Essential Business and Leisure Travel Safety Tips
- Kevin Sahba
- Oct 1, 2024
- 5 min read
Incorporating travel safety techniques are essential for both business and leisure. It ensures a secure and stress-free experience, allowing individuals to focus on their primary objectives - whether closing a business deal or enjoying a vacation. Safety precautions are vital in protecting sensitive information, financial assets, and company security for businesses. Companies often implement travel policies that include safety protocols, such as ensuring secure accommodation, avoiding high-risk areas, and understanding local laws and customs. These principles also apply to leisure travellers, specifically safety, as it allows for a more relaxed and enjoyable trip.
Before You Go Checklist
"Failing to plan is planning to fail." — Allen Lakein.
It is important to plan your travel out before setting foot overseas. These simple steps can help you avoid troubles when you arrive at your destination.
1. Learn about the country you are traveling.
Culture & Lifestyle. Always take the time to know their culture, lifestyle, religion and even dress standards. This will allow you to understand the community and avoid any problems. Some countries have strict codes that require you to dress in a certain way. For instance, in Saudi Arabia, inappropriate clothing for women is a punishable offence.
Current social and political environment. Some countries may be undergoing some form of political struggle or change in government which may cause community instability and therefore putting you at risk. Check the news and social media platforms.
2. Be prepared.
Have digital or hard copies of your identification. By keeping a digital or hard copy of your passport would help you in proving your identity but also assist the consulate is processing your passport.
Have spare money for emergencies. Spare cash for emergencies is scenarios where you have lost your wallet and need to back to accommodation.
Medical preparations. If you need prescription drugs, check the country first to see if its ok to bring them. Pack extra medication just in case you have to stay longer period of time.
Have Travel insurance. Important for situations where you need to go to the hospital or require medical treatment. Always read the fine print as some insurance policies do not cover certain things. For instance, some policies do not cover if your injury is caused by excessive consumption of alcohol.
Plan your destinations. Have some form of itinerary to help guide your activities but also be able to share to friends and family back home just in case they need to contact you.
Download maps. Google allows you to download maps into your phone. This allows you to use the maps offline or if you have no reception.
Let friends and family know. Unless travelling for work, always let someone know if your travel, share your itinerary or even share your location (i.e. Apple’s share my iPhone).
Currency. Mobile apps such as Wise or Revolute can provide digital currency from your mobile phone without the hassle of carrying large amounts of cash and finding a currency converter. These apps can convert the currency for you by simply transferring money from your bank account and choosing the currency you wish to use.
Know the location of the embassy and have contact number. Valuable in situations where you need consular assistance (i.e. lost or stolen passports or crisis incident).
When you have arrived
1. Know your immediate surroundings to ensure safety and security.
Conduct a room inspection.
Check that the door and window locks work.
Check that the fire alarm sensors are operational (blinking light on).
Check for emergency evacuation procedures.
2. Know your way around your accommodation.
Identify the location of hotel security staff.
Locate the hotel first aid room and nearest medical facility.
Know your emergency exit points and evacuation areas from your room.
3. Know the hotel staff and security.
Knowing local information is great intelligence. Casually speaking to staff allows you to build rapport and the local knowledge of what is happening in the area either social, political or general information.
4. Stay aware of your surroundings.
Pay attention to what is around you without being paranoid. Take a mental note of surroundings and trust your gut when it comes to sensing danger. It some cases, the victim would had have seen or noticed the attacker previously and had a suspicious feeling about them before the incident had even occurred.
5. Lock and leave.
Before you leave your accommodation, have a mental checklist of what you need to bring for the day and scan the room to make sure that all valuables are out of plain sight and locked away.
6. Cyber safety.
Be cautious using internet cafes or other shared devices such as public use computers. These devices can be controlled by the country’s agencies or government where every website or keystroke made is recorded.
Don’t use Wi-Fi hotspots that you are not familiar with. Technology nowadays shows how fake, or evil twin Wi-Fi systems scrape your identity information and credentials.
Worst case scenario - what to do in a crisis while travelling
1. Identifying it’s a crisis.
One of the first important steps in being in a worse case scenario situation is to identify and accept that you in a crisis. This process allows you to mentally move on and find the next best and safe steps out of the situation you are in. A crisis event that impacts your travel could include civil unrest, terrorism, natural disasters, significant medical incident or large-scale accident, amongst other high impact natural or human-caused events.
Immediate steps.
Pack a Go bag – pack essentials (Food, passport, money & mobile phone).
Contact family, ping your location and keep them updated.
Contact your country embassy and seek advice.
Check local news / social media and speak to hotel staff for relevant information and updates.
2. Deciding to stay or go.
There is no right or wrong decision to either stay or go when a crisis occurs (unless your accommodation is going to be destroyed). But what you can do is gather as much information, weigh up the pros and cons and then decide what to do next. Remember to always re-assess your decision if new information comes to light and prioritise safety as part of the decision-making process. Emergency action plans should be in place for evacuating or staying.
Decide to Go.
Travel light and carry essentials.
Plan your route and obtain transportation (if available).
Decide to Stay:
Co-ordinate with staff and security.
Locate a secure room.
Have transportation options available if you decide to leave.
In this article, we have discussed some fundamental considerations for travelling abroad to ensure a safe and secure trip. By adopting this travel safety advice, you can explore new cultures and environments with confidence and greater assurance that you are prepared to handle unexpected situations.
For specific travel safety advice and plans for your next journey, reach out to team@viddle.com.au.
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