Travel Tips

Healthy Third World Travel
Healthy Third World Travel 1000 667 Greg Ellifritz

 

A longer article about precautions to take when traveling in India.  The recommendations are actually very good for any third world travel destination.  The one suggestion I take issue with is the author’s advice to avoid street foods.  If chosen correctly, I think third world street foods are actually a healthier option than eating in most restaurants.  The street food is usually fresh and cooked right in front of you.  Cooking carts are less likely to be infested with rats or insects than restaurant kitchens.

 

Look for food that is being cooked fresh and isn’t sitting around.  Look for a line of local residents buying the food.  You’ll be fine.

 

How to Stay Healthy While Traveling in India

Digital Security
Digital Security 690 493 Greg Ellifritz

This article offers good digital security advice for travelers or anyone who uses digital technology outside of the confines of their own home.

Working online as you travel? Protect your shit!

Securing a Hotel Room
Securing a Hotel Room 1000 512 Greg Ellifritz

When most of you travel, you stay in a hotel or rental house.  Have you ever considered how you might best secure your rented dwelling?  The following article provides you some good tips and is worth your read.

 

Checking In: Securing Your Hotel Room Against Attacks and Intrusion

 

 

Travel Apps
Travel Apps 690 388 Greg Ellifritz

This might be a useful app for those of you who spend a lot of time in foreign airports.  $1.99 is a good insurance policy if you don’t have a foreign data package and a long layover.

 

WiFox App Is A Continuously Updated Map Of Wireless Passwords From Airports And Lounges Worldwide

 

Speaking of traveling Apps, this article gives you some unique alternatives to booking your accommodations on AirB&B.

 

 

Manners and Situational Awareness
Manners and Situational Awareness 768 386 Greg Ellifritz

If you want to enjoy your travel experiences, it’s important not to offend your hosts either on purpose or through ignorance.  It’s also important to understand that not everyone in your chosen destination will be friendly to foreign travelers.

The article below offers some excellent tips that may help you avoid problems in other countries when you are traveling.

Travelling Abroad: Mind Your Manners While Staying Alert

 

These are good tips to help keep you from getting your head bashed in when traveling.

 

The “educational beatdown” is still a part of many cultures.  “10 Unique Etiquette Tips To Use Around the World” is a useful read as well.

 

 

 

Hotel Room Safety
Hotel Room Safety 877 491 Greg Ellifritz

There are some very slick hotel room security hacks in this piece.  They are useful no matter if you are traveling domestically or internationally.  Check out the article.

Just The Tip: Hotel Room Security

 

 

 

A War Zone Pocket Dump
A War Zone Pocket Dump 660 495 Greg Ellifritz

Robert Young Pelton is a hero of mine.  He’s an author and war journalist who has traveled to most of the world’s third world shitholes to report the news.

This article describes Pelton’s everyday carry gear when traveling in the developing world.

Specialist Carry: War Zone Reporter

 

You will also want to check out his books and his handy low profile carry knife.  I have one of those and it is as indestructible as a tank.

All-Inclusive Wristbands
All-Inclusive Wristbands 480 640 Greg Ellifritz

If you’ve ever spent any time at all inclusive resorts in Mexico or the Caribbean, you’ll be familiar with the wristband issued to you at check in.  That lets the staff know you belong at the resort and what level of services you’ve paid for.

 

If you are staying on the resort, the wristband is no problem.  Everyone has one.  It’s only if you decide to go into the local town that you might have problems.

 

The locals see the wristband and they instantly know that you are a high dollar tourist.  The locals know which wristbands belong to which hotels.  They know if you are staying in a $500 a night property or a $150 a night property.  They will use that information to set the prices for any local goods you buy.

 

I’ve always preferred to take the wrist band off when going in to town.  I want at a chance of looking like a local, or at least someone who is living in town full time.  I’m less likely to be scammed that way.

 

I stayed last week in a hippie surf town in Ecuador.  It was a small place with only about 3500 residents.  Lots of the residents were burnt out surfers, mentally ill folks living on the beach, or heavy drug users.  The hotels used wristbands there to keep the riff raff off their property.

I used a simple but effective solution to deal with the wristband issue.  I cut the band and then used a small piece of Gorilla tape to refasten it whenever I was entering or leaving the hotel.  Once out in the town, I took it off and put it in my pocket so the locals wouldn’t know where I was staying.

 

Cut wristband with tape attached

 

Wristband looks intact while wearing it

 

 

Closer look at taped area

 

I would caution you to avoid using this tactic if the all inclusive charges a lot of money to replace your wristband.  In that case you might get a big bill when you check out.

 

If you are staying in a place like that, ask the staff at the front desk to temporarily remove your wristbands if you are going into town.  You may also ask them to put the band around your ankle instead.  If it is around our ankle, you can cover it up with a sock when off resort property.

 

Adding Data to a Local SIM Card in Latin America
Adding Data to a Local SIM Card in Latin America 640 480 Greg Ellifritz

Some of you travelers who are on a budget or are staying in a country for a long while might choose to use an unlocked smart phone and a local SM card for the most economical phone/text/data plan.  What do you do when your card runs out of minutes or data?

 

You need a refill or recharge.  Depending on the country, sometimes that involves logging on to your account and adding money.  In other places, you can buy extra minutes/data in the form of a scratch off lottery card.  You buy the card, call the number on it, and then enter the scratch off code.  You are all set.

 

If you are traveling in a larger city, you will usually find a phone store where you can do this easily.  Smaller towns may not have a phone store.  What do you do there?

 

Look for a corner store or a small grocery with the sign displaying the word “recargas” or “recarga aqui.”   It means “refills” or “recharges.”  That’s what you call the extra phone data in Latin America.

 

A store with a sign like this will hook you up.

 

Baggage Claim
Baggage Claim 500 375 Greg Ellifritz

In this post, Ed talks about some of the dangers present in the baggage claim area of a third world airport.  He’s right.  Lots of shady characters hang out there.  Be careful.

 

Baggage Claim

 

Two more tips:

1- Keep you baggage claim tickets.  In third world countries there are often security guards who compare the tags on your luggage with the tickets as you exit the baggage claim area.  Not having the claim ticket will cause a big hassle.

 

2- As soon as you clear baggage claim, rip off the luggage tags and throw them away.  You don’t want scam artists working the airport to know your name or the flight you were on.

 

In some countries, criminals will casually survey the luggage tags, and then google the names.  If they find someone who is wealthy or has a prominent position in a large company, they will follow that person and “arrange” transportation for them in the taxi queue.  That transportation will be taking them straight into a robbery or kidnapping.