Top 10 Travel Safety Mistakes

Top 10
travel safety mistakes

rankings you can trust

Ignoring government travel warnings
Not knowing a city's unsafe areas
Being unaware of your surroundings
Resisting if robbed
Risking injury by being overconfident
Looking like a tourist
Hanging around at a public disturbance
Insufficient hotel door security
Not pre-checking your rental car
Not learning two local safety words

My advice on
travel safety mistakes #1 TO 5

Ignoring government travel warnings

Check out the warnings for your foreign destination on the travel.state.gov and gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice websites.

Not knowing a city's unsafe areas

Get the latest local information by asking your hotel staff and the local tourism office.

Being unaware of your surroundings

Look around for anything suspicious as you leave a restaurant, store, or tourist site.

Periodically glance back as you walk down a busy street in a possibly unsafe area or time. If you think someone is following you, turn around and walk in his general direction - and make brief eye contact. If he's up to no good, he'll likely select another victim because he knows you're aware of his presence. If he's an innocent person, he won't think anything about your brief eye contact.

Resisting if robbed

Don't be a macho hero if held up. Surrender your valuables without a fuss. Losing your cash is better and less expensive than ending up in the hospital with a broken nose.

Risking injury by being overconfident

Don't overestimate your skills. Everyday tourists who think they could ride a motorbike have accidents. Ditto for skiers going down steep alpine slopes, and day hikers climbing challenging trails. This list goes on.

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for travel safety_mistakes #6 to 10