Originally posted on August 21, 2016 @ 11:12 pm
In the fast pace of traveling life, there is a lot of stuff that is going through your mind. If you’re a lover of travel, you’re first and foremost thinking about all the amazing things you’re going to get to see and do on your adventures. There is nothing like the high you get from traveling the world, eating the exotic and perfectly spiced foods, watching the sunset over the riviera, and listen to people go about life in a tongue that is foreign to you but as beautiful as a song.
When you’re visiting a place for the first time, you’re obviously a stranger in a strange land, and while you might think that you’re tough as nails and nobody would have the audacity to touch you or harm you, the fact of the matter that this isn’t true and you need to go into your adventuring with some very real guidelines in mind.
Here are 3 ways to keep yourself safe when traveling:
Beware of the Drug Culture
You might be used to drug culture where you live. Drugs are everywhere and they vary in form and purpose. What you have to understand is that the culture of drugs in your hometown or city doesn’t mirror the culture in the city you’re visiting.
You might feel relatively safe at home, but if you’re visiting country where the government has less control of cartels and drugs are literally making the country money or are seriously defining the climate of the country both politically, but also socially and economically, you need to know all you can before going in. Being educated will at least help you make wise decisions about where you go when, and what you accept from people among other things.
Carry Around A Physical Map of the Area
This is the age of technology and when it’s so much easier and often more accurate to just use your phone’s GPS to get around, this isn’t something that you want to rely upon 100% of the time. If your phone or device dies and you’re left having no idea where you are or how to get back to where you’re staying for the night, you can put yourself in serious harm.
Be smart and keep yourself safe by making sure that you have on hand a physical map of the area you’re exploring on your travels. This way, you won’t be as stressed if your phone’s battery is on low, and you’ll always be able to find your way to where you need to go.
Have A Way to Translate
If you’re like a majority of tourists, you don’t walk into a place knowing the language. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because people around the country are notorious for wanting to speak and practice English, but just in case you run into a circumstance where nobody around speaks the same language, bring a translating tool with you. This could be your phone, but a translation book will never die…so it’s better to be safe than unable to communicate.