t forget about travel security and safety considerations while you’re abroad, or even within your city.

Do your research, be aware and prepared by taking normal precaution

These travel safety tips can be helpful when you travel alone or with a company.

Know your limits 

Yes, you might be brave and fear nothing, but you still need to be careful when you are abroad. Make sure you don’t get drunk, and don’t wander at night all by yourself or with just a stranger you meet. Although, it’s good to meet new people and often they become great friends you still need to take precautions at the beginning since you are still getting to know them. 

Avoid putting yourself in dangerous situations.  It’s better to prevent an unsafe situation than to find a solution to it. 

Avoid travelling alone at night

We all know that is more dangerous to walk alone at night than during the day, particularly if you are in a new city and you don’t know which areas are safest and which are not. So avoid travelling alone at night, if you have no other choice then make sure you tell a friend or someone where you are heading. Turn on the location on the phone just in case. 

This safety tip applies not only when you are travelling abroad but also when you are back home. 

Don’t travel with many valuable things

Do you really need to take a gold necklace, the most expensive bag on your holiday? I don’t think so. Make sure you are discrete when using your laptop, phone and cameras. You don’t need to be showing off all those things as you are just giving an opportunity for people to notice you and steal from you. 

Wear your backpack/ bag in front 

When visiting touristic and crowded places put your bag in front and avoid putting things in the back pocket of your trousers. Usually in these places, there are pickpockets so it is better to prevent and be aware. 

You can also get an anti-theft backpack- I use the Citysafe CX Anti-Theft Backpack from Pacsafe and I absolutely love it.

Lock your Belongings 

When I travel, I stay often at hostels and I believe all of them have lockers you can use, I always carry 2 padlocks to lock my stuff. I try not to leave very valuable things in the lockers as you never know what can happen, but in general if you use your padlock, you should be safe. My favourite padlock is the TSA Luggage Locks.

Also, you can get luggage with built-in combination locks, so if you are away from your luggage, you can be at ease and not worry someone is going to open it. 

 

Take note of the local emergency information 

I hope you will never need to use the emergency services, but its important to know the necessary info such as the phone number of the police, hospital, and fire department in case an emergency arises. 

You know what emergency numbers to call if something goes wrong while you’re away from home. In some countries, the police will answer “911”. In others, they’ll answer “112”, which is the universal emergency number in Europe. Know which one applies to where you are going.

Carry a copy of your passport

The last thing you want is to lose your passport or ID card when travelling abroad. Unfortunately, this happened to me, and I was so frustrated, that I had to go back to all the places I went to the previous day fortunately the lady from one of the shops kept my card, I had a scan of it on my email also, I had my driving license, so the lady gladly gave me back my ID card. 

You never know what can happen. It’s always good to be prepared for all kinds of situations. 

Have emergency cash 

Once, someone tried to take money from my card whilst I was abroad, the bank called to confirm if it was me or not and since it was someone else they had to block my account. 

I need the card because I don’t like to have huge amounts of money on me when I travel. 

Fortunately, I still had my credit card and had some emergency cash (not much) but it helped on the first 2 days until the situation was resolved. 

Beware of Local Law and customs

If you are travelling to a country where the culture is completely different beware of the customs and the laws. Make sure you respect and follow them so that you do not offend the people of that country. For example, in Thailand, it is very disrespectful to touch someone on their head as this is seen as a symbol of respect; similarly, in Turkey, do not offer a handshake as it is considered rude and inappropriate – instead use kisses on each cheek. It is also important to be aware of what religion you are visiting; for example, in Saudi Arabia, all religious symbols (including crosses) are forbidden so it would be rude to wear one. Similarly, in Indonesia, it is forbidden to take pictures of anyone’s faces so it would be disrespectful if you did so.

It is also important to understand what the local law is and follow it; for example, in Thailand, it is illegal to smoke so it would be inappropriate to light up a cigarette while there – similarly, in Turkey, it is illegal to drink alcohol where you are so it would be rude if you were seen drinking alcoholic drinks.

Hope these tips are helpful and you take them into consideration to be safe whilst travelling.  

If you have any more tips and suggestions comment down below.

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