Well probably you have received loads of advice before about being safe whilst travelling, but maybe you still somehow managed to get mugged on that last trip to Paris/Bali/Peru/wherever. You may have heard it was the safest place in the world with low crime rates and how on earth did you still manage to get mugged?! I've travelled in over 30 countries and I've only been mugged once overseas in Berlin - I left a bag of dirty clothes in a hostel locker unlocked assuming no one would be desperate enough to want my dirty traveller clothes! Well below is a list of what seems to work from me - a mix of my own ideas, others and common knowledge. I hope it will help you stay out of trouble for your next trip.
1. Blend In. I almost cried when my parents got mugged in London and at the time my dad was wearing a bright yellow Australia jumper. Why dad, why?!! It may be hard to blend in when you are a blond in Africa, but it doesn't mean you should give up completely and attract attention to yourself. My tips for blending in are - match the colour scheme (if you see lots of black coats wear black, if you see lots of colour wear colour), don't be too noisy and attract attention to that fact you are speaking a foreign language, buy some cheap local clothing and donate it after your trip (hiking boots and backpacks are a giveaway so try to keep your tourist outfit for hiking trips not city site seeing if everyone is well dressed where you are and you are the only person in miles wearing hiking pants and boots).
2. Trust No One. Molder and Scully were wise in saying this. Never ever leave your bag with someone else unless (a) it has no valuables in it and (b) you have warned the person you will unfriend them from facebook if they take their eyes off your bag for a second. A second is all it takes to get mugged.
The oldest scammer trick in the book is "Oh you're from Melbourne, I have an uncle who lives there" then they pretend to help you before coaxing you into a shop you don't want to visit and even forcing you to buy goods you don't want. These can be interesting experiences the first few times, but after a while it's tiresome so I recommend not befriending people who approach you on the street like this.
3. Dine in Local Restaurants If a restaurant is full of tourists then it will be a target for thieves. Plus local restaurants are usually cheaper and more authentic - don't be fooled into thinking being with other tourists makes you safer, not from pick pockets.
4. Keep your valuables on you. You know all about the pouches you can buy. Keep them hidden or keep the zips in site and check them regularly - I'm paranoid about this.
5. If you're alone, don't flash your camera about too much. If there's two of you you can keep an eye on each other, but alone and attracting attention can attract pick pockets, scammers, etc. Just pull out the camera when you are about to take a picture if possible.
6. Be adventurous, but be intuitive. If your gut instinct tells you an ally way is dangerous then most likely it is. Make good judgements whilst your wandering. I check my access routes for a street. I avoid walking next to cars that are parked with people inside them in case they decide to jump out and grab you. I make sure no one is following me when I leave a bank. Listen to locals - in some situations locals have even warned me not to go somewhere, because they thought I'd get mugged.
7. Don't do exactly the same thing every day. Predators watch your habits. If someone observes you dining alone in the same restaurant at the same time every day then you are looking for trouble. I learnt this hearing about crocodile attacks in north Australia - crocodiles can watch you for months, even years, swimming in the same water hole until they know your habits to well and they know the perfect moment to strike. My boyfriend's work van in Lima took the same route every morning collecting the employees until it had been doing this for around 8 months and at a traffic light just after everyone left the bus besides the driver, the bus got ambushed and stolen within seconds.
8. Become Taxi Wise. Not everyone comes from a place where taxis are dangerous, some of us come from places where taxis are very safe or simply expensive so we seldom use them. Understand that taxis are one of your biggest safety risks in many countries. I recommend asking locals for advice about their local taxis. For example, in Lima there are more illegal taxis then legal ones, so if you are transiting between the airport with all your luggage it is recommended to only take a booked legal taxi to avoid being the victim of an armed robbery, etc. In other places, it's simply about taxi-scammers who don't turn on their meters of pretend it's broken - you need to develop an instinct for when this will happen or in many places you can agree on the fair before you hop in the taxi. In South America sometimes people judge that if a taxi has a Christian cross hanging from their rear-view mirror then they are less likely to rob you because of their values - but obviously this is prejudice and won't always be the case.
Maybe this is more about saving money then safety - but another good trick to avoid scammer taxis is not to catch the taxis that fester around train stations, bus stations etc. Walk 20 metres to the main road outside the entrance and you are likely to avoid many annoyances mentioned above to do with taxis because these scammers love to target tourists.
1. Blend In. I almost cried when my parents got mugged in London and at the time my dad was wearing a bright yellow Australia jumper. Why dad, why?!! It may be hard to blend in when you are a blond in Africa, but it doesn't mean you should give up completely and attract attention to yourself. My tips for blending in are - match the colour scheme (if you see lots of black coats wear black, if you see lots of colour wear colour), don't be too noisy and attract attention to that fact you are speaking a foreign language, buy some cheap local clothing and donate it after your trip (hiking boots and backpacks are a giveaway so try to keep your tourist outfit for hiking trips not city site seeing if everyone is well dressed where you are and you are the only person in miles wearing hiking pants and boots).
2. Trust No One. Molder and Scully were wise in saying this. Never ever leave your bag with someone else unless (a) it has no valuables in it and (b) you have warned the person you will unfriend them from facebook if they take their eyes off your bag for a second. A second is all it takes to get mugged.
The oldest scammer trick in the book is "Oh you're from Melbourne, I have an uncle who lives there" then they pretend to help you before coaxing you into a shop you don't want to visit and even forcing you to buy goods you don't want. These can be interesting experiences the first few times, but after a while it's tiresome so I recommend not befriending people who approach you on the street like this.
3. Dine in Local Restaurants If a restaurant is full of tourists then it will be a target for thieves. Plus local restaurants are usually cheaper and more authentic - don't be fooled into thinking being with other tourists makes you safer, not from pick pockets.
4. Keep your valuables on you. You know all about the pouches you can buy. Keep them hidden or keep the zips in site and check them regularly - I'm paranoid about this.
5. If you're alone, don't flash your camera about too much. If there's two of you you can keep an eye on each other, but alone and attracting attention can attract pick pockets, scammers, etc. Just pull out the camera when you are about to take a picture if possible.
6. Be adventurous, but be intuitive. If your gut instinct tells you an ally way is dangerous then most likely it is. Make good judgements whilst your wandering. I check my access routes for a street. I avoid walking next to cars that are parked with people inside them in case they decide to jump out and grab you. I make sure no one is following me when I leave a bank. Listen to locals - in some situations locals have even warned me not to go somewhere, because they thought I'd get mugged.
7. Don't do exactly the same thing every day. Predators watch your habits. If someone observes you dining alone in the same restaurant at the same time every day then you are looking for trouble. I learnt this hearing about crocodile attacks in north Australia - crocodiles can watch you for months, even years, swimming in the same water hole until they know your habits to well and they know the perfect moment to strike. My boyfriend's work van in Lima took the same route every morning collecting the employees until it had been doing this for around 8 months and at a traffic light just after everyone left the bus besides the driver, the bus got ambushed and stolen within seconds.
8. Become Taxi Wise. Not everyone comes from a place where taxis are dangerous, some of us come from places where taxis are very safe or simply expensive so we seldom use them. Understand that taxis are one of your biggest safety risks in many countries. I recommend asking locals for advice about their local taxis. For example, in Lima there are more illegal taxis then legal ones, so if you are transiting between the airport with all your luggage it is recommended to only take a booked legal taxi to avoid being the victim of an armed robbery, etc. In other places, it's simply about taxi-scammers who don't turn on their meters of pretend it's broken - you need to develop an instinct for when this will happen or in many places you can agree on the fair before you hop in the taxi. In South America sometimes people judge that if a taxi has a Christian cross hanging from their rear-view mirror then they are less likely to rob you because of their values - but obviously this is prejudice and won't always be the case.
Maybe this is more about saving money then safety - but another good trick to avoid scammer taxis is not to catch the taxis that fester around train stations, bus stations etc. Walk 20 metres to the main road outside the entrance and you are likely to avoid many annoyances mentioned above to do with taxis because these scammers love to target tourists.
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