Where St. Louis Eats

It is almost a certainty that it is when you are traveling or on vacation that things will go wrong. These things can often ruin a vacation and leave a bad taste in the mouth for a particular location; they can even be expensive!

Things can even get to the point where you can feel like a prisoner as you become reluctant to leave your room. When visiting a new country, traveling safely is really a matter of common sense because you will not be aware of local traditions or problems that are faced by travelers.

Whatever it is you are doing or wherever you are, when you get that feeling that something doesn’t feel right, that is your instinct; learn to listen to it. If you are heading out on the town to discover new bars or taking photos at the local fish market, do you really need to carry your passport, traveler’s checks, extra cash, credit cards and plane tickets? Expensive and necessary items like identification tickets for example should be left at the hotel in their safe or the room safe if you have one; it is much easier to recover your vacation if you only lose a few important belongings instead of all of them. One suggestion that can help reduce the risk of losing everything is placing cash and credit cards in different locations like pockets, wallets and bags; a pickpocket who is trying to steal from you will only get a small amount, leaving you with means to get back to the hotel.

Unfortunately, the convenience of having two credit cards on the same account in your own country can be a problem in a foreign land so another travel safely tip is to use two completely separate accounts; this provides a back-up should one be lost or stolen. One simple trick to stop a bag thief is to place the strap over the head and across the chest as opposed to on the shoulder where it is easy to grab.

Don’t make it easy for them when you walk around by having bags and other valuable objects attached to straps next to the road where it is a simple matter for thieves on bikes to just grab at or cut the straps with a knife. Everyone has heard the stories of different confidence tricks that have happened to vacationers because they are relaxed and let their guard down but the truth is these people do this sort of thing for a living.

Complacency is a dangerous trait and we have all been guilty of it when we are on vacation, remember this is what they do every day to make money and feed their families. One way to stop some of the pick pocketing is to place a padlock on your backpack as any delay means they will usually try someone else.