Essential Tips for Safe International Travel: Insights from a Seasoned Traveler

how to keep yourself safe whenever you’re travelling internationally so whenever I was in my early 20s I did a lot of travel internationally for the State Department Department Defense and of course the CIA and so there were some things that I did that might be helpful to you whenever you’re travelling internationally um to keep you safe so whenever I worked at the State Department one of the things that I observed I worked in the passport section at the American Embassy in Paris was that people um who did not keep copies of their passports and their luggage and let’s say they got lost or they got stolen um we’re a little bit of a trouble I guess you could say in terms of like proving to the US embassy that they were in fact American citizens so um they would ask them questions and things like that the Foreign Service officers would ask them questions to make sure that they were in fact American citizens and um could retrieve their their uh their passports to get back home so but if you have a copy in your luggage of your of your passport that could be really helpful um you know if it gets lost or stolen something else that I always kept in mind whenever I was travelling internationally and really this can be a rule um you know in any kind of situation just like don’t get too drunk or inebriate inebriated um whenever you are travelling in a foreign country don’t experiment um let’s say you’re going to Amsterdam or something with um different drugs uh you don’t wanna find yourself in a situation when you’re not really in control of what’s going on um so just be smart about that don’t get too drunk don’t get too wasted um that’s kinda common sense um another thing that I did whenever I was travelling internationally is I would always do my research before I went there so that I wasn’t that tourist that kind of or you know if I was working there for a um you know a short period of time for my dog Gus Gus say hi um you know I wouldn’t wanna be that person like with the map you know kind of like trying to find my way around um the city do your research ahead of time make sure that you know kind of where you’re going um so that you aren’t lost or something like that another thing that I would do whenever I travel internationally I love foreign languages I know not everybody enjoys learning them but um you know learn at least a little bit of the foreign language to the you know the country that you’re going to so if you are in a bind you need to communicate with your taxi driver or if you need to ask for directions somewhere hopefully this won’t happen if you’re doing your research and um making sure that you know where you’re going uh you that you have some of that foreign language so that you can ask um you know questions about where we’re going um another thing this is kind of the last and the final just always trust your instincts if you are traveling internationally even domestically and you just kind of feel like something is off um you know you can feel kind of the environment changing people are becoming a little bit more um I don’t know squirmish uh and if you’ve noticed something weird on the match or something just trust your instincts don’t just blow it off um you know go and and remove yourself from that situation immediately so hopefully that helps whenever you’re travelling internationally um you know some some just tips that I um I always use when during my travel for the government