Contrary to popular belief, travel is not all that dangerous. Particularly if you keep your wits about you as you explore. Having said that, there are some things that most travellers will come up against at one time or another. Read on to find out what they are, and how to deal with them.
Illness
Illness when travelling is much more common than you would think. There tend to be two main reasons that people get ill when travelling. The first is that they are exposed to some environmental factor that causes them to become ill, like getting diarrhea from drinking the local water, or altitude sickness from being high. The second is that they have the misfortune of something going wrong with their body and getting ill just like when they were at home. This kind of illness could be something as simple as getting a cold, or as serious as getting appendicitis!
Dealing with illness when travelling very much depends on the symptoms and causes. Of course, prevention is always better than cure, so following advice about eating local food and drinking local water is best. Allowing yourself to become acclimated to high altitudes over time, and before you do any strenuous activity is sensible too.
For unforeseen illnesses, comprehensive travel insurance will ensure you can get treatment when you most need it. Also looking up and saving some basic medical phrases, along with an emergency medical line number ahead of time can be a genuine lifesaver if you do fall ill abroad.
Boredom
Yep, the cat is out of the bag. Boredom can also be one of the most dangerous to the frequent traveller, especially on long journeys. After all, if you give your brain enough time without anything to do it will come up with all the worst-case scenarios that will make you pause for thought before even stepping out of your own front door, let alone when you are travelling the world!
The good news is that there are plenty of things you can do to fight boredom when you are on a long car, bus, tram, train, or plane journey. One is to consume content like podcasts and audiobooks as these can provide a welcome distraction and even be grounding when you are in a strange place.
Another option is to use your waiting time in airports, and bus ranks to have fun by playing some games. There are all sorts of games you can play from simple I Spy (you’ll need a buddy for this one) to free browser games like Solitaire on your smartphone. Some people even take portable consoles with them when they travel. However, if you do decide to do this you’ll need to make sure you only play them in safe situations like on planes.
Scams
Sadly, scams are a very common danger when travelling. They can take all kinds of different forms too, and some of them are sneaky so you don’t even realize that you are being scammed until it’s all over.
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve had about dealing with scams is that it’s best to recruit some local help to translate for you. Also, it can help to search the terms “scam+[your location] before you travel to see what the most current ones are, and what the advice is on avoiding them.
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