“Is that country safe?” “Is it safe to travel around there alone?”
When it comes to traveling, safety is one of the things we get asked the most about the different countries where we’ve been, and one of the things that we also experience ourselves. Did we ever feel unsafe during our travels or during our hitchhiking adventures? Yes! There were times when we felt a bit unsafe but fortunately nothing really bad happened to us. We believe that our world is a very safe place in general and that there are really no good or bad countries but we shouldn’t ignore that, bad things can still happen whichever country you are in. So, in this article, we will share with you some tools and tips that we use to take care of ourselves when traveling so you can enjoy and confidently explore this beautiful world.
- Research about the country or city where you’re going. Everywhere you go or even in your own hometown, there will be certain areas or neighborhoods that you would rather avoid. Sometimes you learn this the hard way. I’m not so good at this and I encountered myself once in a “bad” neighborhood in India when I was traveling by myself. People were staring at me, getting very close to me, at one point I felt trapped and unsafe. Luckily, I crossed paths with very good locals who really helped me to get out of there but I remember telling myself “Why didn’t I listen to what others told me? Why didn’t I research?”. So do your necessary research both online and by asking locals in the area.
“How do you get mobile data? Mobile roaming service is too expensive”
- Buy a local sim card for your mobile phone. If you don’t have roaming service on your mobile then we highly recommend to always get a local sim card of the country where you are in. You can buy the cheap prepaid sim cards where you can just load it up with a small amount to be able to make local calls or purchase a data package. This will be very useful in times of emergency when you need to call the local emergency numbers, hospital, or the police. Since we started traveling in 2018, our phones are always on “Airplane Mode” because you can always find Wifi everywhere (even inside the airplane!) We normally just use Wifi to communicate using multiple messaging apps like WhatsApp, Google Voice, Messenger, WeChat, or Skype, but we always have a local sim installed on our phones so that in case of emergencies or you’re in the middle of nowhere without Wifi, you can simply just turn off Airplane Mode and make a call.
“I would love to travel around there but is it safe to go there alone?”
Download UrSafe: https://ursafe.com/ One of the best practices when traveling is to download the emergency contacts of the country where you’re traveling. This personal mobile security app can automatically call the emergency number for the country you are in. They partnered with more than 240 countries and territories, so travelers can use it anywhere in the world. If you’re in a bad situation, you can access the app hands-free by calling out a predesignated safeword or by holding down an SOS button on the app. The app can also automatically share your location with your emergency contacts like parents or loved ones when you trigger a distress call during emergencies. This technology is going to help de-escalate a lot of situations and hopefully prevent situations when bad actors realize they are sitting next to a person who has a UrSafe app. It’s available in both English and Spanish and it works worldwide!
📲Google play: https://bit.ly/2E7kXU0
📲Apple Store: https://apple.co/2Ryh8zo- Download in Google Translate the language of the country where you are traveling to: so you can still use the translator even when you don’t have internet in case of any emergencies. This will be very helpful when you’re in a difficult situation like in a hospital or police station or maybe just asking for help or directions. This really helped us especially in countries where it’s not common for people to speak in English. You can find here how to do it: https://bit.ly/2IU0EvM
- Get a good travel medical insurance. Since we started traveling full-time we tried 3 different travel medical insurance, plus the ones before when we used to travel for vacation. I used to use “Universal Assistance” (btw, so bad! I hired their services twice and it was enough for me to not hire their services again), and Marco used to use “World Nomads’”, until last year, after some research, we decided to switch to SafetyWing, a travel medical insurance for nomads created by nomads. It’s affordable, flexible, you can pay monthly, and has very good customer service. We decided to partner with them and become an affiliate because we believe that it’s really reliable and helpful for travelers. So if you decide to hire their services make sure to use this link, so you can also help us to get a small commission. https://www.safetywing.com/a/maptheunknown.
- Trust your gut. I think this is the most important one because as I said before we are all different and we see the world differently. A person’s judgment of what’s a “good neighborhood” or “bad neighborhood” can be subjective and may differ depending on that person’s experience. You know yourself more than anyone so if you feel uncomfortable or unsafe in a specific place or situation, then leave. You are smart and you have that human instinct so trust your gut.
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