Scotland

To make travel more enjoyable and less stressful (owing to how often things go wrong) it is often a good idea to re-iterate a few simple rules that can help prevent disaster. These things can often ruin a vacation and leave a bad taste in the mouth for a particular location; they can even be expensive! Nobody wants to spend time in a Police station while they are on vacation, much less being too afraid to go out. It is easy to drop your guard when you are on vacation and enjoying yourself but this is when you are most vulnerable so traveling safely relies on your common sense to guide you.

No matter what the situation is, trust what your instincts tell you as they are very rarely wrong. It is a common mistake for many travelers to carry all of their valuables with them in the belief they are safer, this could not be further from the truth. Expensive and necessary items like identification tickets for example should be left at the hotel in their safe or the room safe if you have one; it is much easier to recover your vacation if you only lose a few important belongings instead of all of them.

A handy tip is to place a small amount of money in a number of locations like bags or pockets then if you happen to lose a bag, visa card or money, you will still have something there to keep you going until it can be resolved.

Many couples who have not adopted the travel safely ethos will have 2 credit cards, both accessing the same account; it is much easier to use two cards, each accessing separate accounts so if one is lost or stolen, there is a backup. A big thing now is bag and camera snatching from people strolling along, often in the road and unaware of the potential danger so make sure you wear the backpack on your back and sling your camera over your head and shoulder.

Always avoid letting something hang from your shoulder next to the road as it is easy to grab something from the back of a motorbike as it passes you. Everyone has heard the stories of different confidence tricks that have happened to vacationers because they are relaxed and let their guard down but the truth is these people do this sort of thing for a living.

We can become complacent believing it will not happen or we are cleverer than them but this is how they make their living and in many cases the way that they feed their family every day. If you carry a bag of any kind, buy yourself a small padlock or combination lock as the few dollars you spend will be well worth it as it will deter the majority of sneak thieves. To prevent keys being lost or stolen try attaching them to a climber’s D-shackle that you can place on your belt or pack of some sort, this should help stop anyone trying to snatch them quickly from you.

Most guys (and some girls) will place their wallets in the back pocket of their jeans or shorts making them an easy target for pick pockets; so change your habit and place wallets in the front pockets or perhaps buy a bum bag or money belt. Many of the problems outlined above happen only when people let their guard down; traveling safely does not mean you have to be paranoid, just prepared and use common sense and you will have an enjoyable vacation.