Rules for caution and personal safety in a trip abroad
Rules for caution and personal safety in a trip abroad
Wrote: Yair Bar-Zohar
Edited: Nitza Tzameret
Date: 11/01/2006, last update on 17/03/2010
There’s a great value for information regarding the personal safety of the traveler abroad. Some of that information is already in the internet, some other could be found in guidance books, while others are a product of personal experience that wasn’t brought to the public’s knowledge. In this article, for your convenience, I have gathered a lot of information supported by those sources. I tend to believe that an alerted traveler, one who takes care of several basic caution rules, won’t bump into special problems.
First recommendation: before you leave the country, have Israel’s embassy phone number in your destination country. You can get those numbers from a telephone book abroad, at the hotel’s reception or at the ministry of foreign affairs website. Remember that the embassies around the world help you issue a passport, give you an attorney confirmation, help you transfer money in case of an emergency, provide information regarding medical assistance, help you locate a missing person and create contact between families at home and the travelers abroad.
Before, during and after the flight
Seats: it’s recommended to sit 6 seats next to the plane’s hatch. Moreover, it’s recommended to sit near the pass and not near the window. This allows you to exit the plane quickly in case of an emergency. If you have a family, order the seats together, so that you’ll all sit next to each other. In case it’s impossible, ask other passengers to exchange seats with you, and even if it can’t be done and you have children with you, decide which parent is responsible for which child.
It’s recommended to fly with an airline company that has political relationship with your country, and avoid flying above countries that are hostile to Israel.
When you pack, check carefully your luggage’s content, don’t put in there anything you don’t know what it is.
Lock your luggage carefully before you enter the plane and don’t keep it without supervision until you give it away at the passenger’s reception.
If you happen to fall into a distress situation because you are an Israeli citizen, we advocate you turn to the plane’s crew and ask for protection.
During the flight, we recommend you keep your shoes on you and check your seatbelt.
Possible problems
Flight tickets stolen or lost: go to the airline company’s offices near you and fill out some forms. After that, you’ll pay a fine and receive a new ticket.
Equipment stolen or lost: go to the nearest police station, fill out a declaration form, and bring it back to the insurance company in Israel. Without that form, you won’t be able to receive a financial compensation.
Late for the flight: first of all, don’t panic. Go to your airline company’s desk at the airport. With a regular company and a regular ticket that you have paid full price without any restrictions, you’ll be able to convert it to a later flight. With a charter company, the situation is different, since they are not obligated to help/compensate, and you can only hope for the best.
When an airline company cancel/postpone a flight, you have the right to receive an alternative flight and for comfortable waiting arrangements. In case you wait for a long time, you can demand for an accommodation.
Your luggage got lost in the flight? Turn to the airline company’s section of lost and found and report about the loss. The company should equip you with some cash so that you can organize yourself. In any case, take a form that confirms that your luggage was lost, in order to be compensated by the insurance company later.
Keeping the equipment, documents and valuable items save
Passport got lost or stolen: report to the police, and get a confirmation. You need to equip yourself with 2 passport pictures and some money and go to the Israel embassy with the confirmation. Fill out a deposition of your lost/stolen passport and apply forms to request for a new passport. If the passport had visas, you need to renew them in every embassy separately.
You should leave at home valuable jewelry or items. Expensive equipment or items that must be taken abroad could be kept locked in a special bag with a lock and with special cells. Take them out only when you have to.
Don’t leave expensive equipment without supervision in the hotel room or at the baggage of the car/bus.
There is no use in locking the equipment in the hotel room or tie it to the bed! It’s recommended to use the safe in the hotel and leave: credit cards, passports, and anything valuable that you won’t need during the trip, inside.
Don’t leave the bag on the floor when you’re in restaurants, buffets or stores. Keep it at a place that will be difficult for thieves to reach.
Preparing to sleep in the car: you should locate yourself in parks that are meant for that and not in an isolated place. In any case, you should lock the bag with the equipment, tie the bag to the chair or put it near your body. And of course, lock the car.
Avoiding unnecessary markings
You should remove any sign that might indicate that you’re Israelis/Jews. It starts with not speaking loudly in Hebrew, or reading books or papers in Hebrew. Also, don’t wear domes, jewelry that’s related to the religion (Menorah, Magen David) and don’t use tags with Hebrew letters on your luggage, a thing that might indicate that you’re Israeli tourists.
As a rule, don’t give out any unnecessary information about your trip plans.
Avoid noting your job or rank at the army or the security ministry.
Avoid taking part in a political debate with strangers.
Stay away from protests.
Money and Credit Cards
Don’t ever exchange money in the street and with a stranger that stands with you in a line to the money exchange office. Exchanging money should be done only in regulated and approved places and with the service giving clerk.
Don’t walk around with a wallet in the back pocket, and in any case, you should tie the wallet to a chain with a grip in front of the body.
Take your passports with you at all time. Don’t be tempted to keep it somewhere, not even in the hotel’s reception.
Before you enter your credit card to the ATM machine, check the entrance for the card. If you’ll see two clips, don’t enter your credit card there. The clips will prevent the card from entering the machine and it will fall into a small bag planted in there before. The machine will work automatically and demand your secret number, but the card will be caught in there, and you won’t be able to get it out ( after giving up, the stalking thieves will come back and take the credit card out with the right equipment).
If you credit card was stolen or swollen by the ATM machine, contact the bank that accepts this card, or call the credit card’s center in Israel:
Leumi-Card: 972-3-6178800, Visa: 972-3-5726333, Isracard: 972-3-6364666. Making a new card will take a few days. If the card was swollen, go the bank where the machine is located.
Stuck with no accommodation: Try finding rooms in the expensive hotels because the chances to find an available room are high. Another possibility is to drive to the nearest town and find a hotel that is located in a distance of half an hour/ hour.
Safety rules in public places
We don’t recommend you to get inside a taxi that addresses you at the airport, and if you do, only after you’ve both agreed on the price in advance. You should pick a taxi yourself, a taxi that fits you, both in the airport and along the trip. Get inside a taxi that you have ordered yourself.
It is important to open your eyes for what happens all around you, avoid being in a place with a lot of crowd, beginning with the lobby and at the dining room of the hotel, and continuing with the streets, lines to the transportation stations, in halls and in the passages of the metro / busses / trains. Pay attention in the malls, restaurants and stairwells – it’s recommended to stand in an angle that allows you to see who’s standing before you and after you. At the moving stairs, keep a stair space.
Remember that in crowded places, there is a change thieves might be around. These destinations are preferred by thieves who work in groups.
If you noticed a person or a group of people stalking you, you might be under surveillance of thieves or a hostile factor. Do not hesitate, and go to the nearest police station or the nearest Israel embassy/consulate.
At any state, the policeman should be on your side. However, it is also very easy for the fraud artists to dress like police officers, and by so take your passports and money. How they do it? If you’re a tourist, you probably don’t know the local law enforcement’s uniforms, so it’s very easy to wear something that looks official.
With this system, the man who claims to be a police officer will tell you that there is a problem in the area with fake bills/passports and will ask for your wallet/passport , pretending to be someone that is giving you protection. Then, he will return your wallet, say that it’s fine, and by the time you’ll notice that your money is missing, he’ll be far away. Different variations of the same fraud also happen in train stations, road blocks, and official sites. Sometimes, they will take the wallet or passport and flee.
How to avoid being a victim? First of all, ask for a police certificate with and ID, and if you still have doubts, and he still asks for the wallet or passport, ask firmly to show it to him in an official place, like the police station, with the presence of other policemen, and I promise you that they will disappear. Never give your wallet or your passport to someone that you don’t know.
There are thieves that pretend to be tourists, walk around with maps in their hands, and look helpless. They ask you how to get somewhere and while you’re looking at the map or showing them how to get there, they pickpocket you or slice your bag and take all of its content without you noticing. Therefore it’s not recommended to walk with a bag pack or a bag that’s behind you, even if it’s locked. Keep it in the front every time you need to stop or talk. This way, you’ll have full control of your bag.
Take a camera or a cell phone with a camera with you anywhere you go, and make it available to you at any time (bag or glove compartment). In case you get robbed, you could picture the thief and submit a complaint against him at the police station.
In case you get robbed, obey the law enforcement officers in the country you’re at and don’t try to pretend to be wise, because you might get involved with unnecessary.
Avoid walking in dark side roads.
Be alerted to suspicious phenomena (weird behavior, suspicious artifacts).
Avoid prolong staying in a location that many Israeli tend to be.
Avoid taking a part in an attractive financial deal, even if the person is dressed in a suit and equipped with a laptop. Usually, they are crocks.
If you go to a pub, private club or something like that, it’s better to come with another person at least.
Doing some shopping? While you shop, make sure that you’ve got what you paid for.
Not once we ask for a total stranger to picture us, but the photographer disappears from the area. Check if he’s a local or a tourist. if he is, you shouldn’t ask him to picture you.
Complaining in a foreign police
Due to the difficulties of the language, communication and the different culture, complaining at the local police station is actually useless, and might make you stop your trip or delay it.
Rented car thefts
If the car you’ve rented got stolen, damaged or have been in an accident: report to the local police and get a confirmation. Don’t forget to fill out the forms for the rental company (you’ll usually find it in the glove compartment).
These are the common examples for car thefts scenarios:
The thieves open the driver’s door with force, while standing in a red traffic light, and then, with threats or by force, throw the driver out of the car and drive away from the scene. The solution: locking the car until you reach your destination.
Hitting the car from the back, and while the driver starts to comprehend what’s going on, they open the driver’s car, throw him out of his seat and drive away. Therefore you must lock the car at all time, and not hurry to get out of the car and response. You should response only if the hitting driver is been identified as not suspicious (if he’s hurt or he doesn’t flee).
The robbers wait in junctions, ask for a ride and then enter the car by force. The solution: don’t take hitchhikers.
The robbers approach the car with weapons, threaten the driver, and then steal the car (best case scenario).
If you’re in the car driving, and somebody’s signals you that he has a flat tire, or tells you to stop at the side of the road, avoid doing so in a deserted location. Keep on driving till you reach a gas station or a bus station. Your primary objective is to stay away from the person who told you to stop, because he might be a road robber.
There are those who start talking to you in the native language, and then another person come and open one of the doors or the baggage, and steals all the bags. Therefore, it’s recommended to lock the doors and the baggage as well, and not to speak with anyone you don’t know.
When you park the car at the street or at the parking lot, cover the equipment as much as you can in order not to draw special attention to the thieves.
In case the luggage is in the car, make sure they cannot be seen from the outside.
When you leave the car, never leave the engine on, even if it’s for a short time or even if someone stays in the car. For your information, the insurance will not be valid if you leave the car keys inside the car. For any reason you must leave the car, shut down the engine, take the keys, and lock the car.
You must insure that the car is locked when you park.
Staying at the hotel
Be sure to lock the door, while you’re in the room (shake the door).
Don’t let any unidentified person enter your room.
Avoid staying at shady places, even if the price is relatively cheap.
Don’t accept or open packages or gift that you don’t know who sent them to you.
Try to remember the status of your belongings when you leave and enter your room.
When you leave the hotel, keep the luggage locked. Make sure they are in the same state you left them in.
When you arrive to the hotel, look for the nearest emergency passages and exits.
Medicines, drugs, and prostitution services – a serious warning
Medicines: in India and Thailand, the codeine, found in cough medicines, is considered as a drug, and you might get arrested for having it. Therefore, pay attention to the content of the drugs you have, and check with the local health ministry.
Drugs/Chemicals: in many of north-east Asia countries and South America, heavy punishments are given for using drugs. In Thailand, for example, you can be judged for a life sentence and even death punishment for possession commercial quantity of drugs. On the other hand, in many other places, the policy about easy drugs is total overlooking. If you decide to try – do it with responsibility and check what is the policy for it where you are, what the law says about it. Take in account that the laws vary from country to country and ignorance is more dangerous than the drugs.
Hallucination mushrooms: they are grown in the Far East and South America. Using them could be fatal and make an irreversible damage (losing any connection to the environment or even death). Don’t be tempted to take them as a part of a ritual or taste them, you don’t have any control of what you take. The assumption: “It won’t happen to me”‘, is completely false. Even if your friend took it and it did nothing to him, don’t take it. You don’t have any control of the quantity and the danger is very high.
Sun fader: this is a drink that causes hallucinations, which is made out of some kind of a cactus. One time sip might cause mental damages. Common in Bolivia.
Massage and prostitution services: I’m not here to judge anyone, but remember that having sex without a condom in south-east Asia and in Africa is very much like playing a known and dangerous game of a loaded gun filled with bullets.
Far East
General
Danger zones: for example, the border between Cambodia and Thailand is known as a very dangerous place and robbing on the road is a common thing there. Therefore, don’t go to dangerous or forbidden places.
Hitchhikers: don’t hitchhike with military cars and don’t ride during the night to remote places.
Water: don’t drink the water and don’t eat fruits/vegetables that were washed using tap water. The water in these places is very dangerous and drinking them might cause serious diseases.
Countries
Kashmir: the foreign office has published a statement to Israelis not to fly there (north India), you should listen to the warning.
Tibetan plateau and the Altiplanu: these high places demand acclimatization to the area for at least three weeks. Add-ons, like iron pills could help, so as aspirin – this are wonder drugs to height sicknesses.
Africa
Countries
Ethiopia: remember that the security situation there is not good, and the stories about kidnapped or robbed tourists there are true.
South Africa: the foreign office warns the tourists that crime is rising there. Tourists’ robbery is a common sight there. Therefore, you should drive carefully and on roads, both on road and in the down-town of the cities, especially near hotels.
South-America:
General:
Rafting: pay attention you sign some forms, stating that the company doesn’t take any responsibility for what happens to you, including accidents!
Bungee-jumping: in Peru, it’s illegal and usually the staff is not professional.
Countries:
Lima: the capital of Peru and especially the market at kusko are known as the home of the quick-hands (pickpockets) and the knifes.
Bolivia: Pickpocketing is a national sport there. You’ve been warned.
Cuba: taking a photo of policemen, military men and men with an important job is forbidden.
Ecuador, Colombia and Guatemala: armed robbery, robbery or theft of any kind is a common custom for tourists. Walk the streets as less as possible, and if you bump into them, don’t be wise.
This information is served for your convenience and safety. Any important addition and recommendations regarding the safety rules and the personal safety for the tourist – will be received with pleasure.
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