Safety plays an important role for many travelers when choosing a vacation spot. But tourists can also do a lot themselves for a smooth vacation. We have a few ideas.
Road trips through Scandinavia, beach holidays in the Canary Islands and safaris in South Africa – all of this is now possible again. Airports and hotel operators are preparing for the first major wave of travel this year: the Easter holidays. According to a current ADAC survey, however, safety is playing an increasingly important role when choosing a holiday destination.
Accordingly, holidaymakers primarily take into account the political stability at the travel destination, flexible cancellation conditions and local hygiene standards. But there are also things that travelers can do themselves to travel the world more safely. How? We have eight tips for you.
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Travel safely: Eight tips for vacationers
Be careful when choosing your travel destination
The world situation is changing rapidly. It therefore makes sense to find out in advance whether the countries on the bucket list really fit your own security needs. They are very individual. While some want to travel with as little risk as possible, others consciously seek adventure in countries that are not necessarily among the safest in the world. Incidentally, a good reference point for this is the Travel Risk Map, which continuously classifies all countries worldwide in terms of their security situation. The whole thing works according to the traffic light principle: green is considered safe, while you should think twice about a holiday in the red countries.
Get to know the culture of the holiday destination in advance
When it comes to safe travel, preparation is actually more than half the battle. Anyone who comes out as a tourist directly at the travel destination will quickly be chosen as the victim of petty criminals and scammers. Whether it’s a taxi, a restaurant or a stroll through town, it’s always good to blend in with the crowd of locals. However, this is only possible if you know the local customs. And by the way, with a little preliminary research, you can prevent potential faux pas in contact with locals. Again, this is sure to be a good thing.
Sometimes caution is better than trust
Anyone who travels to foreign countries often wants to get to know the people there better. As a traveler, you approach the locals very openly and let them take you into their world. However, those who attach great importance to security should not blindly trust every resident of their holiday country. Even if people are basically good, there are always exceptions – even on vacation. So the leap of faith in itself isn’t a bad idea when combined with a healthy dose of caution. In the end, it always helps a little to listen to your gut feeling when in contact with other people. If the stomach becomes queasy, something is wrong – no matter how serious the situation seems.
It depends on the right distance
The coronavirus pandemic hardly plays a role in our everyday lives in this country. What has remained are a few test centers, a few mask wearers in the supermarket and the memory of very limited travel. But in some countries around the world there are even more Covid rules than here. It is therefore worth finding out about the hygiene standards at the travel destination in advance and, for your own protection, to consider which infection protection measures you want to take on the way.
About numbers, luggage and finances
Know the right number in an emergency
Accidents can also happen on vacation. It is all the more important to prepare in advance for the worst case and to write down the most important numbers and addresses – preferably in duplicate. That means once in the smartphone and once on a piece of paper or in a notebook. Because even the mobile phone can break if we assume the worst case. And what’s on the list now? Anyone traveling within Europe should know the European emergency number 112. It is also worth noting the addresses and telephone numbers of relevant hospitals in the area, as well as the address of the accommodation. Important contacts from home and telephone numbers of insurance companies and credit card providers can also help in an emergency to get the right contact person on the phone quickly.
When it comes to money, double (or triple) is better
You sit comfortably in a deckchair on the beach and sip delicious cocktails – and then you can’t pay for them because the credit card at the holiday destination simply doesn’t work for some inexplicable reason. A situation that gets on your nerves – and can be avoided with a simple solution: split your money for the trip. If you have part of your budget with you in cash, want to pay a second part on your account and a third part with your credit card, you can dodge it if one payment method doesn’t work.
Light luggage frees you up – and makes you less vulnerable
Holidaymakers shouldn’t have too much cash and valuables with them when they go on a sightseeing tour – that’s a well-known fact. But those who travel light make it harder for outsiders to identify themselves as tourists, which in turn has an additional factor for the safety of the traveler. You also have less surface to attack and you can move around more freely on site if you don’t have to worry about your belongings at the same time.
When in doubt, always ask for help
Yes, sometimes it takes courage to ask strangers for help or to ask for directions. But especially when we are somewhere for the first time and don’t know our way around, that’s sometimes the only right way out of trouble. So the next time you’re on vacation and don’t know what to do, just ask someone close to you who you trust if they can help you. Let’s be honest: you wouldn’t hesitate to help the other way round, right?
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