Travel and Safety Tips

I have learned a lot about safety during my time abroad. The biggest component to safe traveling is being aware. It is crucial to be alert to your surroundings but also what some people forget is to be conscious of their own actions. Paying attention to people and situations around you is a pretty obvious tip for safety. However, you can still get caught off guard. Many beggars in Europe will try to distract tourists with children, petitions, or anything they can get their hands on. This is dangerous because while a person might be trying to help out by signing their name, or picking up a ball for a kid, they are in one way or another distracted for long enough to be robbed. Thankfully throughout our time no one in my program has been robbed to my knowledge.

Being aware of one’s own actions is a bit more difficult. Everyone thinks that they are being careful and putting everything away where it belongs but it only takes a split second to drop or misplace something. One weekend when I went to England, I lost my passport. I thought I put it back in my purse as I always do, but I didn’t double check and by the time I realized it was gone, it was too late. This can happen with credit cards, wallets, gift bags, or anything just as easily. It is always best to check multiple times to make sure you have all of your belongings while traveling.

The best local travel secret I have learned is to not underestimate the bus. I took a bus trip to Switzerland and it was extremely convenient and inexpensive. I never would have thought to look at the bus schedules, but when the train I wanted was sold out, I had to find another way to travel with my friends. For my trip in particular the ride was barely longer than the train and it was half the price. In the future I will always check the busses as I have learned how easy it is to spend a lot of money on traveling.