Travel and Safety Tips
My biggest piece of advice to anyone looking to travel abroad is to be smart. Seems simple enough, right? You’d be surprised how often people forget to be smart. They get comfortable in a place too quickly and let their guard down. That’s when the potential for danger arises. No matter where you go, there will be bad people and bad things will happen. Before you leave to get on your plane, someone will undoubtedly tell you about something they saw on the news about how dangerous the place you’re going to is. Yes, some places are more dangerous than others, but as long as you’re aware and you’re smart, the likelihood of something bad happening goes down tremendously. Now, I say this from experience. From multiple times of not being smart. I have lost things, gotten lost myself, had my cellphone stolen, and have been in situations that could have easily been avoided had I been paying attention.
Every time I leave the country, without fail, my dad tells me to take my eyes, multiply them, multiply them again, and put a pair in the back of my head. Of course, this is translated from Albanian, but it essentially means to keep my eyes open, to be alert, and to be aware of my surroundings at all times. My mom on the other hand, while she tells me similar things, also says that whatever she says will go in one ear and out the other. Although I do my best to listen to my parents, my mom is not 100% wrong here. People can warn you and give you advice until they’re blue in the face, but you wont truly understand until your phone has been stolen, you have been robbed, or you have lost your wallet. Trial by fire, as they say. Hopefully, though, once it happens once, you will learn and will be able to prevent it from happening again.
Being smart includes a million small safety tips. For anywhere, for example, do not carry your cellphone in your back pocket, do not have a lot of cash on your person, do not walk around by yourself at night, and always make sure someone knows where you’re going. Do not make yourself an easy target. People aren’t going to rob you if you’re alert and holding your bag close to you. They’ll find an easier target, someone with their phone in their back pocket.
In places like Jordan and the Middle East, though, you may have to take a few extra precautions. As a female in the Middle East, you have to take even more precautions. My first piece of advice here is to stay up to date with the news. If anything big were to happen, World Aware and Northeastern will, of course, make you aware. However, it only serves to help you if you know what is going on around you each day. Know what holidays are coming up and what celebrations may come with them. Ask yourself questions such as, “Will this change traffic?” “Will taxi fares go up?” “Should I avoid X part of town for the next few days?” For example, during Ramadan, it would help to know that you should not eat or drink in public. Not only for your safety, but also out of respect for the people around you and their beliefs. It would also prove beneficial to know at what time in the evening Iftar takes place and how that will effect traffic and restaurant prices. Another piece of advice I would have, for females in particular, is to cover up. This does not mean that you have to wear a hijab. However, you should cover your chest, your arms, and your legs. This is not only respectful of the people around you, but will also help you avoid any additional unwanted attention that comes with being a Western woman in the Middle East (or anywhere for that matter). Additionally, if you are going anywhere, be sure to go in a group or have at least one other person with you. The best option is to have a male companion. This is a concept that is very difficult for some of us independent, Western woman to grasp. Often, it makes us angry. However, once you realize that this is not a jab at your independence, but rather a necessary safety precaution, it becomes much easier to swollen. Additionally, having a male with you will often make life a lot easier. Often, some locals, particularly taxi drivers, will not stop for or listen to a female. Once you understand that you are here to study and not to change the gender norms of the country, it becomes much easier to just sit back and let one of the guys deal with it for once.
