1. Be careful on who you are travelling with

This sounds like an obvious one but there has been so many cases where people were betrayed by their own friend or even partner. You might think that you know someone when in reality you don’t. There are people taking part in dodgy businesses and they can include you without you even knowing. Cases like this are usually when there’s trafficking involved. So be sure on who you are travelling with.

2. Never accept to take anyone else’s luggage

Some drug smugglers will use you by making you the dirty job for them without you even realising. You might be thinking that you are doing someone a favour when really you are being victimised by drug dealers. So to avoid getting involved in such crime, never accept to take anyone’s luggage and do not trust them to put anything in your bag either.

3. Avoid staying or visiting suspicious quiet unknown areas

Although less popular areas tend to be the best places to explore, they can also be very dangerous as we don’t really know what goes on there. Therefore, if you are travelling alone or in a small group it is better to avoid places like these as no one will have much information on where you are staying so, if anything happens it can be more difficult to reach you.

4. Always keep your valuables safe

This seems like an obvious one but you will be surprised on how many people lose or have their valuables stolen when abroad so always keep your belongings well hidden and avoid showing them off for attention.

5. Only take official methods of public transport

Make sure that you are always using official taxis and getting on trustworthy public transport since in tourist resorts it is more common for drivers to take advantage of tourist’s lack of knowledge by charging excessive prices or driving in circles. This means that you can easily become a victim of a scam if you don’t choose carefully. This is also dangerous as you never know if they are legit and that they are not part of gangs that are in the trafficking industry. Therefore, always be careful!

6. Make sure that you are aware of what you eat and drink

It is so easy to get food poison when you eat out specially when you are travelling as you will mostly be eating in restaurants, hotels or from outdoor stalls. Therefore, it is important to be sure on what you are eating. Always research on reviews before eating at a particular place if you can. This also helps you budget as you get the chance to compare food prices.

 7. Be careful with strangers

When you are going abroad you meet a lot of different people from different backgrounds and cultures, this is a good thing as you are coming out of your comfort zone however, you need to be careful as there are people that you should not trust and because you can never know for sure it always important to be cautious. I would suggest if you are about to meet a stranger or anything like that to go accompanied by multiple of people just to be safe. Also, do this in public places with other people around.

8. Analyse properly before renting a car/scooter.

Always read the fine print of the terms and conditions to avoid getting scammed as they tend to charge you more for unjustified things. Also they are aware that you are a tourist so they might accuse you for damages that were already present.

If you are renting a scooter never forget to ask for a helmet just to ensure your safety and make sure the fuel is filled up as you don’t want to end up stranded in a random place!

9. You should not trust ATMs 100%

As you might be aware already over the past years there has been a number of cases which involves people’s bank details being stolen by scammers by modifying ATMs that will store details which can be used to reproduce fake cards and wipe out bank accounts.  In my opinion, to avoid such situations I would just take enough cash with me when travelling abroad or try to only withdraw money inside banks or in safe locations.

10. Avoid too much alcohol consumption

I know that when we go on holidays we want sometimes to have a few cocktails or other drinks depending on preferences however, young people tend to drink excessively when on holiday and end up in bad situations such as getting arrested, fights or paying fines for disrupting the normal environment. If you know that you consume alcohol make sure that you are in control on how much you are drinking and try to avoid getting in trouble, in other words, DON’T GET TOO DRUNK!!!

 

Thank you for reading and please don’t forget to give this a like and maybe share your opinions with me 🙂 Love you guys xxx

– Anita