Traveling is a common thing in today’s world, but there are some risks associated with it. Safety is always a major concern, but especially when you’re in a new area. There are a few major safety concerns while traveling, including your physical safety, digital safety, and the safety of your home in your absence. While you’re traveling, the risk of some sort of damage happening is heightened, making traveling sometimes a scary prospect. Despite this, there are steps you can take to protect yourself while on the go. If you’re looking to head out of your Los Angeles real estate for a bit and see the great wide world but are still a bit nervous, do not worry: here are five tips for staying safe while traveling.
Pack Lightly
One thing that you can do to stay safe while traveling is to pack lightly. If you overpack, you can inadvertently paint a target on your back. Being a confused tourist with a lot of valuable items is a bad combination. This makes you an easy target for those looking for an easy theft. You can avoid this by packing lightly and only bringing exactly what you need. If you pack extra valuables that you don’t need, you are only putting yourself and your items at an increased risk. If you truly want to remain safe while traveling, then packing lightly could be a big help.
Don’t Post Your Location
Another great tip for staying safe while traveling is to avoid posting your location. Posting your location online can affect your safety in two ways. First, people can see that your not home which can potentially put your property in danger. Potential criminals can see that your home is vacant and an easy target. In addition, posting your location can alert criminals to where you are going to be that day. This can make it easier for stalkers or other criminals to obtain your location and put you in danger. The safest alternative is to simply wait until you are home from your travels before you post anything about your vacation’s location.
Stay Off Public Networks
Staying safe while traveling isn’t just limited to your physical safety and the safety of your home, it also includes your digital safety. That’s why you should stay off public wifi networks that you don’t trust. Connecting to random public networks can put your digital privacy at risk, as these networks can gain access to your passwords or other digital information. You obviously don’t want this to happen, so you should plan to either use cellular data or stay disconnected from the web. Be careful where you connect to the internet while you’re traveling, as connecting to the wrong network could be detrimental to your safety and privacy. Airports like LAX are prime areas where hackers can abuse people’s use of public networks. While traveling, try to protect your digital data by staying off of these networks.
Don’t Reveal Valuables
If you’re someone that’s going to be traveling, it’s probably not the best idea to be flaunting your valuables. As mentioned before, being a confused tourist with a lot of valuables is a bad combination. This paints an easy target on your back, increasing the likelihood that you may run into trouble. One way to avoid this is to avoid revealing valuables. Try not to wear too much flashy clothing and jewelry that appears expensive. If you do decide to wear valuables, try to cover them up and avoid flaunting them. Doing so makes it much less likely that you will run into trouble on your travels.
Use CashAnother way to protect yourself and improve your safety while traveling is to only carry and use cash on your travels. Carrying a credit card or debit card can be quite risky and offers up plenty of scenarios where things could go wrong. For example, your card could be lost or stolen while you’re traveling. In addition, when using a card in a foreign country you must be wary of electronic data breaches. You can avoid these potentially disastrous scenarios by taking only cash with you on your travels. Calculate the cash you’ll need on your travels, and then take only what you need. This limits the risk of your finances being either misplaced or stolen while you’re traveling.
