Increasingly, women like to travel alone taking in the cultural delights of a location and having ‘me’ time. If you are planning an overseas trip this post will help you plan and prepare your trip to maximise your safety at all times.
Although you will be taking a safety-first approach you will still be able to have fun and savour the delights of your chosen destination.
1. Use Trusted Tour Operators
One way to increase the safety of your trip is to use trusted tour operators. If you travel with teletext holidays or similar operators you ensure you have somewhere safe to sleep. You can also find out the necessary travel information to avoid getting lost or putting yourself in harm’s way.
If you are traveling by a different means ensure you use a trusted tour operator.
2. Get a Check-in Buddy
Getting a check-in buddy is essential. The idea is that you arrange certain times when they should hear from you and if they don’t they raise the alarm. This doesn’t have to be a two-hour conversation but a simple text or What’s app message will suffice. For ultimate safety, it’s best to get a virtual number and SMS forwarding system so that even without wifi you can shoot a quick call or a message to your check-in buddy. It is good practice to give your buddy your itinerary so that should the worst happen they can tell the authorities where you were heading on any given day. Don’t forget to tell them if it changes.
3. Travel Insurance
When we think of safety we tend to think of being hurt in some way by horrible dark actors. The truth is that in most places in the world you are more likely to have an accident than be assaulted. As such it is worth getting the right travel insurance to ensure that should you need medical treatment the costs are covered.
4. Research your Destination
It is good practice to do a little research on your destination prior to travel. Consider:
- What neighborhoods are considered rough?
- What is medical treatment like and is it close by?
- What vaccinations or prescriptions do you need?
- Is public transport any good? Do you need to avoid certain taxi firms?
- What are the safety ratings in the hotel you are planning to stay at?
You can never do enough planning. This list should get you started.
5. Protect Valuables Protect Essentials
You should consider anything essential or expensive to replace as valuable. So, keep a day bag with your passport, anything electronic, credit cards, medication, jewellery, anything you really don’t want to lose. These items never go in a general luggage hold of a bus or a plane. They stay with you. That’s final.
6. Take only what you Need When out and About
Once you’ve arrived at a destination only take what you need when out and about. Do you need $300 in cash, credit cards, and passport to visit a museum? No of course not. Take say $50 cash and a debit card and leave the rest at the hotel preferably in a safe if provided. If there isn’t a safe consider a slash-proof bag locked to something sturdy.
7. Be Cautious of Fast Friends
When traveling alone you may be tempted to join a group. This is fine but air on the side of caution until you’re sure you can trust them. There have been plenty of stories of con artists stealing valuable electronics after the mark had thought they had found a friend. Take it slow, trust your instincts and if they are a decent person that will become apparent.
8. Drinking
When traveling you might find yourself with heavy drinkers out for a good time. It is important here to know your limits and stay within them. If you are inebriated your reaction time goes down and you are more vulnerable.
Know your limits, stay within them and have a good time.
9. Blend in
When trekking around the world you pick up a certain style that says I am a traveler. This also makes you a potential target. Where possible blend in with the locals in terms of dress and walk with confidence down the street. It may be impossible to blend in completely but you can at least appear like an expat.
Try and project an air of confidence if you don’t’ feel it and if you have to consult a map slip into a café to do so.
10. Keep a Secret Cash Stash
It is essential that you keep a secret stash of cash and an emergency credit card hidden in a backpack. Socks and things like tampons make ideal hiding spots. As well as this you may want to keep copies of the front and back of your credit and debit cards in cloud storage together with emergency phone numbers. You never know when you might need them.
With the right precautions, you can have a great traveling adventure knowing that you are as safe as you possibly can be. Save travels.