Travel street smarts
Top Ten Travel Tips:
1. Keep photos/scans of your passport and other
essential documents including accommodation
addresses in your phone in a folder marked details
so you can access them quickly. Consider down-
loading the HOT App which also has this feature.
2. Research your destination before you book
accommodation. Google street view can tell you
a lot about a place. Roller doors with graffiti and
poor street lighting mean that it’s probably a
rough neighbourhood with cheaper accommo-
dation. Just because you’re on a budget doesn’t
mean you should compromise your safety.
3. Use your spidey sense to scan the streets
discreetly while you’re wandering around. If you
see one of the 3 D’s – someone who seems dodgy,
drunk or on drugs - either step into a shop until
they pass, or cross the road.
4. Ditch the headphones if you’re walking so you
can hear what’s happening around you. Be alert.
The world needs more alerts.
5. Blend in. If you look like a tourist with a map,
a camera, unstylish shorts and a t-shirt - you’ll be
more of a target for pickpockets.
Recently my son Jet and I travelled
160,000 kilometres in 600 days, in
a global adventure that turned into
my third book, The Jet Project.
6. Make sure that someone who’s not travelling
with you knows your itinerary, every step of the
way. Check in with your go-to regularly. And if
you’re travelling to politically unstable countries
register your journey with the NZ embassy www.
safetravel.govt.nz
We visited half of the world’s most unfriendly cities,
according to a survey done through Travel + Leisure
magazine. Did we find them unfriendly? No. Did we feel charged, your alarm won’t work.
Start developing your intuition before you start travel-
ling. Listen to how your body reacts to situations. When
you think of something or someone are your thoughts
positive, or negative and fearful? Feeling intuitive about
a situation produces a calm and protective physical
response. Feeling fearful will make anxiety kick in, your
heart will start to race, you’ll feel a little paranoia and
you’ll become lethargic (that’s your organs telling you
that something, or someone, is toxic).
safe? Yes. Strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet.
Years of being a spirited teenager taught me what I
could (and couldn’t) get away with. I was grateful to have
learnt street smarts at a young age; it meant we could
travel safely. Our trip gave Jet hands-on lessons in judging
and gauging situations, skills he’d never have developed
in New Zealand at the age of ten.
The first humans had a strong sense of intuition. It
helped them sense danger and saved them from being the
main course. We still have that part of the brain inside us.
It’s the bit that makes you move away from someone on
a train, or the feeling that stops you from walking down
a dodgy street at night.
Intuition filters out emotional rubbish in the same way
our kidneys filter out waste in our body. It’s like a free
built-in bullsh!t detector . . . but if your batteries aren’t Many times I avoided walking down certain streets
because they didn’t feel right. When my intuitive alarm
bells ring I try to listen. We checked out of a ryokan (a
traditional Japanese inn) in Kyoto because I felt unsafe.
Jet (who doesn’t believe that intuition is a thing) said, ‘You
worry a lot. You’re like a samurai worrier.’
The thing I was most scared about while travelling,
though, was what would Jet do in the unlikely event that I
died suddenly from a heart attack? Grim thoughts yes, but
I’d rather plan for the worst and expect the best than have
Jet stranded not knowing what to do or even where he was.
So I created a first-aid kit — a list of emergency numbers
and steps to take if something bad happened to me. My
sister Natalie knew where we were at each stage of the
trip, so if anything happened, she’d be on a plane instantly
to get Jet.
By Sam Pease.
3 0 IN S P IR E IS S U E 0 1 . 20 1 7 | HOUSE OF TR AVEL
7. If you’re travelling with children, prep them.
Either give them a small notebook with emergency
numbers and details of what to do if something
unexpected happens, or give them a step-by-step
guide in the notes section of their phone.
8. If you’re travelling alone in a taxi, sit behind
the driver. On buses sit near the driver. In trains
sit near families and avoid carriages with single
men, especially if you’re a female travelling alone.
Avoid public transport at night where possible.
9. If you have the choice don’t stay on the ground
floor. It’s easier to break into low-level rooms so
book from the 2nd floor up.
10. Use common sense. Don’t wear expensive
jewellery or carry all your cash in one place. Get
travel insurance and be careful with alcohol when
socialising with new friends and avoid walking
alone at night.
Most importantly, remember that the majority
of people around the world are good and kind.
Despite what you read online, the world really
is a beautiful place.