The Courageous Traveler

I’ve traveled to about 20 countries, many of which were quite poor, and some a bit dangerous. One constant concern was keeping myself, my loved ones, and my stuff safe. A little danger is exciting, but getting mugged, bag-slashed, or ripped off is not. This site is dedicated to safety while traveling. When we’re safe, we can be courageous.

Few things ruin a great trip more than getting scammed, robbed, or something worse.

After living half my life abroad and traveling to around 20 countries, I realize how important safety was to my enjoyment.

Safety goes hand-in-hand with planning. I’ll be the first to admit, I’m paranoid. I do get carried away with both the planning and safety aspects. Despite this, I’ve been:

• Held up by a phony cop in Bangkok
• Locked into a taxi by a stubborn cab driver in Ho Chi Minh City because I refused to pay his inflated fair
• Nearly bag snatched by a group of giggling kids in Manila
• Lost more times than I care to recall
• Duped out of way more money than I care to recall

These may not have even been preventable. They happened even when I thought I had it all figured out. However, my skill at locking and hiding my stuff, keeping a low profile, not messing with the wrong people, and carefully weighing who I’ll trust have likely saved me huge amounts of grief, and maybe even my health and life.

Safe travel is enjoyable travel. Being a crime victim in a foreign land makes people angry about the country as a whole. And that’s a shame. There are bad seeds everywhere.

Now having lived half my life abroad, I constantly aim at understanding and at avoiding unnecessary conflict. That’s why I made this site.

I’d love your feedback, and I hope you get some good ideas out of it. I recruit experienced travelers to share their insider tips with me, and then I clean up the writing and package it with other resources.