Global Travel Planning

Travel Safe Travel Smart: Real Tips for Every Type of Traveller

• Tracy Collins • Episode 52

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In episode 52 of the Global Travel Planning Podcast, Tracy is joined by co-hosts Melissa and Shelly to share their expertise on the crucial topic of travel safety. Together, they explore various aspects of staying safe while travelling, addressing specific concerns for solo travellers, family travellers, and those adventuring across the globe.

From essential pre-travel research and understanding local customs to practical tips for safeguarding your belongings, the episode is packed with valuable advice. They discuss the benefits of pickpocket-proof bags, the importance of using VPNs, and how to manage money wisely while abroad. 

Tracy, Shelly, and Melissa share insights from their own travel experiences, highlighting the importance of preparation, awareness, and common sense when navigating unfamiliar destinations.

⭐️ Guests - Melissa (QueenslandTravelGuide.com.au) and Shelly Marie (SoloHerWay.com)
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Speaker 1:

Staying safe while traveling is something we all think about, but do you know the best ways to protect yourself from pickpockets, scams and digital threats? In this episode, I'll be sharing key travel safety tips. Plus, melissa joins me to talk about staying safe with kids, and Shelley shares her insights on solo travel. Hi and welcome to the Global Travel Planning Podcast. I'm your host, tracey Collins, who, with my expert guests, will take you on a weekly journey to destinations around the globe, providing travel inspiration, itinerary ideas, practical tips and more to help you plan your next travel adventure. Hello and welcome to episode 52 of the Global Travel Planner podcast. Again, I am with my co-hosts and friends at the end of the month. This is our end of month episode where we share our travel hacks, tips and experiences with you to help you travel the world better and enjoy yourself when you're coming to planning your trip and actually experiencing your trip. So we've got melissa and shelly, so hi again you guys, hello, hello.

Speaker 1:

So today we are talking about tips for staying safe, so I thought we'd kind of look at lots of different areas with this because, um, melissa obviously has got experience of family travel and shelly has solo uh, women's travel experience, so they'll be great to chat to about their um different tips for staying safe in those arenas and I thought I'd share a little bit about. I guess one of my favorite topics is is my pickpocket proof uh theft proof bags, because I have so many of them and I travel with them all the time and just because you have to be careful these days, and then I'm sure somebody will listen going, oh, don't exaggerate, but actually you do have to be careful, because there are just too many stories these days of people having stuff pinched when they're traveling. So it's just important to be aware. So let's start off with chatting about how we research before we're going to a new destination, about safety. So I guess, melissa, I don't know if you're going to mention this, we probably will, but we've got the smart traveler from the Australian government and I usually check on that. Is that something that you do?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I do. I mean, I was thinking about this question and I don't actually know if I definitely sort of tend to go out of my way to research the safety in a country. I think generally when you start researching a country, it generally sort of comes up and you start kind of seeing what to avoid or not to avoid. But yeah, smart Traveller is the Queensland one sorry, australia one which I definitely look at in terms of, particularly when I know something's going on in a country, I'll have a look at it and it'll give you like whether or not you should be concerned or not travel there, or areas that you might need to travel, but also looking at like what sort of vaccinations and stuff that you should take, because obviously in terms of safety there's a lot of different. There's like crime, but then there's also health safety, so looking at what vaccinations you should have and things like that. So I generally look at that sort of stuff.

Speaker 1:

That's actually a really good point, because I remember going and having I've had my rabies shots. I had those before travelling to India, just because I'd been bitten by a monkey before and I was just like, no, I'm not taking the chance. What about you, shelley? When you plan to travel somewhere as a solo traveler, do you? Do you look at kind of safety information? Do you do any research?

Speaker 3:

oh yes, I do a lot of research. Um, I usually look at multiple government sites. I will look at the country's government site that I'm traveling to and then I'll look at my home government site and then I will also look at different sites. There's one again like, again like hood maps. I'll look at um different other safety sites.

Speaker 3:

I'll I'll just research a ton, but I guess what I I try to keep in perspective is I use common sense, because some of these sites and and I don't want to get political but some of these sites and some of these other places, they can be skewed one way or another. So when I'm researching I try to look at a lot of different venues. So I'll even go on YouTube use. So I'll even go on YouTube and I will try to pull up the local news in that one area and just see is there elections going on? Are they having a shortage of electricity or food? Is there something going on? Is there nothing going on? And I kind of fact check a lot of things beforehand. And it's not so much to discourage myself from going to that country, it's just so I'm prepared to go to that country that's no.

Speaker 1:

That's really good points. Are there any places that you have decided not to travel to because of anything that's that's cracking off or that you've read, and I'm just gonna? We don't have to give specific countries, I guess, but just have. Has it ever impacted travel? And I will say that I and I'm just going to. We don't have to give specific countries, I guess, but just has it ever impacted travel? And I will say that I, two years ago, was going to travel to a country and decided not to because of actually what I read on the Australian the traveler site. It was just travel with caution. I was just like solar traveler. I don't feel confident doing it, so I actually canceled that trip at the last minute. But have you ever had to do that in the past? Melissa Shelley.

Speaker 3:

I have only because of the same reason, but again, it was because I fact checked and I looked at multiple sites and there was political unrest and elections and they were having a lot of problems with the government turning off the electricity and taking in. And it was like I used my VPN so I could see, like, what's happening happening. So, yes, so there have been trips, when I have verified that maybe it's not the best time for me to go and maybe take some resources away from other people.

Speaker 1:

That's a good point, and and it's another good reason to have travel insurance and free cancellation on things as well. What about you, melissa?

Speaker 2:

I actually haven't, but not because I went anyway. I guess I've just been lucky that I've never booked a trip that I had to cancel for those sorts of reasons. The only time I've ever had to cancel trips is due to bloody COVID.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well, yes, absolutely Everybody got stuck with that, didn't they? What about money safety? This is something I want to talk about, things like pickpockets and scams. So that's something that I've been chatting a lot to in my to people in my UK and London Facebook groups, because I do stress that I don't want to scare people. This is a thing.

Speaker 1:

I don't want to be a scaremonger because absolutely I travel to these places. I just I think the main point I want to try and make is that you just need to be prepared so you don't need to necessarily buy a special bag. But I have a crossbody bag, I have a travel-on bag, so it's a little bit more secure and you know it's slash-proof and all the rest of the things that make it a little bit harder for a pickpocket to get into or somebody to steal. I also have a lanyard, which we've talked about in a previous episode, which I have my phone on again just to keep that safer, where I know where it is. It's not on a table where somebody could come along, put something on top of it and then pinch my phone which happens all the time these days or phones get snatched out of hands in London If don't travel on the Metro in Paris with a phone in your back pocket, because you'll get off the Metro and you won't have your phone.

Speaker 1:

It's those sort of kind of obvious things that I think sometimes go out the window when you're traveling because you're just distracted by trying to find your way around. Or, oh, my goodness, look, there's Eiffel Tower, there's Buckingham Palace and that is what. Or you're at a train station and you're a little bit confused about where you're going. You're looking up at the board, your eyes off your handbag, oh, and your handbags whipped. So it's just kind of making people be aware of those sorts of things that you have to just be on your guard about.

Speaker 1:

So, um, you know, and I don't know about you guys, do you have anything special that you do to, kind of any tips that you could share to help with kind of things like pickpockets or people trying to steal kind of you know from um atm machines and things like that? Like, what do you do? Do you make sure that you check the machine? Because, I mean, I've used machines in Bali and I check the machine beforehand, because I've heard of kind of you know, card cloning and that sort of thing going on. What about you, melissa?

Speaker 2:

I think you kind of covered a lot. Like you said, I always travel with a cross body bag, you know. I know back in the day people talked about those under money belts. I don't reckon they're good, you know, because otherwise you stand there, pull your shirt up and fluff around. I just think that's a bit ridiculous. I use a cross body bag as well, um, to make sure it's across your body and the actual bag is in front of you, and I always tend to walk around with my hand on it, like holding it. But, like you said, I also have like a slash proof one, so if anyone was to try to, you know, slash it or whatever, they wouldn't be able to.

Speaker 2:

And the other thing I would recommend is, like, I don't travel with all my money or all my cards, like so every day I'll kind of go. Well, how much money do I think I need for today? Put that in my purse and put the rest, you know, somewhere safe in my hotel, um, but yeah, it's, it's, it's like you said, just being a bit more mindful and like, so, you know, if you're on a train, don't wait till you get off the train to go. Oh, where am I going to go now, like work it out in advance, sit on the train, take that time to. You know, look at google maps, because I think it's more those times where you're a little bit off guard looking at your phone or whatever. That's when those sorts of because, yeah, as a traveler, we stand out like sore thumbs yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1:

I remember being on the Paris Metro a few years ago and have I actually had my backpack on, but it was a travel on one, which is the you know you can lock and everything. But I just had my dirty clothes in it and I got surrounded by basically a gang of pickpockets, um, so I couldn't move, but my crossbody bag was in front of me, it was locked, I had my hands on it. So they went through the backpack cause I could not move, but by the time they there was nothing. There was literally dirty clothes in my toothbrush, so there was nothing. But but I, you know, and that and that situation, I literally couldn't move because they surrounded me. But I knew, because my cross-body bag was in front of me, it was locked. That's the other thing. Make sure you lock it, don't have it open, locked and my hands on it, that it was okay. What about you, shelley, when it comes to traveling with money and credit cards and cash? How do you deal with that?

Speaker 3:

Well, much like both of you, I have a crossbody bag. I do have the slash proof to travel on. I love that because they lock, and same with Melissa's tip. I don't carry all my cash. The one thing that I make sure I do is I never, ever, ever carry my passport with me. I always make sure that's in the hotel room. I will keep a colored copy with me and I have a digital copy on my phone, but I will never carry my passport with me.

Speaker 3:

Passport with me and I will only carry a credit card that is a travel credit card that is not linked to my primary accounts. So I have two designated cards that I primarily use for travel and then that way, if God forbid, something happens to they, could only get so much money out and, you know, I could hopefully recover it later. The other thing I do that's a little extreme, that it's only because I travel for such a long period of time is I travel with two complete phones that are backed up by the cloud. So one of my phones is always with my passport in a safe location in the safe, and I always make sure I'm constantly backing up my phone and then if my phone God forbid, ever gets compromised or taken. I can always access other phone, turn off the other phone and also recover my files. You know, not everyone travels with two phones, but that's what I do.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, but that's not a bad idea, to be honest, because if I lost my phone, I'd be stuck, because I have everything on my phone, so that you know, that's something I'm really conscious of and being very careful about it, and probably more so than anything, it's always my's, something I'm really conscious of and being very careful about it. Um, and probably more so than anything, it's always my phone that I'm protective of. Um, but I think that's a that's an interesting point actually to to consider doing that. Are they, I'm going to ask, are they iPhones that you've got or yes?

Speaker 3:

yes, so I have my phone, so they're, yeah, they're backed up and then that way, you know, like I said, you can. You can go ahead and access the cloud. The only thing I make sure when I'm traveling is it's automatically updated, but I always make sure I physically back it up like every other day.

Speaker 1:

That's a good idea. I think that's a good point about the passport we usually try to book accommodation that has got a safe, but often in apartments you don't have that option. But, yeah, we always have a colour copy of the passport and leave the passport in our accommodation and not carry it around, because we've heard recently quite a few instances where the bag's been stolen and passport's gone as well, which it can be really difficult. If that happens on a weekend and the embassy shut and you can't get a passport until the next few days, I think it can cause it can be really difficult and also it just can ruin your holiday as well. So another reason to have travel insurance as well. Another thing we always say about travel insurance is not just about being sick, it's also about protecting your belongings as well and make sure that you you know you consider that also let your bank know if you're traveling as well. Um, let them know where you're going and if you're planning to make large purchases, because you know if you you're traveling with your bank and your card has been schemed. If we never use our bank cards, we, as you say that we have cards that are separate from our bank account, but if you do, then you know if somebody does compromise your, your bank account, they can't take a large amount out. You can get that shut down as quickly as possible because the bank will be a hang on a second. They're not. They didn't say they were going to be spending ten thousand dollars when they were in turkey. You know something like that. So I think that's that's useful um to do as well.

Speaker 1:

Um, again, using atms, be really careful. I was just going to say, like ATMs, be careful, make sure that you check the machine beforehand if you're going to use it. I know that was something I was worried about when I was traveling in India and it was absolutely fine. But again, we just use Dugana when we travel. We just use our Wise card that has a certain amount on it, and so we use one Wise card, get the withdrawal out and there's not much on that card. So then we can transfer money to over to that card afterwards. But it means that you know if that card was compromised, that we could, we could basically shut it down. So that's one thing that we do. Um, any other thoughts on on kind of traveling with money, cash cards, guys?

Speaker 3:

Um, I usually, I usually try with the ATMs. I I will try to get money out at an indoor ATM. I know it's not always feasible but if it is possible I try to do. The indoor ATMs versus the 7-Elevens or, you know, the the more casual ones, casual ones or outside of a bank, they tend to have more security, more lighting, and I can't guarantee they're not more compromised, but there's less of a chance.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, I agree with that. I think it's always about just having your wits about you and double-checking everything and thinking about everything that you do when you're not taking too much cash out in one go, um, that's another thing, um, I was going to mention about, because online safety, or even using your phone, um, and so I use a vpn all the time I would not. I mean, at the moment, we're in a hotel that has free wi-fi, but it's not protected in any way, shape or form, so if I was using this to do any banking, anybody could check out what I'm doing online. So we have a VPN. We always have the VPN on our phones and on our laptops, and I guess that's something that you guys have as well.

Speaker 3:

Yes, definitely, definitely. And the VPN comes in so handy for so many different things. But, yeah, you have to have a VPN to protect yourself in public places. If you want to go to a cafe, you're working, and it's not just for money, it's. If you want to access some health records, you want to access your travel insurance. You don't want people to know where you're traveling to or you know private information.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, definitely yeah, melissa, I guess, again, vpn is a is a must, isn't it?

Speaker 2:

yes, I know it is. Yes, it definitely is um. I highly recommend it excellent.

Speaker 1:

I mean, I just uh, it's just too. It's too risky these days not to. So let's talk about traveling on public transport. So when it comes to train travel, train stations are a big, big problem. It's somewhere that things can go wrong. In train stations, things can get stolen, things can get picked up, and then you could just get lost.

Speaker 1:

There's just lots of things going on in train stations. You're going to miss your train, your luggage is going to go missing, all sorts of things. So how do you keep yourself safe in train stations? Is the thing I'll say prepare, prepare, prepare, prepare. Before you go, make sure you know you know the time of your train, get there well in advance. Make sure you keep your eye on your luggage. If there's two of you there, one of you look at the board while the other person keeps around the luggage, so there's always keeping an eye on everything. So, again about preparation. But I want to ask you guys especially actually when I ask you, shelly is about a solo traveler when it comes to public transport, or even getting into a taxi or something like that what, what are the tips that you would share? Um?

Speaker 3:

I have two kind of main tips. One, exactly what you said just just be super aware of your surroundings. Don't have your head buried in your phone, don't have your earbuds in, just be aware, I mean. And also, when you're in the car or you're in the vehicle, have your GPS on, if possible, to make sure that they're taking you or you're going in the right direction. That goes for train, bus, ferry, wherever, so you know, because if you got on the wrong train, going the wrong way, you don't want to go 15 stops before you know you got to go back. And same with if you're in a taxi and they're taking you to the wrong place.

Speaker 3:

The other main thing for a solo female traveler, or any traveler really, is sometimes, like you said, tracy, we get caught up in like, oh my gosh, we're in this beautiful place, this culture, this and that, and people are lovely all around the world. I love I am a people person, I love speaking to people, but do not tell them your life history, your itinerary, do not tell them a bunch of personal stuff about you, and please don't tell them that you're traveling by yourself, because that will be the first thing especially I hate to say it men will say to you oh, are you by yourself? And my reply always is no, no, I have friends at the hotel, or I have, and sometimes I do. You know I have friends at the hotel, or they're sleeping, or this or that. You never tell anyone, never. And and or you're meeting up with friends. So just be mindful, be friendly, keep the conversation generalized, but don't give them too much personal information.

Speaker 1:

Do you share information with your family at home so they know where you are all the time? Shelley, Is somebody always aware? Do what you do and where you're going yes, yes.

Speaker 3:

So when I, when I get ready to leave, I will give. I have two people that I give my itineraries to, I give, uh, I have people that I'm constantly in contact with almost on a daily basis, and I give them all my information. The other thing, back to money, is before I leave, I make sure I copy my passport, all my credit cards that I'm taking with me, front and back. I also make sure I leave any pertinent keys that they might have to get in someplace in case of an emergency, and a copy of my insurance. And since I travel, I have to renew my travel insurance while I'm on the road, so I have to make sure that they get those constantly while I'm on the trip. So, yes, they know exactly where I'm at, exactly where I'm staying, they know everything, and I think that's very important, um, not only for yourself but for them too, because you know your, your family and friends worry about you when you're on the road no, I could imagine.

Speaker 1:

So let's continue talking a little bit about solo travel and I'm going to talk to Melissa in a second about about family travel. But what do you think are the biggest safety concerns for solo travelers? Shelly, how do you prepare for that as a solo traveler? Um, in what regards? Well, what do you think you know? If you're traveling solo, what would be the biggest challenge? I mean, I know, like I've got dug with me at the moment. So if, if I got lost or arrived somewhere on my phone, say I don't know, drop my phone and my phone broke, I've got dug with me, so things would be kind of you know, I've got that back up. But if you're traveling on your own, what do you think would be like? What would be your main kind of concern? I guess you don't want to arrive somewhere at two o'clock in the morning or something like that. So, you know, would that be something you'd consider?

Speaker 3:

right, right. So there's. There's a few, a few things that are key for myself, like if I'm arriving someplace late at night. I think we covered that in accommodations. If I'm arriving someplace late at night, I will make sure I arrange transportation from the airport in advance to my accommodations because I'm not going to fumble around at night. You know, maybe the next day or something, when I'm more acclimated. That's something different.

Speaker 3:

The second thing is I would do my research on some of the cultural norms in that area, and the reason why I say that is sometimes when you arrive at some place, you may think that somebody is being too forward or too offensive or it may strike you as a safety hazard, but in actuality it may be a custom or it may be a cultural norm in their culture.

Speaker 3:

So if you not study their culture but at least look into some of the cultural aspects, it may put you more at ease.

Speaker 3:

If somebody like, for example, in Asia there's not a lot of personal space, so you may find that threatening as a solo female traveler, if somebody's really really close to you, where in certain countries we give some personal space, so it's just little things like that that may ease you, also for a solo female traveler or any traveler really is.

Speaker 3:

Before you go, take a self-defense class I mean before I started this whole entire journey, like almost four years ago, that's what I did and there's different classes. Even if you're at a different fitness level, even if you're at a different age level, it doesn't matter, they're catered to every level and like, for example, jujitsu, that's more of a leverage. It's not so much you have to be physically strong. So they give you tools and they give you scenarios that women especially would be in, like if you're in the back of a taxi or if somebody's grabbing you, and some of the things I would have never known before unless I took that course for several months. So that's something that you can do in advance and that will help you in any country, your home country.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that, that's just a useful tool yeah, no, definitely, that definitely sounds like something uh worth doing. I'm not considered that, but uh definitely uh something to think about there. Shelly, did it take very long to do? It was a short course that you did, or yeah it's.

Speaker 3:

It's. It's short. There are different, you know aspects if you want to go further, but no, usually they're anywhere from. You could take one from like two to maybe four weeks, maybe six. I mean it depends on how advanced or how niche you want to get, but you could do one as in short as two weeks.

Speaker 1:

I think that's really useful. Right, let's switch from solar travel. I can talk to you all day about solar travel and all the amazing aspects of it, because it is fascinating, because I occasionally do solar travel when I can leave Doug at home, he's buying me. Now let's talk about traveling with children. Now it's a while since I've traveled with children, because my daughter's 29 now, so I'm kind of a little bit away from that. But I know, melissa, for you traveling with family, what are the biggest concerns?

Speaker 2:

um, I mean, obviously they're all the same sort of concerns that we've talked about already, but probably the biggest one is kids getting lost or separated from you, um, which is why, and most of the time when I traveled, it was mostly just my daughter and I, um, or you know, or I only have one child, so there might have been, um, you know, the two of us and our child, but most of the time it was just me and her. So always, um, one thing we used to always do is I'd actually kind of again like, not scare her, but I would talk to her. What would happen if we got separated, like, so you know, if you're at a train station, you know, go here. Or if you're at a theme park, we'll meet by the merry-go-round, or you know, to try and have a bit of a plan so that you know you're not just going to worry about it when you actually, or if you do, get separated.

Speaker 2:

The other thing I used to do when she was quite small would be I'd write my phone number on her arm so that she'd have that. You know, now she has a phone of her own, so I always make sure that you know she would be able to contact me and then, obviously, if they've got phones of their own, you can make sure they've got location on um. You know you can do things. When my daughter was pretty small she had a little like wore, a little watch that had a gps thing in it so I could find out where she wasn't. Luckily for me, she never got separated from me and I only have one. If you've got a couple and you know, particularly if you're someone with a like a runner, I wouldn't be opposed to putting them on one of those harness things. I know a lot of parents are like think that they're awful, but if you've got a runner and you're travelling, put one on them.

Speaker 1:

I'd say, oh, yeah, can you imagine coming out of some of the airports where there's just cars and traffic and stuff?

Speaker 2:

crazy everywhere.

Speaker 1:

You have to really think about what would work for you. I mean, I'm a big air tag advocate. Now, I'm not going to say this, not in a stalkerish way or nothing illegal, but if, if you know, it's kind of useful to have an air tag. Um, sometimes I know doug has his phone but sometimes doesn't look on his phone and he'll wander off. But if, if he's, if we're in london, sometimes in the museums particularly, he's got an air tag and I don't know where he is. So I know I've said that before, but it's just really kind of useful.

Speaker 2:

Well, I remember travelling with you, tracy, and you put an air tag on me. I did Well.

Speaker 1:

I did because I just wanted you to be safe. Again, it was safety. I was in the hotel room in Delhi and you went off and I was like I knew where you were and I felt so much better. I was like, if anything happens, I know exactly where she is. So I think we've got lots of technology these days which will help with that sort of thing to make it better, but again, if you're listening, and if you're a solo female traveller, if you're a family traveller, get in touch, share with us your tips.

Speaker 1:

What do you do? How do you, what do you do to to prepare? What sort of tips do you have to keep safe? Because we're we're always interested to find out.

Speaker 1:

I will mention one thing, because we talked about kind of, like you know, the family aspect, solo travel to, about things like money, um, pickpockets and uh, like using a vpn and stuff like.

Speaker 1:

But I also want to mention about driving, because I think if you're driving in a new country as well, it's really useful to prepare, because I think, if you go to a country that you're driving on the opposite side of the road, whether it's the left or the right to what you used to, make sure that you prepare before you go and also don't do a 23-hour flight and then get in a hire car in a country where you're driving on the opposite side of the road that you used to, because that is just it's too dangerous.

Speaker 1:

Prepare before you go. So that's, and we have got some podcasts that actually with tripiama, about how you can prepare different countries around the world so that you're, you know, to make it safer and and to be able to get around, um, like a local and uh yeah, so there's some really good ideas in that. So I just want to throw that one in there as well, because I think it. You know again, you can fly across the world and get into a hire car and drive off without anybody asking any questions, but like, are you ready for it?

Speaker 3:

yeah, and Tracy also. Um, you are recommended by certain countries to have an international driver's license, and that driver's license has to be interpreted in English and sometimes they'll require it in their language also. So, luckily, a lot of the digital licenses are, you know, in multiple languages that you could request. But as I'm preparing to go to New Zealand, I was quite impressed that when I got my travel documents they listed a bunch of things about driving, which I thought was really nice in advance. They were saying about how the roads were windy, how you know the different customs that they do. They beep if, like, there's a tractor, I don't know, but I think that's really good that countries are doing that before I even get on the flight.

Speaker 1:

I think it's so important. I think there's been too many accidents where people have got off a flight, got on, got into the hire car and driven off and had absolutely no idea what they're doing and driving on the wrong side of the road or not being able to, not being aware of the rules of the world. So that that's again talking about. When we're talking about staying safe, it's it's that aspect as well. And, like at very beginning when melissa mentioned about things like vaccines and you know what injections you need before you're going to play, do that, do that research. Can you drink the water in a place? Well, that again, you need to know that sort of aspect of. So it's about keeping safe and lots, lots of different ways that we've kind of, we've kind of covered um. But I mean, even we're in portugal and you can drink the water, but we, you still do that kind of research. Is it okay? Is the tap water fine? You know what do they recommend um in morocco? Technically, in morocco, you can drink the tap water, but it's got a lot of minerals in it, so it does. It can. If you're not used to it, it'll make you sick. So we were told not to, but technically it's kind of classed as safe drinking water.

Speaker 1:

So, again, there's lots of aspects to staying safe while you travel that we've kind of we've covered quite a few of them in today's episode. Is there any kind of one tip that you would share you think that people should be aware of when they're travelling? So the thing I'm always going to say and it's the thing I'm known for is make sure that you're just aware of your surroundings, but buy yourself, honestly, a crossbody death-proof bag, because they're worth their weight in gold, and I've got about eight of them and they're great, and I always travel with at least one of them. What about you, melissa? Is there only one tip that you would share?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I like to say if you wouldn't do it at home, don't do it while you're travelling. I don't know. Some people seem to think that they're immortal while they travel and just do some really stupid stuff.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, that's true, that's absolutely true. What about you, shelley?

Speaker 3:

What would be your one piece of advice I will piggyback off of Melissa's, because I think sometimes people get caught up in which is lovely. That's why we go on holiday, that's why we travel to get caught up in new experiences. But I think sometimes the common sense goes out the window. And the other thing I would like to say is the for women. I think it's very, very important that you listen to your gut, that you listen to your intuition and you don't discount it, because there are so many times where we want to be nice, we want to. Just, we don't want to cause a problem, we don't. And there's so many different ways of handling things where you can be nice, you cannot cause a problem, but you have to abdicate for yourself and you cannot leave yourself vulnerable or in a dangerous situation just because you, you are discounting, like no, no, it's okay If you wouldn't put up with it in your country, excluding the cultural norms and taking a lot of factors into account.

Speaker 3:

You really need to listen to it. And if those cultural norms are really bothering, you really need to listen to it. And if those cultural norms are really bothering, you still listen to yourself and switch locations, because it's better to be safe than sorry, and it's always safety over money. So if it costs you a little bit more to go to a different location, go to the different location.

Speaker 1:

Excellent, excellent tips and advice. This episode from you guys. So obviously episode 52, the show notes. We'll put links to both Melissa and to Shelley's websites. But big shout out, you guys. Where can people find you, share where you live?

Speaker 3:

I'm on soloherwaycom and all of my socials are also solo her way. I'm on instagram, facebook, take talk and I think that's it. That's quite a lot.

Speaker 1:

What about you, melissa?

Speaker 2:

uh, yeah, I have thrifty family travels is my family travel blog, and I have queensland travel guide and brisbane travel guide and, yeah, you'll find me on most of pretty much all those social medias that uh, um, shelley just mentioned, as well and again, links can be found in the show notes, episode 52 for this episode.

Speaker 1:

But, once again, great to chat with you guys and, um, I hope to actually will be seeing you soon as well, because I'll be back in Australia soon, so I'll be seeing you. Melissa. Probably be missing you, unfortunately, shelley, unless we can kind of cross cross over in Asia at some point, but always great to chat with you. See you. Bye, thank you, bye. Thank you for joining us on this episode of the global travel planning podcast. For more details and links to everything we discussed today, check out the show notes at globaltravelplanningcom. Remember, if you, if you enjoyed the show, please consider leaving us a review on your favorite podcast app, because your feedback helps us reach more travel enthusiasts, just like you.