Travel preparation, security, and safety

Will you be robbed? Will all your possessions be stolen? Will you be in an accident? Will you get sick?

All of these scenarios are very unlikely. Think of the airline safety demonstration you hear before flying: “In the unlikely event of a water landing…” How often have you been in a water landing? That said, it is still wise to take some precautions and be prepared.

Before leaving home

Review your insurance coverage. If you have homeowners insurance it is likely to offer some travel insurance. Read through your insurance policy (or have your favorite AI do it for you) and look for any limitations, such as the maximum length of travel time it covers. If necessary buy supplemental travel insurance.

Purchase your airline tickets with a credit card that offers supplemental travel insurance. This is not necessarily the card that offers the most bonus points. AI can help you sort through the often obscure terms. Be aware that most cards only offer travel insurance if you purchase a round trip ticket. If you travel one way, the insurance most often expires when you land at your destination.

Your credit card will also most likely offer some sort of rental car insurance. This is a real jungle, so if you plan to rent a car go through this carefully and book your rental car with the credit card that offers the best insurance (highest liability coverage and best deductible reduction).

Check your passport. Most countries require that your passport is valid for at least 6 months more when you land, and some require a certain number of blank pages for visa and arrival stamps and stickers. If you plan to travel a lot, ask for a passport with more pages next time you renew it.

Check if you need a visa for the countries you plan to visit. This varies greatly depending on which country issued your passport. Many countries now offer visa services online, and many also offer visa on arrival. Make sure you visit the official government site and not a different “visa services” site that will charge you a premium just to fill out the forms for you. AI can help you get to the right site.

Even if you have a valid visa, many countries require some sort of landing form to be filled out. This used to be a paper form, often handed out by flight attendants on your flight, but nowadays it has mostly moved online. It can usually be filled out before you leave home, a couple of days before your intended arrival. Again AI is your friend in locating the right site with the form to fill out.

On the road

Your three most important possessions while traveling are:

Your passport
Your credit card
Your smartphone

In that order. If you have these three items, just about everything else can be solved. So it is very important to keep these three items with you or stored safely (which is not necessarily in a hotel safe) at all times.

Passport

You should always carry your passport while traveling with few exceptions. It can be required when you least expect it. Carry it on your person in a safe way, in a zippered pocket or in a bag that cannot easily be opened or snatched away from you. Some prefer a money belt or pouch, but this can get quite sweaty if you travel in a hot climate. Take a photo of the ID page of your passport with your smartphone, or, better yet, carry a photocopy of the relevant pages. Also take a photo of your visa for the country you’re in, and the arrival stamp with the visa number and permitted length of stay.

Credit card

I highly recommend that you have at least two credit or debit cards that can be used to withdraw cash. Check that they both have PIN codes that you have memorized. Carry one card with you at all times, and store the other one away in a different place. For cash withdrawals at ATMs, try to find a debit card with no fees or exchange fees for foreign cash withdrawals. They do exist, usually offered by online-only banks.

Smartphone

Your smartphone likely holds all your airline reservations, boarding passes, hotel bookings, and so much more. It has all the apps for travel reservations once on the ground in the country you’re visiting. It has photos of all your important documents. It has your life. It cannot be overstated how important it is. Yet this is a device you hold in your hand sticking out of a bus window or over a cliff edge to take selfies and travel photos. You leave it on a cafe table in clear view of everyone around you and passersby. See the problem?

You can do several things to lower the risk:

Attach the phone to your body with a strap, either hanging from your neck or a wrist strap. There are many phone cases offered with this feature. The biggest drawback with this method is the risk of drive-by phone theft. If someone on a scooter grabs your phone out of your hand as they drive by, this can end badly if it is attached to you. The risk of drive-by phone grabs varies greatly depending on where you go. London is a hot spot. Just on Oxford Street 9,000 phones were snatched last year.
Make sure your phone is fully backed up to a cloud service, such as iCloud or Dropbox. If you lose your phone you can buy a new one in most places these days, and then restore from backup. Make sure to keep the backup up-to-date as you travel. And make sure you have memorized your login details.
Bring an old phone as a backup. You most likely have an old smartphone from the same ecosystem (Apple or Android) lying around from your last phone upgrade. Bring it along tucked away in your luggage. Keep it up to date and check that your current charger supports it.

Physical security

Your likelihood of being robbed or assaulted varies greatly depending on where you travel. Sadly you are often safest in authoritarian or one-party countries. This is mainly due to large police presence and stiff crime sentences. Democracies tend to have a lower police presence and lighter sentences. This is of course a gross oversimplification but nonetheless useful to keep in mind. I have felt far safer wandering the dark alleys of a north African medina than I do on the subway at home. If you live in a large western city you will most likely be safer in most countries in the global south than you are at home.

You need to take some common sense precautions. This can be summarized as advice you have probably heard: Look poor.

This doesn’t mean that you need to look shabby or unclean. Just try to blend in a little bit, and don’t flash expensive jewelry or big budget cameras unnecessarily. When you move about, look like you know where you’re going. On sidewalks, walk on the side nearest the street rather than close to buildings. Thieves tend to lurk in the shadows near entrances and doorways, especially after dark.

Try to find pants or shorts with at least one zippered pocket where you can put a credit card and some money. Carry a small amount of cash for daily needs in another pocket. Don’t flash a wallet full of cash. For your everyday bag, try to find one with two layers of security, like a zipper and then a clasp. Don’t carry a backpack with valuables on your back in big city tourist areas, carry the backpack on your chest in these areas. Needless to say, the less you carry, the less you have that can be stolen. Travel light.

Transitions

You are often most vulnerable during transitions, when you go from one environment to another. When you exit an airport after a long flight. When you step off a bus at a popular tourist attraction. Or simply when you leave a restaurant or a bar after a nice evening.

During transitions your body has moved into a new environment but your head may still be partly in the last one. Scam artists, pickpockets and con men are well aware of this and flock to such places. Be mindful when you change environments. If you are approached by someone trying to help you with something you haven’t asked for, or is trying to sell you something, politely wave them off and walk away.

Hotel safety

Contrary to what common sense tells you, you and your belongings are safer in a small hotel or a guest house than in a big multinational hotel chain. The reason for this is simple: at the small hotel or guest house the owner is right there, watching who comes and goes. At the big, fancy hotel, anyone can roam the hallways unnoticed. The small guesthouse lives and dies by the reviews its guests leave on the booking site. A single incident can ruin its reputation and business.

From this follows that it is usually safe to leave your belongings in your room in the guest house. You should of course carry the three items mentioned earlier, but everything else can be left in your room and be safe. There will be no temporary cleaning staff entering your room. At the big hotel, this is not so. Here you need to be much more careful with leaving expensive belongings in your room. Even if there is a safe in your room, this is a small obstacle to a skilled thief.

Travel security: quick reference

Before departure

Check homeowners insurance for travel coverage; buy supplemental travel insurance if needed
Book flights with a credit card that includes travel insurance — most policies require a round-trip purchase
Book rental cars with the card offering the best liability coverage and deductible reduction
Passport must be valid for at least 6 months from your arrival date; check blank page requirements
Verify visa requirements via official government websites only, not third-party “visa service” sites
Complete any required arrival or landing forms online before departure

Three essential items while traveling (in order of priority)

Passport: carry at all times; photograph the ID page, visa, and arrival stamp
Credit card: carry two cards stored separately; use a no-fee debit card for ATM cash withdrawals
Smartphone: keep fully backed up to cloud storage; bring a spare old phone if possible

Physical security

Blend in: avoid displaying jewelry, expensive cameras, or large amounts of cash
On sidewalks, walk on the street side rather than close to buildings — thieves lurk near entrances and doorways, especially after dark
Use bags with double security (zipper plus clasp); wear backpacks on your chest in busy tourist areas
Carry only small amounts of cash for daily needs; keep the rest secured separately

High-risk moments: transitions

Risk is highest when exiting airports, arriving at tourist sites, or leaving restaurants and bars at night
Pickpockets and scam artists target the moment when your body is in a new environment but your awareness is not
Decline all unsolicited offers of help or sales approaches; walk away calmly

Accommodation safety

Small guesthouses and owner-run hotels are typically safer than large international hotel chains
Owner presence creates natural surveillance; small properties depend on guest reviews for survival and take security seriously
In large hotels, be cautious about leaving valuables in your room; hotel room safes provide limited protection against a skilled thief