Travel that might feel unsafe makes for bad travel. Learn ways to increase your safety.
Note: this post will be updated from time to time as needed. Update March 2025, a new article on safety here: Essential Safety Apps/Websites for Travelers Over 40.
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OK let’s start out with some CYA’s for me (if you ever saw me, you see I need big CYA’s).
Safety is Your Responsibility
Yes, streetlights might be out, the map program confusing and leading you wrong, you have no choice in who you share a hostel dorm with, and on and on. However, as much as I understand all of that, the choice is usually mine/yours in regards to safety. Things that have happened to me are usually when I’ve let my guard down or did not trust my gut. Don’t do that, be vigilant and smart.
So here is how I try to stay safe while traveling, which may or may not work for you, but in case it helps someone, let me drone on.
Research
You will see a pattern here with me in that I always start with research and think it makes all the difference between having an enjoyable trip and having one that isn’t even close. Wherever you are thinking of going for a vacation, research first. Find out the local code for calling the police, North America it is 911, in the European Union it is 112, find out wherever you are going and program it in your phone.
Then search for “what is the crime like in XXX”, “is neighborhood YYY safe in XXX” where your hotel is, or a restaurant you want to try, or an experience you want to enjoy. Many countries have scams that the locals all know about, but tourists do not, this is where research pays off. Your country’s diplomatic department will usually have information on each country that their citizens might go on vacation. NOTE these are usually very cautious but help with knowing what they’ve observed or what happens often in that country. Oftentimes, just searching for the restaurant or the venue will come up with known safety problems in that area.
Finally, run your plans for that day/night by the hotel staff or a local you know, if they are skittish, you should be too. Then it is up to you to read all of this and make decisions on what level of safety you are comfortable with. Some people I know, only will travel with guides, others want to be completely independent, most like a mixture. What do you like?
More Research and Keep Notes
OK I’m not being redundant here, I’m talking about researching what you want to see and do in a new place and then saving it on a maps program, whether Google or Bing Maps, or another like Maps.me. I research anything I want to see or possibly might see and save them to a Google map with a subfolder name for that country or city. They then show up every time I look at the map I can see exactly where I am in relation to one of the destinations I pre-chose. This means I am staring less at my phone and being less of a papaya (we’ll get into that below). I wrote instructions on how to do this in a separate post on Top Three Apps I Use to Make Travel Easier. Also, once done, I download that map so I can also use it offline if I am having internet issues. And let’s face it, I always seem to have internet issues of some sort in a new city or country, with or without a local SIM card.
¡No Dar Papaya!
¡No dar papaya! This is a Colombian term I believe, at least that is where I first heard it, and then many times in Mexico: “don’t give away your papaya!” In other words, don’t make yourself a good target of crime. Don’t wear expensive jewelry or watches and don’t wear good knockoffs either. Someone from afar will think it’s real and worth making you a victim. Try to blend in as best you can. In Mexico only tourists usually wear shorts unless near the beach, thus those wearing shorts are from out of town 95% of the time. Ball caps used to be as well, and t-shirts with sports teams or writing, though these are getting much more frequent in other countries. Just look around and see how you match your environment and how you don’t.
Also, if you don’t see people using their phones out in public, don’t bring yours out. In Buenos Aires I was walking near the Recoleta Cemetery on a workday in the early afternoon, a good part of town. I took out my phone to look for directions and backed up to a bank and sat on their steps to be less of a target. Then out of nowhere a guy on a motorcycle jumped the curve and drove up to me on the sidewalk and tried to snatch my phone. Luckily his hands must have been sweaty because he was unsuccessful. I was stunned because as I looked up, I expected someone I knew to be joking with me. It took a good minute for me to realize I was almost a victim of crime and by then he had pulled back onto the road and was off. What should I have done? I should have gone into the bank lobby and pulled out my phone (which is also the only place I will use an ATM).
Also, I learned to get THIS to keep my phone connected to my body, and though it looks ugly as sin, I use it every day. It has made me feel much safer when I am in a new place and helped numerous times to keep my phone from hitting the ground. Remember, in Buenos Aires my phone was probably worth that guy’s annual salary, or at least several months’ worth, so it was a target – a papaya! So even if you can’t see danger, think that is it around you and !no dar papaya!
Make Plans to (Not) Lose Anything You Bring
Luggage: I try to only travel with a carry on bag/suitcase. If for some reason I need to check a bag as well, I make sure everything I need for a day will be in my carry on, and just resign myself to the fact that the checked bag might or might not make it. I also have an Apple Airtag in both my carry on and my checked bag. Of course, I learned that I also needed one in my backpack when I forgot it on a bench at the Gran Canary Airport. Since the backpack had my computer (basically my life and means of support) I tried using Apple’s Find My feature for the computer and realized that this program only works once someone turns the computer back on. Another Air tag would have told me exactly where my backpack was and alerted me once I got so far on the bus that I left it behind.
It would have also saved me from being in a panic half my first day, looking for it on the bus, then the airport, dealing with airport security, then airport lost and found, and then dejected getting back to the bus stop, realizing that it was gone for good. I did lock it down on Apple’s program, which was good, but still I was in rare form kicking myself for being so stupid.
Luckily, while waiting for the second bus, I was still searching and out of the blue an airport employee came up to me and asked if I needed any help. I thought, she must think I am an idiot and so I told her I lost something was just checking to see if I might find it. She asked what I lost, and I told her about my backpack with my computer and life inside of it. She asked what color it was, and I told her, she then informed me that she had found the backpack in what must have been within minutes after I left it, and it was now in her office. Providing proof that it was mine (with my business card inside – thank God) as well as all the objects I knew where inside including two plums and two yogurts, I had my life back in my hands in no time. I realized how lucky I was and stopped beating myself up on the ride back.
But this did lead me to realize that not only did I need another Apple Airtag, I should have used my habit of always checking if I have everything, something I am religious about leaving a taxi or an airplane but wasn’t that morning getting on that bus.
Again, traveling forces us in unfamiliar places and we need to stay vigilant in keeping ourselves and our things safe. Secondly, I finally added a message to my home screen of my phone to tell anyone who finds it how to call my sister. I read about this at least two years ago and thought it a brilliant idea, but never got around to it. Well, that day I added this to my phone:
Trust Your Gut!
Trust your gut! If you wouldn’t take this risk at home, why the hell are you thinking about doing it in another city/country??? Walk down a dark alley to cut five minutes off your destination, would you do that at home? No? Then never do it in a place you don’t know. If you are somewhere and you suddenly don’t feel safe – pay attention to that feeling! I’m not much for woo-woo thinking, but I do believe that we tell ourselves important things, even if we don’t realize it. Our feeling of safety is one of them.
If you suddenly feel unsafe, go back to where you felt safe and ask people you can trust what you should do. Again, this is their home, they know the area best. If you can’t go back easily enough, find people to be near until you can go into a store, bank, hotel, or whatever and then again ask people for help. Think this is paranoid, so what?? Talk to anyone who’s been a victim of crime to see if they had an inkling of feeling unsafe, I will bet you dollars to donuts that they did (if they will admit it). Safety is key to enjoying your vacation.
Backups, and Backups of the Backups
Whenever I get a new credit card, license, vaccine shot, Global Entry or Clear ID, passport, whatever, I take a photo of it, front and back. Since my photos are backed up to my computer and then to the cloud, I can always retrieve what I may have lost. Now this does open me up to cyber theft if someone hacked Apple or my computer or my phone, I get that, but I also have taken some steps with passwords to protect my information as well. In a foreign land, if I am victim of crime, just get me to the internet and I can shut down any account or freeze them within minutes.
Speaking of freezing, I am a US citizen, so I can freeze my credit, so no one is able to take out a loan with my name if they happened to get my information while I am out of the country. It is a great peace of mind and I encourage you to do the same. Just don’t forget to lift it when you need to (changing to T-Mobile and forgetting this almost made it impossible for me to get phone service once).
Finally, my sister has a copy of all this as well, just in case something would happen to me, and I was not able to close everything myself. She’s my backup to my backup, get the idea?? Also share all your travel details with someone else not going on your trip. They become your backup to your backup as well (I use the app TripIt for this and it is great, see this article).
If going overseas, I always use the STEP program (Smart Traveler Enrollment Program) and app with the US Department of State to let them know where I am. I believe most countries have something similar through their diplomatic agency and if something major ever went down, political or natural disaster, someone official knows you are in that country and may need a way to get home or to safety. I used to call my banks and credit card companies, but I’ve been told several times, that now they see that I am a traveler, so they don’t freeze my accounts so quickly. If you don’t travel much and your first trip is in five different countries, you should let your credit and debit card issuers know about your trip. Having a frozen debit card in a foreign country in a different time zone and trying to get customer service on the phone is a bear! I know, I’ve had to do it in a small town in Argentina where I ran out of money. This was three hours of my trip I couldn’t take back because I didn’t let them know I was going out of town. Don’t make my mistake.
VPN: Keep Yourself Safe Online
VPN: Keep yourself safe online. A VPN is a program that you sign on and you access the internet through their secured servers, it also masks where you are, so while I am in Spain, I choose a server in Miami and when I search on Google, I get results that look like I am in Miami. I also use it for my phone as well, though that can make it harder to make calls or use the internet at times. Realize that any VPN may slow down your service while you use it, though 95% of the time I never notice a change.
Once I knew I was going to be traveling full time, I researched VPN services and decided on Express VPN based on the reviews and the price. I’ve now been using them for several years and am very happy with them, there are several out there, just research. Whenever I need to sign in on an account like Uber, Booking.com, or anything that might have my credit card on file, I first make sure my VPN is on my computer or phone. I also never look at my bank accounts without it being on. If you use public WIFI at a Starbucks or in a restaurant or library, be sure you sign on through your VPN to protect your computer or phone. This is preventative security, it may not be perfect, but it does help – do it.
Carabineers
God’s gift to humanity with backpacks (fanny packs too, I just hate them) yes, they were made first for climbers – whatever. Carabineers that look like THESE come in all sizes and colors, I also like the “S” shaped ones, and you can get one cheaply that will match whatever you want it to match. I have two, maybe three on my backpack right now. They help protect your things by attaching them to your person, or to a bedframe, or to your luggage, or to itself. When I have my backpack on me and exploring a city, I use the carabineer and attach the bottom of the backpack to my belt loop. I tend to only use one arm in my backpack and not put it fully onto my back, because that is hot, and I am lazy. However, this makes my backpack a papaya (see above) and can easily be yanked away from me by someone running by and I never run as fast as any thief.
You can also get smaller ones and connect your zippers together, so it makes rifling through your backpack that much harder and clumsier. Carabineers are strong and not that difficult to open, but you need to do it very deliberately which is not how thieves usually operate. I also attach it when I am sitting at a restaurant or have it off my shoulder and attach it to the telescoping handle of my carry on. Buy some, they are cheap, buy bright ones and show you are a harder papaya to get!
Protect Your Computer
Like carbineers, I have THIS steel cord and lock that I strap on my luggage to a bed or a desk or something heavy in my hotel room. I get it, the only people who can get into the hotel are usually employees, they’re safe, aren’t they?? Well yes, usually; however, you never know someone’s last day might be the day they are there to clean your room or fix your AC, so !no dar papaya! I also take my laptop and put it in my luggage (most of my clothes are out, so it fits easily) and then zip up my luggage and lock it with a similar lock that I use on my luggage. Thus, to get my laptop, they’d have to cut the steel cord or lock to the bed and then cut the luggage open or get the lock off. All of these are very possible for a person with time and ability, I have just made it much harder for the casual thief, which is all I/you can do.
Hotel Rooms
Speaking of hotel rooms, be vigilant with those as well. When I am first in a hotel room or a new B&B apartment, I look closely to see how safe I feel about staying there. Ground or first floors (second in the US) I specifically ask not to be placed, for safety as well as noise. Then check to see if the locks working on doors and windows??
I once forgot to check the locks in Puerto Vallarta at one place because I had to quickly get something when my original apartment ended up being a ghost (another post I need to write.) However, I was on the third floor up and the only way up was an outdoor circular stairway, that honestly wasn’t that well attached and swayed, so I figured I was safe once I got into my place. It wasn’t until that night that I realize the sliding doors to my patio had no lock. I looked around for what I could put to jam it closed, and there wasn’t much, so I ended up leaning a chair on it with a plate on the chair. If someone were to open it, it would make a hell of a racket. I didn’t sleep well that night and ended up leaving the next day once I found another place I felt safer in. But it cost me the rest of that stay because I had to pay in advance, but mostly because I didn’t do the safety check as soon as I got there.
Some travelers use a doorstop on their door to keep it secure, other use a small steel plate that slides over the latch next to the strike plate and keeps the door secure. Though some users have had issues getting out of their room with it. Again, whatever makes you secure in that room or apartment. Realize that keys can be copied, codes where owners keep their keys for their apartment are hardly every changed, so anyone who ever stayed there before you, can probably get back in if they want. Which is why a lot of hotels have another type of locking mechanism you can only use from the inside, if your door has one, use it religiously.
Your Money, Cards, and Passport
Never carry anything valuable on your back. Meaning, no wallet in back pockets – ever!! This I learned way late in life. Everyone I knew growing up had their wallet in their back pockets. First it is bad for your spine to sit on that sucker all day, but more importantly it is also a much easier target for pickpockets. Speaking of pickpockets, just search the internet for “pickpocket proof clothing” and there is a wealth of retailers who sell great products that make it more comfortable to hide your passport and money on your body. And if you wear a jacket, don’t put your wallet in the inside pocket of the jacket near the chest. This too is an easy target, harder than the back pocket, and usually involves being bumped by a stranger.
Which is a good thing to talk about, whenever someone bumps into you or brushes by you, check for your valuables. This might sound paranoid, but believe me, this is important. Especially in mass transit, in lines, or just walking on the street. I’ve seen, we’ve all seen, people bump into one another and usually they apologize and walk away, and someone is left thinking the other is an idiot. Who knows, they might be, or they may just have been the victim of a crime. Be vigilant, also if anyone spills something on you, put your hands on your valuables before you react. This is one of the most popular ways to distract someone while they or someone else picks your pockets.
If you wear a backpack (the right way, fully on your back), think about turning it inside out so the zippers are closest to your back. Or carry it in front, again it may look stupid, but who cares?? Also, don’t carry all your cards and cash in one place, use a money belt, or undergarment money/passport holder. Divide your money between pockets and make use of hotel safes if they have them. Always keep an emergency stash and some credit/debit cards back at the hotel safe. On your person, keep access to small bills easy and convenient, but larger bills separate and hide. When you need a larger bill, go somewhere private (bathroom) to pull them out.
Health
Health: take care of yourself. Kind of goes without saying, but believe me, it is so often overlooked. We tell ourselves we can sleep when were dead, it’s only a small cold, cut, ache, etc. and besides we’re on vacation. WRONG. Always plan a mostly free/slow day if you are traveling far for the first day. Take one of those inane Hop On Hop Off type of bus tour where you can start anywhere and go the whole route. This is a great way to orient yourself to your new city without any time pressures. It also means that you can sleep in if you need to (or take a small nap if needed, small being the opportune word here) and ease into the new time zone and culture. We put too much pressure on ourselves when we are on vacation and forget to be kind to ourselves and our bodies. Start your vacation correctly with a small, mostly unplanned, first day.
Second, buy travel insurance. OK I know, it is expensive (actually not if you’ve ever gotten an unexpected hospital bill – that @#$ is crazy!). Companies like Safetywing and World Nomad offer good travel insurance at reasonable rates, and you can get the bare minimum if that is all you can afford, but don’t be pennywise and pound foolish as my mother used to say. I have an entire post on helping to choose travel insurance here.
Bring all your prescriptions in your carry on and take photos of the bottles if you don’t bring them to show that your pills are legit (some bring copies of their prescriptions). Remember, what is legal prescription in one country, might not be in another, so showing that you are carrying legit scripts helps a lot. Also, take a few days more of your scripts than your vacation is planned in case something happens. It doesn’t take up that much more room, but if you ever need it, you will be so glad you did.
You also don’t need to bring your whole medicine cabinet, but I always travel with my own Imodium, Pepto Bismol tablets, ibuprofen (in many countries this is a script), band aids and rudimentary first aid kit, lip balm, sunscreen (small enough for carryon), and any other items from a drug store that you cannot live without. If it is a larger item, search online if it is sold where you are going, and only buy it there if you need it. Even if it is 30% more there, it isn’t worth bringing and taking up valuable real estate in your luggage or dopp kit.
Water use: If you researched (see another reminder) and found out that some people don’t drink the local water, pay attention here. Heavily touristed areas usually have filtered water used in restaurants and bars (ice) but not all, and not every sink in every restaurant and bar may be filtered. It only takes one bad tomato on that hamburger to get you ill. I’ve been sick several times because of this and whenever I let my guard down, it happens. Most cooked items are fine, so I always ask for fries instead of salad, and cooked onions and melted cheese on my burgers (medium well to well done, as you never are sure of the quality of meats anywhere).
One person I met in Mexico said they survive on street tacos (which are amazing, cheap, and plentiful – another post I know) but they use a wet hand/dry hand method of eating them. This is originally a cooking method (my friend is a chef) and I’ve done enough cooking to know what he meant. In cooking when you need to bread something like chicken tenders, you take the chicken with one hand and dip it in egg wash, then you grab it with the same hand and drop it in the flour and use the other hand to spread the flour on it and pull it out with that other hand. One of your hands is always clean (or dry). For street food, if you want to touch the spoon of the cilantro, onions, jar of siracha or whatever, use the hand you are not going to be eating with. All the other items strangers touch all day, but nothing but your clean hand touches what you eat. Makes sense? Or use both hands and have wet wipes before you eat, that works too.
Finally
Finally, search online for “travel safety” or “travel safety items or list” and you will find many other items that I completely forgot. No list is exhaustive, and peace of mind is everything for a good night’s sleep and to feel comfortable in a new city or country. Remember, no one is going to do this for you, it is up to you. If you thought what I wrote was useful, or you think of other items that I forgot or you think what I wrote is incorrect, please use the comments below. Thank you in advance if you do.
Thank you for reading my article. If you would like to read about other travel posts you can go to Articles to see all posts, or to Destinations to see them grouped by location. General travel tips can be found here.
