Reading Right Travel Stuff To Stay Safe
Most travelers and Jetsetters are avid readers – especially about the places they’re traveling to.
But are you reading the right stuff to make your trip as safe as it can be?
Probably not.
So, before you embark on international travel, you need to be a newshound.
Don’t worry. It is not a full-time reporting job.
Here’s how to arm yourself with information quickly and efficiently.
First, some easy and free tools.
Check out the U.S. State Department website for any warnings in the region you’re heading to. They have a warning system for each nation and regions within the countries.
We suggest you follow them:
Exercise normal precautions
Exercise increased caution
Reconsider travel
Don’t travel
Check the site for the address and location of the US Embassy near you and keep it on you.
The site also asks you good questions to ask your insurance provider – before you travel -- in case something happens to you.
One of the many reasons we are with Liberty HealthShare is because our healthcare travels with us. No matter where we travel, our healthcare bills will be taken care of as long as the bills for written in English. You can sign up here to see if you qualify.
Another free tool is Twitter. Create a separate Twitter account just for your travel news. You may need to use another email address from the one you use for your regular Twitter account.
Once your Twitter Travel News is running, only follow reputable news and travel organizations. Some suggestions:
State Department @StateDept
New York Times @nytimes
Wall Street Journal @WSJ
Regional News sites like BBC @BBCworld or Sky News @SkyNews if you’re traveling to Europe; or in China use the China Digital Times @CDT
In the search box type in the nation (Australia, Brazil, Ivory Coast) or the city (Sydney, Rio, Yamoussoukro) and then “news” to see who to follow.
Don’t follow friends or family members on this Twitter page, unless they are in the travel industry. Otherwise, the site becomes cluttered and difficult to sift through pertinent news stories quickly. (Family and friends can follow you on this site and see the items and posts you retweet.)
Here’s the beauty of this. You don’t have to read every story. You just look at the headline and see if that story pertains to your travel.
It’s a trick John learned from his reporting days. In this post, he talks about aggregating the news during the Paris terror attacks in 2015. Although it helped some people with family in the danger zone, it can be of good use to you as a warning system before you travel and while you are there for any heads-ups.
If you are looking for something immediately, a good way to sift through the posts is to use a # and then add the city or region in the search box.
That’s the free stuff. Here’s a membership site that we use. If makes sense – especially if you travel overseas a lot.
Stratfor is a consulting company that analyzing geopolitics. They are hired by major corporations to examine current and future trends. For a reasonable yearly rate, they do the same for individuals. We think this is a valuable tool since Stratfor has no agenda except keeping their clients safe and informed.
We should also mention our book, The TV Studio in Your Hand. So how does a book on shooting great vacation videos tie into travel safety? Actually a lot. Many travelers are injured or killed trying to shoot vacation videos or photos. We show you how today’s smart phones make it safer and easier for you to enjoy your vacation.
This is just a quick rundown of things you can do.
