I don’t suppose there’s a proper or improper reply right here, although I’m curious how others strategy this subject…
My basic philosophy on journey & security
For many individuals, security is a serious concern when touring. When planning journey, they might have considerations in regards to the security of the airline they’re flying with, in addition to considerations over the vacation spot they’re touring to. Having flown hundreds of thousands of miles and having visited 100+ nations, right here’s my basic philosophy:
- I don’t put any thought into airline security, and am blissful to fly any airline; that merely comes right down to relative threat, and that even the least “secure” airline is safer than different types of transportation
- I’ve visited round 100 nations, and when touring solo I are likely to suppose {that a} overwhelming majority of locations are secure, particularly if you happen to simply apply widespread sense and take some primary precautions (don’t have something flashy, watch out the place you stroll, analysis scams upfront, and so forth.)
Admittedly everybody has completely different requirements as to what’s “secure” and what isn’t. By way of vacation spot security, there’s an enormous distinction between Dubai, Paris, Sao Paulo, and Mogadishu, for instance (roughly in that order).
Talking of individuals having completely different requirements, I’ve household mates who will all the time get in contact previous to reserving a flight to ask if a selected airline is secure. “Is British Airways secure?” “Is Norwegian secure?” “Is JetBlue secure?” I all the time reply “sure,” after all, but they preserve asking. It simply reveals how all of us have completely different requirements in terms of these items.
The problem with researching vacation spot security
Let me pose my query within the type of an instance. I’m contemplating two completely different journeys that might take me by way of Abidjan, Ivory Coast (ABJ), and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (VVI). I may simply join proper by way of, or I may spend a day or two in every vacation spot. Personally I all the time take pleasure in testing a spot I haven’t been to earlier than for not less than a day or two.
However after all I additionally don’t need to be completely reckless, or at a minimal, need to know what I’m getting myself into by way of the precautions I ought to take. Can I simply (rigorously) roam the streets within the daytime? Ought to I rent a information? Ought to I prepare airport transfers upfront? Is that enough?
Whereas the web is a tremendous useful resource on the whole, I generally discover it’s not terribly helpful in terms of establishing the relative threat of a vacation spot:
- Journey warnings are sometimes overly cautious for locations that I discover to be fairly secure, and that generally makes it difficult to find out if a vacation spot is definitely larger threat, or simply has the standard disclaimers
- Whereas there are some on-line message boards speaking about security of varied locations, it will probably generally be arduous to determine if the individuals have an identical threat tolerance to you; some individuals appear overly cautious, whereas others will go anyplace
- Plainly once you Google “is [insert destination] secure?” the reply is sort of all the time the identical, and mentions that there’s at occasions violent crime, to stay vigilant, and so forth.
That brings me to my total query for OMAAT readers — how do you determine if a vacation spot is secure to go to, whether or not you’re planning it as a vacation spot, or simply as an prolonged stopover the place you allow the airport? I’d after all welcome ideas particularly on the above cities, however I’m extra curious in regards to the thought course of that individuals use.
Backside line
Most individuals contemplate security when touring to an off the overwhelmed path vacation spot. This is without doubt one of the issues that it’s surprisingly robust to analysis, although, on condition that that everybody has completely different requirements in terms of security, and authorities journey warnings usually aren’t very helpful.
So I’d love to listen to from OMAAT readers on this — how do you go about deciding what precautions you’ll take when touring, primarily based on the vacation spot?