Practical tips for safe travel

While everyone wants to believe that they can travel anywhere in the world, without a care, the reality is much different.  While there is no reason to become hysterical, and stay at home, there are practical tips that each traveler should follow for safer and ultimately more rewarding travel. Following some common sense guidelines can help insure that you can have the trip of your dreams, enjoy yourself, and return home, refreshed and rejuvenated.

Here are some practical tips for safe travel-

• Be patient-We should all be thankful, for the security measures that sometimes delay us.  To avoid the frustration of long airport waits, call ahead to confirm your flight schedules before heading to the airport. Travel experts strongly advise to always allow plenty of time to catch your flight. And finally make sure before you on the way to the airport, that you have all your proper documentation (license, passport, tickets etc.).
  
• Pack light and then edit your bags, again. In today's traveling conditions the new conditions at airports will favor those with carry-on-size luggage. The basic limits have not changed (check with your airline). But keep in mind that those passengers checking bags, will incur longer waits, and less flexibility. Those passengers with carry-on bags, do better in the scramble, to get through the flight-schedule shuffling, that follows any major disaster or scare.
  
• Take the right information with you.  Do not let yourself be stranded in a faraway country, without proper identification, insurance, and contact information for someone back home.  This way if you get into any kind of trouble, you will have the information you need right at your fingertips.  In addition, be sure to let someone(who is not on the trip with you), know your travel plans and itinerary.

• Do your research before you go.  Travel experts advise that you should consider State Department travel advisories however, you should not trust them blindly.  Keep in mind the political motivations that can sometimes affect these warnings. Pick and choose where you travel. Experienced travelers report that they will often travel right through many advisories (which can seem politically motivated), while other warnings (for example, about civil unrest in a country that's falling apart) are grounds to cancel a trip. Keep in mind  that it is all a matter of perspective and that in recent years, Canada and many European countries have issued travel advisories to their citizens for a land they consider more dangerous than their own: the United State. For other perspectives, you can check the British and Canadian government travel warnings.
  
• Be careful of your alcohol consumption.  Many times, tourists forget that being on vacation, does not mean a complete abandonment of common sense.  Tourists who would be models of good behavior at home, suddenly lose their inhibitions, drink to much, and find themselves the hapless victims of thieves, and others with less then good intentions. While no one says that you can not have a good time, keep your wits about you to avoid becoming a victim.
  
• Avoid being a target. Studies have shown that those tourists who avoid being targets for crime are those that try to melt into the local scene. Keep in mind that fancy luggage, and jewelry, impresses only thieves and gives you a needlessly high profile. You should try to travel, and look like a local. This is smart travel since, likely targets include icons of American culture (towering American corporations, fancy high-profile American tour groups, military and diplomatic locations, and luxury hotels). Stay in local-style places, eat at local restaurants and look like the locals. Not only will you be safer, you will have a better trip.