Travel safety-scary experiences-tips for avoiding them.
 

I think this could be valuable for all travellers-what kinds of crazy unexpected scary situations have happened to you while travelling and what are your tips for handling these situations.

What kind of scary situations are you expecting to encounter? I can't think of anything along these lines that has ever happened to me traveling.

Well, my husband and I have been befriended by a local in Montego Bay who would not let us leave him and eventually we had to pay him off and get into a "taxi" he had chosen to get us back to our cruise ship. It end up costing us $80 but we were lucky that we were safe but not happy with ourselves ! Although we were aware of the reputation to take advantage of tourists we got caught up with it before we knew what was up.

I was driving from Denver to Arches NP once, and I ran out of M&M's on the way. It was kinda scary, but I was able to stop and get some more at the next exit. :)

I would recommend that everyone keep a large bag in their car to avoid running out, and implement an inventory management system so they can be alerted to the impending scariness.

<b> The best thing you can do: to act the same way you do at home -- use common sense. Don't take unnecessary risks you would not ordinarily take. Lock up your valuables; your doors and always be aware of your surroundings. Even if you are on vacation, don't let your safety take a vacation </b>

That said...this a suggestion I got the first time I traveled to the Bahamas. We were told to not go off on our own [DH and myself] to find &quot;beaches&quot;. This was in early 70's. We were told to stay where tourist typically go and not look for the &quot;off the beaten path.&quot;

I have ventured more in my later years of travel, but I try not to go too far from where others are around. Never want to be really alone, that works for me at least.

Also, I would not encourage rentals of motorscooters anywhere they drive on the other side of the road and may have round abouts. Especially true if you have never done either [scooter or other side of the road.]

Of course, this is my humble opinion and I know lots who go off on their own with no ill results.

Hope this helps...
Debi

LoL TheWeasel. My DH can certainly identify with that crisis situation!:-D

Dang, Weasal. That was close!

I kept loaf bread and peanut butter in the car for long road trips. The kids could get very, very scary when they got hungry! (Can ya tell I'm Southern with that &quot;loaf bread&quot;?)

&quot;I kept loaf bread and peanut butter in the car for long road trips&quot;

Ahh yes, but do you use Mapquest ahead of time so you know how long those road trips will be? :)

No, I just post inane questions for the millionth time, but don't actually do any research - or open up a map. Map? What's a map?

I have traveled a LOT!. Over 60 - probably 70 trips to europe at this point - and literally close to a thousand in the US.

I have had only a couple of scary experiences and they all involved things over which I had absolutely no control:

One landing when it appeared the landing gear would not lock - they did - the problem was the light not the gear but no one could tell until we landed in all that foam and fire trucks

Wind sheer landing at CVG when the plane turned perpendicular to the ground right before landing (the pilot righted it and we were on the ground before what had happened really &quot;took&quot;)

A flight out of LAX that almost crashed into the Pacific (we were less than 30 seconds from putting down in the water)

What I have learned is live your life, don;t sweat the small stuff and in a scary situation be as sensible as possible (I don;t know how to learn the latter - but can tell you that in all 3 situations almost everyone was sensible - only a few &quot;lost it&quot; - so I think that the natural adrenaline rush may help you keep your wits about you)

If you're talking about things like having your pocket picked or having your hotel reservation misplaced - that comes under the category of &quot;don;t sweat the small stuff&quot;

And if you're looking for categories of &quot;scary stuff&quot; to worry about - you have too much time on your hands

2 years ago I was on a flight that was supposed to go from Houston to London and the plane caught fire on take-off. The plane filled up with smoke and I wondered if this was the end. There was no time for a fuel dump so the pilot had a challenging job of making an overweight landing. When we landed we were met by many fire trucks that put out the fire as we were rolling to a stop. We had to evacuate using the inflatable slides. That within itself was scary because the slides are very steep and slick, and it's a hard landing on the concrete runway.

This was indeed a very scary situation and I almost cancelled my trip. But I pulled myself together and decided to take the next plane to London. From London I went on to Geneva. I was still pretty shook up the first couple of days of this trip, but I got past it and really enjoyed my time in Switzerland.

Okay i get your point, this sight is only for &quot;regulars&quot; and I did look up safety before I posted this and got very little info. I guess I am wrong to think that all places are not equal as far as safety goes. I have not travelled much and I guess when I look up Buenos Aires and hear about two guys getting almost killed in a supposed safe area by being hit over the head with a bottle I kind of wonder if I want to go there. But I guess from the jest I am hearing over my question I just shouldnt even think about safety. Stupid me!

To answer the second part of your question, how to handle it. As I said above, I almost cancelled my trip. But after I had some time to think about it, I decided to face up to this by getting on the next plane. It was hard to put this out of my head and it took a couple of days, but I did manage to do that and I went on to enjoy my trip.

Irecommend, this is the US forum, so naturally everyone thought you were asking about travel in the US. There is a South America forum if you'd like more information about traveling there. Good luck with your trip planning! :)

Thanks PM your response came as I was typing mine. Mighty brave of you and I think I would have done the best to pull myself together too. Wow you were brave.

Hi Bayougal
I guess the US forum is the busiest one on the sight and I am not only planning on travelling in South America but was interested in general travel safety tips. Sorry if you dont have any suggestions.

irecommend - the exchange between myself and Starrsville had much to do with another recent, and little to do with this one. I'm sure you'll get plenty of replies to your questions. Some of them will be silly, but that's OK. Taking offense will only encourage more mis-direction of your thread.

Thank you, irecommend, you are very kind. I hope you're not too upset by the kidding around, I don't think any harm was intended. This is a friendly and fun forum, but we all do take safety very seriously and this is indeed a good question.

Well I was most offended because I actually only like Milky Way bars. M &amp;ms are just for kids.

:-D