Never mind the crocs, the pubs are running dry

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Title – Never mind the crocs, the pubs are running drySource – The Times
Date – 5th February 2009

It is a disaster of massive proportions, this season has seen floods for much of Queensland and many of the Pacific Islands have also suffered badly at the hands of an especially tough cyclone season.

Fiji, Micronesia, Papua New Guinea and other islands in the region have been badly affected with millions of dollars worth of devastation and many deaths. Only today reports coming out of the Solomon Islands of flooding, displaced populations and destruction are adding to the burden the area is under.

As if that is not bad enough South Australia has been suffering from its most destructive and most deadly bush fires with over 150 deaths already reported and many more yet unaccounted for. The weather really has played a tough hand to Australians and other in the region over the last few years, with drought and flooding causing crop failures and land erosion on a grand scale.

The tourist brochures paint a pretty picture for travellers, as do the guide books, they are after all selling a product and who wants to see their holiday destination under 4 foot of water. It is down to the individual to do the research and make sure the time of year they are going suits their requirements, that recent events will not adversely affect their plans and that they factor in any risks that natural cycles bring.

Many places round the world give the impression of 362 days of sunshine, few can deliver. Rainy seasons, Monsoon Seasons, Dry Seasons, Winter, Summer, Spring and Autumn; all affect activities we might want to take part in, how the landscape looks, what fauna and flora will be about and how safe it is to travel. Most importantly it will affect the enjoyment of our trip.

Obtaining Destination Advice such as political situation, climate, infrastructure, Ethical Considerations and general Travel Safety issues before you go, will go some way to allowing you to plan your trip more effectively. Once you arrive the locals will be able to tell where to avoid local problems like rogue crocodiles or which pubs have beer left. If however Australian pubs run dry, that will be the time to leave before serious social unrest, wild cat strikes and the fall of society follows… Just kidding Australia… I know you’ll never let that happen… the pubs running dry that is…

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Destination Advice alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Transport Options and more. The Crocodiles in Australia are something to be aware of, not something to fear or to make you change your plans. Take local advice and you should be fine. We teach people not to ignore threats, but to manage them.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

This is your pilot slurring…

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Title – This is your pilot slurring…
Source – The Independent
Date – 4th February 2009

What comment can I make on this story? How can I find a purpose or a lesson we can learn from it?

Maybe the only thing it makes us really aware of is the rise and fall of standards both in companies and countries. It reminds us that things change quickly and having access to the latest information is key to

Safe Travel.

During the cold war information was not always easy to come by and was closely controlled in a propaganda war. With the fall of the Berlin wall came the fall in economic fortunes of many of the eastern bloc counties, the ‘new’ Russia included.

For a decade Russia struggled economically, infrastructure crumbled, public servants went unpaid and the gloss came off the former Soviet grandeur. Along with this there was much talk of Aeroflot failing to maintain its fleet and sadly even if they didn’t quite match the image that many painted of planes falling from the sky, there were too many accidents involving Aeroflot aircraft for it to be a coincidence.

But as countries fall so new ones rise and for the past decade Russia has rebuilt itself, helped by the high oil and gas prices it now relies so heavily on and through strong (many think too ‘strong’) leadership has become a rich and powerful nation once again. More obvious is that a ‘super-class’ of oligarchs have arisen as the ‘mega-rich’ who control many of the key industries in Russia. This includes Aeroflot and it has benefitted from renewed investment and rebuilt in some people’s eyes its reputation to some degree.

It would be flippant of me to compare this incident to the current economic downturn, which with such low oil prices is hurting Russia more than most. This may be well be a one off; a PR disaster; a bad joke; an over reported incident; but in a country that as times get tougher seems to be turning inwards in some respects, such a press freedom and openness, any information is worth consideration.

If we take it as a one-off, then it is an example of how we should stand up (literally and figuratively), when the alarm bells start ringing and follow our instincts. Don’t be a sheep and follow the crowd for fear of what it will look like, stand up, in this case get off and then watch how many people thank you for taking the lead as they follow.

That they tried to explain off what some perceived as a drunk pilot as a mild stroke or suggest that the pilot has little to do except press a button is absurd. Ask Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III, the pilot nicknamed ‘the Hero of the Hudson’ if he could have performed his remarkable feat when drunk or after a mild stroke?

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Transport Options alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Health, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice and more. Flying is one of the safest transport options we can make, but there are still some checks we should make to protect us from the rogues out there who cut corners and compromise safety.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Dengue fever outbreak in Bolivia

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Title – Dengue fever outbreak in BoliviaSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 3rd February 2009

South America has truly suffered at the hands of Dengue Fever over the past few years, with serious outbreaks in Paraguay, Brazil and now Bolivia.

It is a disease that can, when an outbreak takes hold, devastate whole communities and has is several cases over the last few years almost reached epidemic levels. Governments have had to react by sending in the army to help set up temporary hospitals to help treat all those affected.

The problem of course is that Dengue Fever is spread by mosquitoes who carry the virus from one carrier to the next; so as the number of infected animals and humans grows so do the number of mosquitoes who act as carriers. The only way to prevent the spread getting more serious is to eradicate the mosquitoes, educate local populations and provide them with the means to protect themselves.

Travellers tend to under-estimate the threat from Dengue Fever or be ignorant of it altogether. What most do not realise is the devastating and potentially life threatening affect of the fever not to mention the associated pain (see

My Dance with Dengue). Add to this the burden they place on the health services of those countries that are affected and it becomes obvious why they should take every precaution to protect themselves.

I have urged travellers before in this blog to be aware of Dengue Fever, to be aware that the mosquitoes which transmit Dengue are generally more active during the day rather than at dusk or during the night as might be expected. So make sure if you are in an area affected by Dengue Fever (and that is much of the tropical world) that you protect yourself from mosquito bites day and night; cover up; use repellents and insecticides; sleep under a permithrine impregnated net; avoid complacency or the ‘I don’t get bitten defence’; use tried and tested products and avoid untested holistic methods; consider your location and stay away from areas with stagnant pools where mosquitoes breed; and if you know an areas is suffering from a sever outbreak such as the Santa Cruz area of Bolivia is at the moment, think about re-routing or at least double up or triple up on your bite prevention.

There are currently no prophylactic drugs available for Dengue Fever and there is no known cure. Swift diagnosis and treatment of the symptoms can reduce the worst of the side effects and with supportive medical treatment it is not often fatal. However one of the four strains of Dengue (Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever), is more dangerous than the others and catching Dengue more than once does seem to raise the dangers considerably. One thing is for certain, catching Dengue Fever will ruin a trip or a substantial part of a trip and it is never good for your body to have to go through the strain that Dengue puts on it.

Bite avoidance is certainly the wisest choice.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Health alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Equipment, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice and more. Too many travellers arrive home with tropical diseases that are avoidable, many of these can be avoided by taking a few simple steps to prevent infection in the first place.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

India couple’s kiss ‘not obscene’

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Title – India couple’s kiss ‘not obscene’
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 3rd February 2009

I add these types of stories into this blog for good reason; if we can understand how countries expect their own citizens to behave, to meet the ‘moral code’ of the country, then we can learn how to behave when we visit.

Many will argue that foreign tourists would not face a similar sanction for similar ‘offences’ and they may well be right, but they are missing the point somewhat.

The boundaries of behaviour when we travel, should not only be dictated by the law of the country we visit, certainly we must always follow local laws, but we must also be aware of differences in culture and acceptable practices. In India, as in much of South and South East Asia and the Middle East, people frown upon public signs of affection such as kissing and in some cases even holding hands. In the strictest countries such public demonstrations of affection are not only frowned upon, but illegal and can carry heavy sanction; especially when participants are not married.

In this case the judge seems to have taken a ‘sensible’ stance and thrown the case out, but the fact is these were Indian Nationals in their own country. When we visit new countries we must always remember we are guests and have no right to dictate behavioural standards or transfer our morals and values onto others; we have to conform with the standards expected in that country and if we don’t like them, we shouldn’t visit. We always work by the principle that travel to another country is a privilege not a right.

What we find acceptable is wholly unacceptable in other countries and what is unacceptable here is acceptable in other countries. For example how would we feel if a group of Afghani tourist took their horses onto Richmond park and started playing Buzkashi, which can very loosely be compared to polo, but where the ball is substituted with a headless goats carcass? For most of us that would be completely unacceptable, but in Afghanistan it is the national sport. It may be a silly analogy, but you get the idea;

Cultural Awareness is very important when you travel.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Cultural Awareness as well as Ethical and Responsible Travel alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Equipment, Travel Health, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice and more. Travellers have in the past often fallen foul of local laws and customs (Briton faces jail for sex on Dubai beach / Kiss warning to Malaysia tourists) and there is no substitute for doing your research before you set off.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Don’t let the problems snowball if your ski holiday hits the skids

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Title – Don’t let the problems snowball if your ski holiday hits the skidsSource – The Independent
Date – 14th January 2009

With 1 in 4 Britons who take a winter sports holiday doing so without travel insurance, many people are going to have very expensive travel stories to tell.

The fundamentals of travel insurance are very similar whether you are going skiing, diving, taking a week’s holiday or going on a volunteering gap year; make sure you are covered for ALL the activities and countries you travel to and for the whole duration of your trip.

Repatriation after an accident, be that a ski accident as mentioned in this article or following a moped crash in Sri Lanka, can be very expensive. The example given in this article of £35,000 in repatriation and emergency rescue cost is no exaggeration. Never assume that the status quo at home, applies abroad.

We are used to the excellent social welfare system we have in the UK, when you get ill the NHS looks after you; you don’t call an ambulance thinking about the cost and if you can afford it. This is simply not the case in most countries; in some the ambulance crew will first ask for proof you can pay and then treat you.

There are many stories about those who failed to get any insurance suffering not just the anguish of illness, accident or financial loss while travelling, but we also hear regular stories of insurance policies that are barely worth the paper they are written on. You must do your research; with insurance the cheapest is certainly not necessarily the best.

The ‘small print’ is all important and before you buy your insurance check that the activities, duration and destinations of your intended travel are suitably covered. For example if you are intending to go diving on your trip; are you required to take out additional cover, if not how many days diving will the policy cover and is the depth you can dive to limited? Does an annual travel insurance policy actually cover a whole year’s travel? Often annual multi trip policies allow a limited duration for each trip through the year.

There are a lot of questions and you need to get the answers before you leave. Remember limits on insurance policies are usually there for a good reason; for example the insurance company knows that the risks involved in off-piste skiing are much greater than with on-piste skiing, hence why they will not insure it or will charge a premium. When you are considering risks involved in your trip it is worth noting not just what you are insured for, but if the additional risks that your insurance company will not insure are worth taking… those are the risks you should avoid.

At

Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Insurance and what questions you should ask when you a sourcing insurance and the limits within which you should stay to Travel Safely.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

I tried to gouge its eyes: surfer battles to drag girl from jaws of 16ft shark

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Title – I tried to gouge its eyes: surfer battles to drag girl from jaws of 16ft shark
Source – The Times
Date – 13th January 2009

After a spate of shark attacks in Australia this winter (UK winter that is) some people will hear the classic Jaws music in their heads as they enter the water off the coast of Australia. Should they worry?

Australia does have a reputation as a country full of dangerous and deadly animals both on land and in the water, but it is also a country that understands these dangers and where they manage these risks through information and preventative measures.

Snakes although being some of the world’s deadliest kill very few people in Australia and in comparison with South East Asia; the numbers of fatalities is so low as to be insignificant. Why? The answer is that people in Australia generally wear footwear which those working the fields in South East Asia don’t.

What I am getting at is that we need to have perspective, the fear from shark attack is completely disproportionate to the threat they pose. In Australia the far greater threat comes from your vehicle breaking down in the outback.

Understanding risk goes a long way to reducing it. Should you swim off the coast of Australia? Absolutely, but be careful and listen to local advice about the safest place to swim; the rip tides and currents are dangerous in Australia and are responsible for some 15 tourists fatalities a year; make sure that you are a capable enough swimmer and physically fit enough for the conditions. Lifeguards in Australia rightly complain about the number of ‘poms’ they have to drag from the water because they are drunk, have a hangover or generally do not pay attention to the warning signs. Ask a lifeguard on Bondi Beach around Christmas time what they look out for most and the answer of a ‘pasty pom’ will be near the top of their list.

These stories of the great courage shown by those attacked and those who helped save them, tell of punching sharks when attacked or gauging at the eyes. In the case of attack you should try anything you can, but it still remains the case that prevention is so much better than the cure. Humans are not natural prey for sharks, many bite and ‘spit’ people out; avoiding those places they are known to frequent is the best way of preventing an attack and the Aussies know where most of those high risk places are. Being afraid of sharks is natural if a little disproportionate; being afraid to ask for advice and to take it is actually quite dangerous.

At

Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety, but how to protect against shark attack is not high on the agenda; understanding risk, evaluating it and putting proactive measures into place to prevent risk are. To do this we take a very rational view and look at the facts not the myths. It is still the case that on average there are about 1.2 fatal shark attacks a year in Australia’; that makes Sharks about 10 times less dangerous than swimming itself.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

‘Bug’ could combat dengue fever

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Title – ‘Bug’ could combat dengue fever
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 2nd January 2009

Another step in the fight against Dengue Fever and serious outbreaks such as the 2008 outbreak in Paraguay (

Paraguay put on dengue alert) has been achieved in Australia.

Developments that provide even a partial solution to reducing the number of Dengue Fever ‘victims’ is something to be welcomed, not only by the local communities who suffer badly from this potent virus due to lack of health care facilities, but also by travellers who travel to those areas where it is so prevalent.

But as with every advancement in science, it still has a long way to go and even if it is eventually successful, will take time to implement and will take some time to be effective.

As with all insect borne diseases, prevention should be your primary defence. There is no prophylactic drug to protect you against Dengue Fever as there is with for example Malaria; so it is doubly important to take preventative measures.

To take these measures you first have to be aware of the nature of the carrier. Most people assume that it is at dusk and during the night that mosquitoes are at their most active and take measures to protect themselves at these times. Many travellers who catch Dengue took all reasonable steps at night time, but did nothing during the day. The female Aedes mosquito, which is the Dengue Fever carrier, is however most active during the day…. That is what catches most people out.

When you travel to the tropical region where these mosquitoes thrive you must take proactive preventative measures 24 hours a day. The people who tend to catch Dengue Fever are those who think ‘it won’t happen to me’ and ignore the risks. No one is immune to the risks, no one can claim they don’t get bitten and those who do are either ignorant of those risks or enjoy the ‘game’ of Russian Roulette’; They should take the time to speak with people who have caught Dengue, which although rarely fatal in travellers who have access to medical care, is excruciatingly painful, can be very expensive and has the ability to ruin your ‘once in a lifetime experience’.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Health; what you need to do before you go, including what Travel Equipment you might consider; protective and preventative measures you can take on your travels; how to recognise the signs and symptoms of diseases so you can seek medical help as soon as possible and thus reduce the consequences to a minimum; and the level of Travel Insurance required.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Fireworks blamed as 60 are killed at nightclub

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Title – Fireworks blamed as 60 are killed at nightclubSource – The Times
Date – 1st January 2009

Sadly yet another tragedy has struck a nightclub in a popular tourist destination and fire has once again claimed too many lives. The reasons are in hindsight so obvious and so wholly avoidable, but across many parts of the world safety standards in bars, nightclubs, hostels and hotels are low and they remain at risk from devastating fires.

Just a few days before this tragedy another tragedy unfolded in Peru, not fire this time, but the release of what was described as ‘tear gas’ resulting in panic, a stampede and the death of 5 partygoers.

These may seem like very separate incidents, but the causes are unfortunately all too similar, but not inevitable. By having a greater sense of awareness you can make yourself aware of the dangers of frequenting these premises and either avoid going to the most dangerous ones or at the very least reduce the risks.

The cause of the fire may well have been fireworks and sparklers which revellers were allowed to bring into the premises or in the case of Peru the gas thrown into a packed dance floor, but the reason for the high fatalities was more to do with the poor management and safety standards. Lack of exits, closed or locked exits, no separation in the building, lack of emergency lighting, overcrowding, flammable decorations and lack of trained staff.

Taking some simple steps can reduce your risk to some degree. Always look for alternative exits when you arrive, do they look blocked or locked in any way? Does the premises feel uncomfortably full? Can you see any emergency lighting? How will you get to safety and if your primary route is unavailable, how else you can escape? Do the staff look to be in control or overwhelmed? Are there obvious heat sources too close to possible fuel sources?

If you are uncomfortable with any of the answers to these questions then think twice about staying and choose somewhere else to go for your night out or somewhere else to stay. Taking a chance should never be an option.

Consider other steps you can take to reduce the risk. Have a torch to hand, stay near the exit you have identified, stay out of the busiest parts of the venue, look for a safe haven, be prepared to leave if the situation deteriorates.

At

Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety including fire safety and accommodation choices and ways of reducing the risks you face on your travels.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Man’s £5 debt repaid 39 years on

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Title – Man’s £5 debt repaid 39 years onSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 19th December 2008

Undoubtedly travellers make a connection with people they meet while travelling. Many life-long friends are made and even more acquaintances; a combination of shared experiences and shared hardships, but primarily a meeting of minds, people visiting the same places for the same reasons.

Often it is the commonality that brings people together, in countries far away from home where language difficulties may stop us communicating effectively; meeting a ‘kindred spirit’ from a more familiar world is often reassuring when you feel a little out of your depth.

This is one of those travel stories which restores our trust and faith in human nature and in fellow travellers, many travellers have similar stories even if usually they are over slightly shorter periods of time.

There are two key points to remember and take from this story.

Firstly; if you make a promise keep it. This is especially important if you tell local people you will keep in touch or send them something they have requested once you get home. If you can’t fulfil your promise don’t make it in the first place. Where you probably will not lose any sleep if someone you meet on your travels fails to stay in touch or doesn’t ‘poke’ you on facebook, local people (especially in remote areas) may not take it so well. Often when you visit other countries your visit bring honour, pride and kudos on the family you visit. Their standing within their community may rise, they may well proudly tell everyone of their honoured guest. They may have very little to show for a lifetimes work and something as simple as a picture you have promised to send may become a prized possession; so make sure you send it.

The second thing to remember is that unfortunately while most travellers are honest, think like you and act like you, there are always some who don’t. Theft from travellers is not restricted to the local population, in-fact some people believe that more theft occurs between travellers then by local populations. Dorm rooms are especially notorious for this, there are unfortunately many travellers who budget badly or do not have funds they require to complete their journeys and there are those who are just plain dishonest and greedy. Never leave valuables or expensive equipment lying around unsecured, be careful where you stash your valuables (always use hostel safes where appropriate and ask for receipts if necessary) and where you display them. It never fails to amaze me how safe people feel in hostel dorm rooms sitting on their beds counting their cash before stashing it right in front of strangers…

At

Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) looks at many different issues including Travel Safety and Travel Insurance, including the best ways to secure your valuables and the safest way to carry the money required for your travels.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

For more information on any of our services, please call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.

Huge tidal waves smash into PNG

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Title – Huge tidal waves smash into PNG
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 10th December 2008

When you travel you form natural bonds with people you meet and the countries you visit. You don’t even have to visit for very long to have these experiences. The consequence is that even years later when you read or hear stories that involve those people, it affects you in a very personal way.

This is just another reason why we recommend travel to everyone we meet; it expands the mind and expands people’s world, both literally and figuratively. In an age of 24 hour news we have become partially immune to bad news stories. By ‘immune’ I mean there is so much bad news we simply can not make an emotional connection with all of it and even if we sometimes feel guilt at ‘switching off’ when confronted with these stories. When you have visited the place involved, these stories become impossible to ignore, because they are real places and the people involved are ‘real’ people; people you have met; people you know and people you have an unbreakable bond with. A house destroyed is not just another house, it is one you saw, one you stayed in or even one which belongs to a family you saw or met.

Papua New Guinea (PNG as it is commonly referred to), is one such place for me, it’s a magical place, a country where your experiences will be unique; a country of people who are trying to join the ‘modern’ world but who are also bound to their traditional past; a people who are trying to find the right balance between the best of the old world and the best of the new world. This balance sometimes seems to be some way away.

PNG is a country in some limbo, its past history is of a fierce and violent society a society fractured by the remoteness of the country and individual villages within that country. Almost each village has its own language, over 800 in total (almost 12% of all the world’s languages). Due to the isolation of one village from the next, they can be seen almost as separate countries and in the past this was ‘workable’. There were violent confrontations between villages and raiding parties from one to the other, but that was often the only contact they had. In a modern world that doesn’t work, the towns contain people from all the different villages and the traditional differences and rivalries are not good bedfellows of this more ‘modern’ way of living.

My time in PNG was incredible, so many unforgettable experiences, so many people that I can never forget, so many stories still to share with new friends. However if I look at the trip in a very rational way, it might not be all that appealing, my experiences include; being surrounded by machete wielding locals demanding my wallet; getting lost after midnight in Port Morseby, one of the world’s most dangerous cities and at the mercy of strangers who turned out to be saints; being caught out on an active volcano when the wind turned and surrounded me with a cloud of sulphuric gasses making it very difficult to breath; arriving deep in-country in a canoe on the Sepic river with all my supplies exhausted; the list could go on…

What I remember of the trip is the village chiefs who took me in as an honoured guest; the children who greeted me at every village I arrived at; having a wash in the river only to turn round and see the entire village looking on; spending hours letting each member of a tribe try out my hammock; standing on the top of an active volcano and listening to it rumble; waking up in the morning and having to brush the layer of volcanic ash from my tent; sharing my food supplies with my local guides and watching the difference between my distain at tinned tuna (again) and their joy; this list goes on and on and on….

PNG is no place to go without planning and plenty of it. It is a challenge at every turn and really not for the faint-hearted. It is a violent society, full of the friendliest people. Seeing Wewak, New Ireland and New Britain once again hit by a tidal wave and knowing how fragile the infrastructure is and how self-sufficient the people have to be, reminds me of all the fabulous memories I have. It reminds me how lucky I was to get through the challenges I faced unscathed, how I had to use every experience from 10 years of independent travel to overcome the hurdles I faced, but mainly it makes me think about my friends there and to hope that they recover quickly from this latest onslaught of nature.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety and Awareness workshop (GYITSA) provides candidates with the skills they need to travel more safely and to avoid as many negative experiences as possible, so their memories and stories can be as enthusiastic and relentless as those my friends have to listen to over and over again.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.