Travelling is always exciting but can also turn ugly fast if you are not prepared. Here’s a few safety tips for when considering your next vacation.

Firstly, check with your travel and tourism ministry to ensure the status of your destination.  This is a great starting point in order to receive all the logistics based on your destination, any travel advisory, papers required and ways to protect your health.  Once you’ve done the obvious consider the following.:

Where You Are Staying – The chances are that you are going to be looking straight into where you are staying after you have chosen the destination that is right for you this time round. If you have found a ridiculously cheap hotel then the chances are that it is cheap for a reason. Although they could be putting on a special offer it is safe to say that it could be placed in a really dodgy area so I would always recommend that you do some serious research into the area you are thinking about staying at.

The great thing about the world nowadays is that there are bound to be people that have been to the location before and you will easily find reviews of the hotel/villa/apartment that you are thinking about.

The Condition Of The Country – I am not talking about cleanliness or anything along these lines here but if you think about eastern asia at the moment would you really feel comfortable travelling there whilst the country is in the state it is in? If you are still thinking about it then think of the children, are they going to be completely safe in the environment you are taking them to?

Keeping updated with all of the latest news stories of the country you are thinking about heading to is the best option.

Traveling Upon Arrival – The chances are you wouldn’t get into an unmarked cab in your own country so why on earth would you do it in a country you are not familiar with? You would be surprised how many people risk getting into unmarked cabs just to get from A to B. Traveling safely might be a bit more expensive but it doesn’t risk everyone in your party so it is well worth doing. Another aspect of this to consider is walking around areas that tourists really shouldn’t be going down. All countries have their crime spots and you should make note of what these are before traveling because tourists usually stick out like a sore thumb to criminals and are also carrying a lot of money and valuable passports which makes them automatic targets for criminals.

Luggage – Another element of a safe vacation is to make sure that your luggage is safe for the entire duration of your journey. The best way to keep your luggage safe is to fit locks on the cases as this way you will not get any criminals accessing the case and taking any valuables you have inside. On the other hand be warned that security at airports do have the right to break into cases if they see something show up on scanners that they do not recognise. Are there any safety aspects I have missed out on, let me know in the comments so we can keep people safe on their vacations.