Solo female travellers face all kinds of challenges, and safety is amongst the highest of concerns. From in-room security for valuables to safe navigation routes for sightseeing and off the grid transport, one can never be too prepared with information or equipment. We’ve touched on how to prepare for visiting a foreign country in a previous article and learning key words and phrases (click here to review), can be ultra useful to ask locals for insight and help when you are on a solo vacation or business trip.
One online expert, we found knowledgeable is Drew Dwyer. He is a Marine Corps veteran and former CIA operative who has had his fair share of foreign and domestic travel. Having stayed in hundreds of hotels, Dwyer shared his travel safety tips on SOFREP.com, which we have summarized below. We found some of his tips rather dated, and with solutions like WanderSafe, you would need to use them all as a solo female traveller, however, it gives you a different overview of what you can do to protect yourself from any kind of danger.
- Choose a window seat toward the rear of the aircraft.
- Regularly review where you are in your journey by flicking over to the trip display. Knowing where you are at any point in time is a consistent theme in preventive security.
- Label your luggage with your information in a concealed area
- Acquire or make a copy of the hotel fire escape plan on the back of your door.
- Do not stay on the ground or the top floor of a hotel. The ground floor is readily accessible to intruders and the top floor does not allow any room for easy escape.
- Keep the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door, even when you are not there. Always assume the room is bugged. Keep the radio or TV turned on with the volume on low at all times—even when you are not in the room.
- Keep the drapes/blinds pulled at all times, even when unoccupied.
- Keep a light on in the room when unoccupied.
- Know the fire escape routes and the locations of all stairwells and elevators.
- Keep a small “bug-out bag” packed with must-have items (money, ID, passport, etc.) in the event of an emergency departure.
- Carry a motion alarm that can be placed over the doorknob. They are inexpensive and can be found in most electronics stores.
- Keep a flashlight next to the bed and within arm’s reach.
We’re developing a great on-trip safety companion for solo travellers called WanderSafe. Sign up to be the first to beta test our new product today.
Visited over 50 countries Traveled by foot, train, bus, plane, bicycle, boat, scooter… Social Media Addict Looking forward to new adventures