Five Ways To Stay Safe When Backpacking The World

When I started travelling around the world, I didn’t know much about safety or what precautions to take when out exploring. By backpacking for over 15 years on end, I worked out many ways to stay safe and here are five of them.

1.Travel with a VPN
I used to write all my travel notes into a paper/notebook travel diary back in the day. Yes I still have these hand-written note-books, but by August 2007, blogging had taken over and I transferred all my words from the pen onto the virtual world – the internet by sharing them on this blog which started life in 2007. Since then I have continued to travel and blog, but after a while I needed to be safe online and started to use a VPN. A VPN is a Virtual Private Network and is an important travel tool these days. The reason is you use Wi-Fi and internet in so many different places around the world now and it can’t be hard to know which places you can trust. It is also providing you with a safe and secure method to get online in countries that have restrictions on what you can and cannot view (Russia, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia etc.). So install a VPN and stay safe and secure online. You can learn more about VPNs here.

2.Have back up bank cards/monetary sources
Things can go wrong money-wise on so many levels when we travel so it is highly important that we have other sources of money when we are on the move. This can be helpful for so many reasons including for countries that have no ATMs at all, countries that don’t accept bank cards (or foreign bank cards), times when we lose our money, or in the worst case scenario – theft and robberies. In fact once I lost $1000 US in a river in Vang Vieng in Laos when I was tubing.

3.Always Carry Your Own Padlock
While most hotels have safes, and many hostels have lockers and a place to lock your things away, you really can never be too safe when you travel. I personally always carry my OWN padlock with me. Everywhere I go I can then ensure I have my own key and lock. Some hostels actually charge for keys, lockers and locks anyway so this is a good tip as it is.

4.Don’t Wear Expensive Watches, Rings etc.
This might sound so obvious to some but it’s really easy – don’t give the thieves a target. If there are a choice of two people to rob, the thief will normally go for the one who looks richer, wears more expensive clothes. Dress up as if you have no cash and no valuables and you’ll not be the top target on the streets.

5.Use and Carry Condoms
Simply your willy or vagina could get a disease so always clean your reproductive parts before and after sex and always make sure to wear a condom (guys) or that the guy is wearing one (girls). Sexual transmitted diseases are rife all over the world due to AIDs, blood diseases etc. so having unprotected sex is a high risk – stay safe, not sorry.

And finally stay safe out there – it is a beautiful world but you can also meet bad people, including nasty liars and wannabe Guru Gods.