Tips for International Travel

To most of you this is intuitive and we talked about it in general, regarding spending time away from home. Being out of the country adds special challenges and requires extra thought in preps which is why I thought this timely article from WSJ might be useful reading. Of particular importance is knowing what the State Dept. can and cannot do to help you when you are on foreign land.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...he_Middle_Seat

As we're getting ready to be away in Europe for 2+ weeks traveling to obscure places, I will be doing my share of preparing for anything and everything I can think of.

Good reminder. That voluntary STEP program is good. During the events recently in Eygpt, we had an employee there on vacaction. With this program he was contacted and made some changes to his plans to avoid trouble.

Some very good points in that article. I think that, as PAL said, the STEP program would be high on my list of preps. That, and reading local news outlets from the areas I was planning on traveling in before I went on the trip.

The State Department has run a pretty decent web site for several years. Regardless of the country you intend to visit you can gather a ton of information like crime stats, where medical facilities are located, threats to watch out for and a whole lot more. Their STEP program is linked from each of the country pages.

http://travel.state.gov/travel/travel_1744.html

i just got home frome europe yesterday and one of our group members got pick-pocketed

There's good advice on these sites. I agree that the local newspapers are a good source of information about concerns also. I talk to locals for recent events as well. The level of safety I require for myself is not the same level for another, such as my sister. I've been stranded, broke down, caught in bad neighborhoods, caught in demonstrations, found myself at bus stations in the wee hours and I've lost a few items by pickpockets or thieves. I am comfortable with my level of safety, yet each time I had a problem I was going against some recommendation that I read at the STEP site. A little risk gives me a little adventure. Besides, if I spent the money that I would need to assure complete safety, I would be broke in my first month. I'd still like to receive their emails and information.

When I was in Poland, I never carried large bills or important stuff in my pockets. I was pickpocketed once, but all they got was my leather change purse (that I bought as a souvenir) and a small amount of change. The change purse was easily replaced. I carried large bills and other important stuff in a thin wallet around my neck and under my shirt.

I was in Ahmedabad India, in April - May for work and I spent hours on the internet trying to find all the do's and dont's of being a traveler in another country. I carried one of those neck "bags" to keep my passport, money, and visa in. I had no problems at all with pick pockets or scam artist but I really could see how they could "get" me if someone wanted to.

This is probably a topic for another thread, so let it die if needed, but when I was there. The airlines went on strike and we killed Osama, needless to say I stuck out like a swore thumb. If I had to spend time in India under war conditions or I could not get home, I don't think I would last a week.