Simon's Top 10 Tips For Travel Safety
Everyone wants a safe, happy holiday. And, if you’ve visited a travel health professional or your GP eight weeks before departure and bought your travel insurance, you are half way towards this goal.
Below are my Top Ten Travel Safety Tips to complete the second part of your holiday equation:
1) Beware of traffic
By far the largest risk to you when travelling abroad is being involved in a traffic accident.
2) Take care around water
Next on the list is drowning, whether it is in the hotel pool or in the sea. Water and alcohol does not mix and we are more likely to put this to the test when we travel than when we are sitting in front of the TV at home.
3) Familiarise yourself with your destination
Check the Foreign Office travel advice (www.fco.gov.uk), buy a good guidebook, do some research online and make sure you are informed about where you are going and what the risks are. For example, most foreign cities have safe and unsafe parts of town and you don’t want to wander into the latter by mistake.
4) Don’t attract attention
Leave your valuables at home and dress conservatively in order to blend in with the locals. If you travel with a fancy watch, drape an expensive camera around your neck, and sport the family jewels, you will become more of a target.
5) Look after your possessions
When out and about ensure your bag or backpack is always securely attached to you. It can be easily lifted off the back of a chair or snatched from the floor if it is resting under a café chair or table. A good tip is to use the chair or table leg to thread through the handle of your carrier to anchor it in place.
6) Appear confident and purposeful
If you look unsure of yourself when out and about, you are more likely to become a victim of a mugging or scam.
7) Don't count your money in public
And beware after you have replenished your cash at an ATM. It isn't by accident that most travellers are robbed on the day they get money out.
8) Pack your common sense
On holiday we tend to get into the holiday mood and do things abroad that we wouldn’t do at home. For instance, if you wouldn’t walk down an unlit street at night in the UK, don’t think you'll be safe doing so when you are away.
9) Drink at the hotel bar
If you want to drink one too many then do so in a safe location. The hotel bar or your bedroom are good options because you don't have a long walk back to your accommodation.
10) Don’t be paranoid and have a wonderful trip
Most of what we worry about never happens, especially if you have taken a few, simple, sensible precautions. Go away and have a good time.