{"id":249,"date":"2020-09-22T15:13:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T15:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/?p=249"},"modified":"2020-10-15T15:07:03","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T15:07:03","slug":"safe-travels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/safe-travels\/","title":{"rendered":"Safe Travels"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p>Is it safe to travel?\u00a0 This is a question I am asked frequently. My response ranges, quietly and internally, from a harumph to a smirk to rolling eyes. I have on occasion been known to snap my head and stare at someone squarely asking if they live in the same country as I do, and if so, you question whether it safe to travel to say, Ireland or Italy or Paris or London?\u00a0 Even more frequently, now that Cuba is in the news, is the question \u201cIs it safe to travel to Cuba?\u201d Cuba may be one of the safest destinations, considering that gun crime is virtually non-existent and the murder rate is lower than most Latin American countries.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>Safety? I wonder what that means to different people and should I be so quick to criticize or reprimand?\u00a0 Fear, I fear, is at the root of the \u201cSafety Question.\u201d\u00a0 Let me consider my own fears. \u00a0I am more afraid of a ferris wheel than I am of a terrorist, I\u2019m more afraid of a snake than a sniper and I\u2019m borderline afraid of the dark \u2013 \u2013 not really but I definitely want to be on familiar ground after dark and after a cocktail.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>In 1982 (or thereabouts) I decided to travel to Europe.\u00a0 The reoccurring question was really more than a question it was a statement of shock.\u00a0 \u201cYou are traveling ALONE to Italy?\u201d\u00a0 ALONE!!\u00a0 Aren\u2019t you afraid to travel \u2013 it\u2019s just not safe for a woman to travel alone.\u201d\u00a0 My reaction was similar to the one I described earlier: harrumph, smirk, rolling eyes, and snap of the head.\u00a0 I was perfectly safe.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>Along the way, and over the years, I developed my 7-steps to travel safely.\u00a0 It is less about safety and more about security and troubleshooting and sidestepping self-inflicted dangers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u00a0<\/h2>\r\n<h2>7 Travel Safety Tips<\/h2>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>Stay alert and aware. The more eyes the better, especially in an airport, train station, or any place of transition.\u00a0 Missing a turn, or not hearing a (read not listening) gate change can really ruin your day. Stay alert.\u00a0 You can relax on the train, but not in the train station.<\/li>\r\n<li>Stay rested. Things go awry when you are weary and really goes hand in glove with #1.<\/li>\r\n<li>Stay hydrated and well-fed. By that I mean, more than ever, you need to be healthy when traveling and this is certainly in your control.\u00a0 Bad food choices result often in bad traveling decisions.\u00a0 Good food keeps the mind and body alert and aware \u2014 back to #1.\u00a0<\/li>\r\n<li>Keep your money, credit cards &amp; passport close to your body and safe. I\u2019m not just talking about pick-pockets, I\u2019m also referring to misplacing things. Losing a credit card\/passport happens more than you think, and I believe it mostly happens as a result of #1, #2, or #3 above.<\/li>\r\n<li>Follow the \u201cnothing good happens after midnight\u201d rule. No need to be on the streets of a strange city at strange hours. Period\u2013and that is my \u201cmommy voice.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<li>Keep a hotel business card with you at all times. Wandering the winding streets, exploring independently can be such a fun adventure until you realize you are deeply lost and have no idea where your hotel is, or more importantly the name of the hotel.\u00a0 If you think this can\u2019t happen to you\u2014think again.<\/li>\r\n<li>Keep the group together or release them. Unless you are traveling solo, you will have to consider \u201cstaying together\u201d \u2013 an awful phrase that no true traveler wants to hear.\u00a0 Try as you might to keep an eye on one another, it likely will happen that one will wander off or stop and shop while the others continue: turn around and \u201cJohn\u201d is gone.\u00a0 My recommendation is have a plan at the beginning of your trip.\u00a0 Mine goes like this:\u00a0 Return to the place you last made eye contact\u2014and stay put.\u00a0\u00a0Believe me this works!\u00a0 Remind me to tell you of the time I left my 13yr old on a train platform in Germany.\u00a0 Yes, the train pulled out and there on the platform stood Ryan.\u00a0 The plan works!<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Travel\u00a0Concerns or Apprehension?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>When people ask, is it safe to travel, I wonder if they are really saying I might be afraid to travel? That is a whole other subject to be considered. Fear of traveling is fear of the unknown, fear of the different, fear of the strange and unfamiliar. Those fears like most other fears (ferris wheels, snakes, and fear of flying) are overcome by the doing. When you have a partner and someone to walk you through and show you the way there\u2019s less to be afraid of.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>I think travel could be a little bit like swimming.\u00a0 Approaching a beautiful lake or swimming pool can be so inviting however if you don\u2019t know how to swim it can be terrifying until a friend or partner says there\u2019s a shallow end of the pool and there\u2019s a way to walk him gently easily carefully will you don\u2019t lose your balance.<\/p>\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>With that, you can change the air terrifying experience to an exhilarating experience. And the same is true of travel<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\r\n<p>Is it safe to travel these days?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know\u2014I really don\u2019t.\u00a0 Is it safe to drive or fly?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is it safe to travel?\u00a0 This is a question I am asked frequently. My response ranges, quietly and internally, from a harumph to a smirk to rolling eyes. I have on occasion been known to snap my head and stare at someone squarely asking if they live in the same country as I do, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":667,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions\/667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freedomtravelllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}