When you travel overseas, you are entering a world that is very different from the one you know at home. This is part of its charm – there are so many new things to experience, so many sights to see, and so many new people to meet. However, that same sweet strangeness also has a darker side – traveling overseas can be dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. Think about it – there are places you won’t go at home because they are dangerous, and exactly the same thing applies overseas. However, the problem is that you don’t know what is safe and what isn’t when you are in a foreign country, so you need to take extra precautions to make sure that you have an enjoyable and uneventful trip. These precautions don’t have to be onerous – most of them are common sense and just need a little presence of mind.
Staying safe starts before you ever set out on your journey. Make copies of all your important documentation, including passports, credit cards, medical documents and your travel itinerary. Keep one copy with you – but keep it separate from the originals. This will ensure that you have some form of identification at all times – even if it isn’t official – and let you do things such as cancel credit cards if they are stolen. Leave a copy with a friend at home as well, so that they have all your details if anything goes wrong. It’s also a good idea to check in with the US Embassy when you arrive, so that someone knows that you are in the country.
