UK woman murdered in New Zealand

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Title – UK woman murdered in New Zealand
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 18th January 2008

New Zealand is a very popular choice with tourists, 'gapers' and people on working holidays. It is a very stable and generally safe country. Many people think of it as a prettier version of the UK (especially Scotland) on the bottom of the world, caught in a time-warp where people are more in tune with their community and the pace of life is a little slower; something many people yearn for.

But these thoughts and perceptions can be dangerous and result in people being complacent in their behaviour. Any time we take holidays, we seem to behave in a way that leaves us susceptible to risk in its many different forms. This is partly because as we are on 'holiday', we are generally in a more positive and relaxed frame of mind and this can leave us vulnerable.

In this tragic case of Karen Aim there is no suggestion at the time of writing that this is anything other then a horrific indiscriminate attack on an innocent traveller who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Our thoughts are with her family and friends who not only have to deal with this tragedy, but have to cope with being so far away on the other side of the world.

Travelling takes us far away from the help we are used to, travellers are often wary of starting out on a trip and the concerns of those they leave behind can be substantial. Parents feel helpless to protect their children, something that has dominated their lives for over 18 years.

Despite people being 'street-wise' or confident at home, this does not always translate to other parts of the world and there is truly nowhere entirely safe. We aim to show candidates on our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop (GYITSA) that glossy travel brochures don’t show the darker side of countries, but they all have one. People should not be put off travel by this dark underbelly, but they should consider and manage the risk.

The vast majority of travel to New Zealand results only in fond memories to bring home and share with others, our aim is to enhance those memories by providing effective advice for those attending our workshops.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com