How to Not Get Beat Up, Kidnapped or Otherwise Inconvenienced While Travelling

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 0 people | Log in to rate

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The Save-Yer-Butt Squidoo Lens

Hi there! Welcome to my lens. I'm starting a project to compile everything I can get my grubby paws on that pertains to travel safety, or event risk, into one place. My aim is to have a place for folks to go when they're putting their travel plans together. I've been travelling for years now (I'm not saying how many 'cause I'll date myself). When I started, I was a total noob and found myself skirting the edge of pretty hot water on a regular basis. I'm grateful I never actually got completely screwed during those days, but I'll say now that I've learned so many harsh lessons of my own, I'm getting great at recognizing when folks are headed towards some pretty unstable ground. I think a big part of it is that a lot of folks just genuinely don't know any better. Who teaches this stuff anyway? (I don't remember a japanese encephalitis primer in health class) Anyway, this lens is for people like me who got shafted on the good judgment gene. Hope it's useful!

DareToGo.com AdventureCast 

This is the feed from my own website, DareToGo.com. I host a weekly podcast over there that covers a different travel safety topic each week. From here you can access my podcasts and blog posts and other groovy stuff I put up over there. Pretty sweet, eh?

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So how safe ARE you when you travel? 

We all have our own (usually high) opinion of our travel planning abilities. It's totally anonymous so go ahead and tell the truth...

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Sound Off! 

Don't censor yourself. Tell me how much you hate my hair. Or you can tell me other things you'd like to see here. Yeah, that'd work too.

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    GHouse GHouse Dec 6, 2008 @ 10:15 pm
    Hi!! Just come to see your nice lens. I did my travel lens too. It's about my hotel in hua hin Thailand. Hua Hin is a charming town of clean white sandy beach. If you come to Thailand, please visit us.
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Safety Plexo from Amazon 

I'm hugely interested in other folks' views on this plexo. Feel free to add anything to the list--I'm aiming to get a good resource for travel safety together so folks have one place to go when they're planning out their trips.

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Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel by Joshua Piven

Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel by Joshua Piven

A great little book to keep around. While the auth more...0 points

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Robert Young Pelton's the World's Most Dangerous Places by Robert Young Pelton

Robert Young Pelton's the World's Most Dangerous Places by Robert Young Pelton

One of my favourite books, and an absolute must re more...0 points

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Personal Security & Terrorism Awareness: A Comprehensive Risk Reduction Guide for the American Traveler by John Haynes

Personal Security & Terrorism Awareness: A Comprehensive Risk Reduction Guide for the American Traveler by John Haynes

I haven't read this one yet, so I can't properly r more...0 points

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The Travel Doctor: Your guide to staying healthy while you travel by Mark Wise

The Travel Doctor: Your guide to staying healthy while you travel by Mark Wise

Another one on my radar but his website at http:// more...0 points

Interlude 

So from time to time people ask me some very strange things about what to worry about when they travel. I've been asked whether or not the locals in Kathmandu would take Canadian money. I've been asked if that "silly" Burmese curfew can just be ignored. Oh yeah, I've been asked if I'm over-reacting with the mosquito repellent when we're standing in a Southeast Asian swamp (that's my favourite). After I answer the questions politely, I generally ask some questions of my own. It turns out that in a lot of cases, the people I'm speaking with have gone past the point of no return on their trip, and haven't considered anything beyond the basic administrative or logistic issues surrounding getting to their destinations. When I get past my initial incredulity, I'm forced to consider, for most people, a lot of the really big deal things to worry about are so far outside most folks' experience, they don't even enter into the realm of possibility.

The following is a list of some of the more immediate categories of things to consider during the travel planning process.

  • Health / disease / vector status
  • Civil situation: any riots lately?
  • Disaster situation: hurricane season = cheap flights for a reason
  • Culture clash: do the people at your destination have a tendency to make sweeping generalizations about your race / religion / sexual orientation? do you about them? (elitism counts even if you don't want to call it that)
  • Economy: is the paper the local currency's printed on more valuable to you in the bathroom? (or, will the locals be able to see the fluorescent yellow dollar sign emblazoned on your forehead?)

    • This is by no means a comprehensive list, and I'll be back to update it. But these are some of the very important issues that need to be considered before actually setting out to travel. I don't want to minimize the importance of administrative details like visas and currency exchange, but if those are the only things you're worried about, you might not want to leave your hotel.

    Hot off the presses!...Useful travel news. 

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    Cheezy plug for my personal photostream 

    C'mon...if I can't force people to sit through my lame travel photos how am I to have any fun?

    curated content from Flickr

    by daretogo

    Spent years on the road.  It got crazy after awhile, you know?  I remember a 13-country-in-2-months run that had me waking up in some hotel...

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