Anger as tourist performs striptease on top of Uluru

I have written before on the subject of whether or not tourists should climb Ayres Rock / Uluru or not; this is going a step too far.


The ignorance and arrogance of some tourist is truly staggering, this French lady has not only stepped over the mark but her subsequent defence just goes to demonstrate the stupidity of some western tourists.


The act of climbing Uluru is already insulting to some Aboriginal people in Australia, who ask tourists not to climb the rock which they consider to be sacred; to then add to this by stripping on the summit seems unbelievably insensitive.


It strikes me that if you have made this kind of fundamental error of judgement the only thing to do is apologise, be humble and keep your mouth shut.


Alizee Sery seems to have decided that rather than accepting she had behaved very badly, she would compound her mistake by trying to excuse it away saying “I am aware that Uluru is sacred. What we need to remember is that, traditionally, the Aboriginal people were living naked”; I feel embarrassed for her as I write this…


When I talk about Cultural Awareness I try and explain things in a way they might better understand them; I often use examples from the point of view of where they were brought up and educated.


Imagine if Alizee were in Paris and visiting the popular tourist attraction of the Notre Dame Cathedral. People are free to view the Cathedral and walk around it, but you are not allowed to behind the altar. How do you think people would react if Alizee walked behind the altar and then stripped to her bikini?


So in our fictitious situation how would she argue her case? Maybe she would say “what we need to remember is that Adam & Eve came into the world naked…”.


The point is no one would see this scenario as acceptable, so why when the scenario at Uluru would equally offend some Aboriginal people, would that be acceptable; the simple answer is, it is not.


The argument surrounding the climbing of Uluru is a different one and has been examined by me in this blog before (Click Here); local people’s feeling should always be considered in these types of situations.


When you travel you are a guest in the country you are visiting and your behaviour should reflect this.


At Safe Gap Year our Independent Travel Safety and Cultural Awareness Workshop considers issues of Travel Safety, alongside sessions on Cultural Awareness, Travel Health, Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Equipment, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.


Please visit our website at http://www.safegapyear.co.uk/.


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


To view the original article Click Here
Source – Northern Territories News
Date – 28th June 2010
Submitted by – Peter Mayhew

Chunders is You Tube hit on his ‘gap yah’

We’ve all heard them and most people who have taken a Gap Year will have been a ‘travel bore’, it can be hard not to be.


I regularly hear myself start a sentence with ‘when I was in…’, these days I check myself and look closely at the body language of the person I am talking to before I continue.


Many people prepare for Culture Shock when they travel, few prepare for ‘Reverse Culture Shock’; the effect of coming home.


Especially when travelling for an extended period of time it is vital to make sure you think about what happens when you return; it makes the difference between the ‘holiday blues’ disrupting your life for a couple of weeks and reverse culture shock affecting you with months of lethargy. Will you be able to afford being unproductive for months on end after you get back?


A big part of avoiding reverse culture shock is understanding that the amazing experiences you will have can never really be shared with those who were not there (in the same way that no photograph can ever replicate the amazing sights you encounter). Stay in touch with the people you had these experiences with and when the ‘blues’ kick-in contact them.


Don’t blame your friends from home for their lack of interest in your stories, you might be just as uninterested in their tales from the commute they make on the tube every morning…


‘Orlando’ may have proved a big hit on YouTube (Click Here) and I remember seeing a similar sketch at a Burma Campaign comedy show (Click Here), but take the subtle warning; don’t be a ‘gap year bore’ or a ‘gap year boaster’, share your stories with people who want to listen.


The other effective way I find of dealing with reverse culture shock is to start planning your next trip…


At Safe Gap Year our Independent Travel Safety and Cultural Awareness Workshop considers issues of Travel Safety, alongside sessions on Cultural Awareness, Travel Health, Ethical and Responsible Travel, Travel Equipment, Destination Advice, Transport Options, Documentation, Travel Money and Insurance and more.


Please visit our website at http://www.safegapyear.co.uk/.


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


To view the original article Click Here
Source – Metro
Date – 25th March 2010

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.

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.

Tourists in India samosa shock

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Title – Tourists in India samosa shockSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 17th November 2008

Here is a tip you can have for free. When travelling anywhere in the world ALWAYS agree the price before you buy. If you don’t you have not got a leg to stand on when you are charged the ‘tourist price’ afterwards.

Often even when you agree a price it will be claimed that either a different price was agreed or that it should be more because of some ‘unforeseeable’ change in circumstance. Ask any traveller if they have felt ‘ripped-off’ at any time on their travels and you’ll meet few who can honestly say they haven’t.

On many of my travels I have argued (sometimes heatedly) that I was only going to pay the previously agreed price or that if a larger bill couldn’t be changed, I was going to refuse to pay; I wouldn’t be the first person to arrive in a new city and take a meter taxi to my guest house which takes 45 minutes from the airport, but when I agree a prearranged price for the return trip, the drive only takes 5 minutes…. It is one of the ‘joys’ of travel.

We need to have some perspective. The key is to do your best to get a ‘deal’ but not to get obsessed over the best deal. Pay what you are comfortable paying and be satisfied with that, don’t fret that you could have saved 10,000 Dong (Vietnam), after all 10,000 Dong is only 38p… how many times will we spend 15 minutes arguing over 38p when we are at home?

I have to say I admire many of the people who try and ‘rip me off’ when I travel. The best sales people I have ever met are in countries like Cambodia, Indonesia, Madagascar etc. These are people who make the candidates from The Apprentice look like real amateurs; only the circumstance of their birth prevents them from joining the ranks of truly successful business men, business women and often business children!

Think also about what that 30p means to you, as opposed to what it might mean to them. Obsessing about the cost of every little thing can really ruin a trip; it can end up being the focus of everything you do. Being confident and relaxed about your purchases will result in you getting better deals generally, it will allow you to enjoy the haggling rather than dreading it. If you end up paying a little more than the bare-minimum sometimes, think of it this way; someone who most likely struggles each and every day to earn enough to feed their family will be a little happier, it’s not a high price to pay…

Travel should be about what you can get out of the country you visit and what you can give in return, it should not be about how much you can exploit the country you are visiting.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop (GYITSA) provides candidates with the information they need to travel more safely and to make the most of their experiences. We examine issues such as Travel Safety, Travel Documentation (insurance, currency, cash and visas etc.), Cultural Awareness (including a session on haggling) and Responsible & Ethical Travel amongst others.

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.

‘Yom Kippur riot’ in Israeli city

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Title – ‘Yom Kippur riot’ in Israeli citySource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 9th October 2008

It would be wrong of me to write in this blog that the riot that started with someone driving a car on the Yom Kippur religious holiday in Israel was simply the result of a cultural faux pas. There are clearly very serious tensions and deep rooted problems in this part of the world and the fact that it was a person of Arab origin driving on a Jewish religious holiday undoubtedly contributed in a very substantial way to the resulting riots.

But this situation illustrates in the strongest way how cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity play a very important role in safe travel.

Learning about other cultures should be one of the main reasons for travel and accepting the cultures of the countries you visit is imperative. You don’t have to agree with local cultures, but when you visit another country you have to respect them or go home. You simply can not expect to force your own culture on your hosts and far too often I see tourists trying to ‘impose’ on their hosts the ‘right way’ to do things or how to think. I use the word ‘impose’ rather than ‘teach’ because they tend not to suggest their way is right so much as tell their host that the host’s way is wrong.

There is nothing wrong with having an open discussion about cultural differences, many people across the world want to talk to you about how things are in the UK, but be sensitive to their beliefs and their way of doing things and do not assume that what we think ‘works’ at home should work around the world, because that is simply not true. I personally believe that if all the world followed the British model, the world would be a much much poorer and less interesting place.

At Beyond The Blue we run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops (GYITSA) for those planning travel to any part of the world. We provide not only practical advice such as guidance on Travel Equipment, but also Cultural Awareness to give candidates an introduction to the culture of the countries they intend to visit so they can travel pre-warned and prepared and enjoy all the positive experiences that independent travel has to offer without, so many of the pitfalls.

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.

Australian tourist killed in Goa

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Title – Australian tourist killed in Goa
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 9th October 2008

Without any further details at this stage it would not be right to apportion any blame yet, but it does serve as a warning once again that destinations change with time and Goa has certainly seen that change; those visiting tend to continue to treat their travel as if it were still a hippy backwater.

Goa is now very much on the tourist trail and is visited by hundreds of thousands if not millions of tourists each year, no longer a sleepy backwater or throw-back to the 60’s, it has changed and with it the threat levels have changed. Where 20 years ago there was a ‘hippie’ drug scene where drugs were almost tolerated, with growth came a more organised and therefore more ruthless drug distribution network. Where organised crime takes over the ruthlessness inevitably follows as the pie grows, more people want to secure a bigger slice of that pie and are willing to do anything for it.

Add to this the influx of ‘local’ workers and migrants to service the ever growing tourist trade and it is again inevitable that tensions will follow. We must also not forget that where ‘rich’ tourist flock, thieves and criminals will also turn up to prey on richer pickings. Together it does not make for a pretty picture.

As always we must add some context to this picture. Hundreds of thousands of tourists go to Goa and have a fantastic holiday without incident, but there does seem to be an increasing number of ‘incidents’ occurring and travellers should be more careful and protect themselves and their valuables and steer well clear of any illegal activities. Don’t be fooled into thinking drugs of any kind are legal or have been decriminalised in Goa and India generally. This is a travellers myth and if anything the penalties are harsher then you will find at home, ask anyone who has seen the inside of an Indian gaol if it is worth the risk...

Also be aware that the police are starting to take a much stiffer stance against crime, but also that they are very aware of the reputation of Goa in the international community and seem willing to go a long way to protect that reputation, both by enforcing the law and in their proactive approach to investigating certain crimes without a preconceived low-profile solution being offered. That certainly seemed to be the case in the tragic case of Scarlett Keeling who was raped and killed in Goa in 2008.

When you travel you can not behave the same way you do at home and you have to accept that countries have their own laws and cultures which you have to abide by. Poor behaviour can often land you in a great deal of trouble; in some parts of the world can place you in extreme danger as respect and ‘loss of face’ is taken extremely seriously in some cultures.

At Beyond The Blue we run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops (GYITSA) for anyone planning to travel to any part of the world. We examine personal safety theory and techniques as well as conflict resolution skills that help provide solutions to confrontation rather than allowing them to escalate. We also provide specific Destination Advice and Cultural Awareness guidance so travellers can be prepared for all the situation they are likely to encounter on the course of their 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.

Penguins and golf in Burma’s hidden capital

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Title – Penguins and golf in Burma’s hidden capitalSource – The Independent
Date – 19th September 2008

There are many countries in the world run by despicable leaders or ‘dictators’. Some would say we don’t actually have to look that far to find them, but much as we may chastise our own leaders in comparison to other parts of the world, they could be seen as veritable saints. Countries such as Singapore and the Maldives, Saudi Arabia and the even Singapore may not be top of the list when you ask about ‘dictatorships’ but look at their democratic credentials and you will soon see that they do not fall far short of the definition of a dictatorship. But for none of these countries would we advise people do not travel, because with a little foresight you can ensure that your trip has a positive impact on the country.

Burma is a different case and I strongly believe that visiting Burma at this stage is a bad idea and benefits only the corrupt, violent and abhorrent military regime, which has ruled that country without mandate for the past 45 years.

What worries me is that the situation in Burma is not well understood by the public at large, by travellers to South East Asia or seemingly to the world as a whole. Or maybe it is understood, but people choose to ignore it. The Burmese military regime certainly understand this and uses it to their advantage. When pressure is exerted on them they do sometimes give way, but they only ever give with one hand while they take away with the other and rather than loosening their grip on the country they use every opportunity to tighten their grip, including the devastating cyclone of 2007.

Recently the Burmese regime made a fuss about releasing thousands of prisoners, what they failed to disclose in their press release was the number of people they arrested the same day, many of them political prisoners. They also failed to point out that many of those released were innocent people who had been arrested a year earlier for taking part in the peaceful democracy marches of September 2007 which were brutally repressed by the army killing (according to some sources) hundreds of innocent people, including untold numbers of monks and imprisoning thousands.

The military government is frightening not just because of its brutality and nonchalance at using extreme force to stay in power, but because it’s actions are not those of a sane responsible government. The building of the new capital on the say of a soothsayer is just one example of their lunacy; it is the equivalent of Gordon Brown enslaving thousands of civilians and through their forced labour rebuilding London on the Shetland Islands on the advice of Mystic Meg. But it is no joke!

At Beyond The Blue we do not believe in telling people where they should or should not go. Our freedom to choose is something we take for granted, but should never forget is not something the rest of the world’s population does not. But we believe strongly that at this time visiting Burma is impossible without funding and legitimising the illegal brutal military regime and should therefore be avoided and discouraged. In this respect we will not provide advice on Burma in our workshops but will happily discuss the real situation in Burma and provide our compelling reasons why we have adopted our position. Candidates can then decide for themselves if they should travel to Burma or not; anyone who hears the real truth as to the situation in Burma will we believe choose not to go until the brutal military regime is defeated or die off in their make believe world in Naypyidaw. We urge all visitors to visit

http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/ for further information.

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.

Tourists beware: if it’s fun, Italy has a law against it

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Title – Tourists beware: if it’s fun, Italy has a law against it
Source – The Independent
Date – 17th August 2008

This headline is a little harsh; they have not really banned fun, they are merely controlling the excesses of their society to protect it. After all, three people sitting on a bench in Novara could easily turn from simple harmless fun into a riot…. Thinking about it, they may actually be creating fun; I can’t believe there are not people wandering round looking for couples sitting peacefully together on park benches and sitting next to them, thus plunging the couple into the criminal underworld; or groups of friends playing stand-up sit-down, where they have to avoid any two people being seated at any one time by someone else having to jump up… As for building sandcastles, I wonder if the law extends to other structures made of sand or is simply designated to eliminate sand ‘castles’… I have a vision of domes, articulated lorries and all manner of sand structures taking the place of the more traditional castle…

But on a slightly more serious note, understanding local laws and culture will go a long way to ensuring you have a event free trip. Never assume that what goes at home, goes abroad. It’s fair to say that breaching any of these strange local laws will probably not see you deported from Italy, but you may well find yourself with an unwanted fine to pay.

In other parts of the world something as simple as wearing revealing clothing such as swim wear may land you in substantially deeper water and many activities we take for granted at home can lead to serious difficulty, unnecessary danger, large fines and even larger prison terms. Ignorance or claiming you are a foreigner will simply not wash as an excuse.

Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop will prepare you for any destination you choose to visit. We will provide you with personal safety and cultural awareness advice for the countries you are visiting. By providing you with the tools to allow you to prepare effectively for your travels, you will gain the confidence that will allow you to make the most of your travel experiences.

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.

Walking tall with no footprint

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Title – Walking tall with no footprintSource – The Guardian
Date – 16th August 2008

Responsible and ethical travel is an industry buzz word at the moment; but how different is a ‘buzz word’ from a ‘marketing tool’?

Environmental destruction and global warming are a reality even to the greatest sceptics and we all have to play our part in reducing carbon emissions and reducing our impact on our environments. This is even more important when we travel; what right do we have to damage the environment of the countries and communities we visit?

So on the assumption that we can not rely on all of the many commercialised gap year organisations (they prefer to call themselves organisations rather than companies, many even seem to portray themselves as charities…) to distinguish between the ‘green’ merits of their various voluntary projects; how do we make those choices?

The key as always is to do your own research and be very aware that these companies are employing the latest marketing tools to attract you, marketing tools that are expensive and have one purpose; to ‘recruit you’.

Don’t misunderstand me, they are not all bad or ‘money grabbing’ most do an excellent job and some are doing incredibly valuable work which benefits local communities, the environment and the volunteers. It is fighting through the crowd who try and blind you with clever ‘glossy’ marketing and to get through to these good companies, which is sometimes difficult.

Many urge you to talk to previous volunteers to ask about their experiences, be aware these are people who are either employed or hand-picked to pass on the company’s message.

But more than this if you do consider your impact on the environment to be important then think carefully about what you intend to do on your travels, where you intend to go and what you can do to reduce your impact. This article offers some solutions.

I am not one of those people who believe that we should look to wholesale changes to our way of life, for example I don’t believe we should all give up flying, but I do think we should alter our lifestyles where we can, think about changes that will not affect us badly but will positively affect our environment. I think also we must change attitudes so that wasteful activities are exposed for what they are. However calculating our impact is such a complicated process and until a simplified calculator is easily accessible, it will be difficult for us to realise out individual impact.

For example this weekend a popular newspaper gave away a free energy efficient bulb to every reader. On the surface a good thing. They did it for one reason, to increase circulation; increased circulation equals increased environmental impact. Add to this that to claim your light bulb you had to visit a branch of a national DIY chain; how many people jumped in their cars or took a detour to collect their bulb? Add all this together and it is possible that this offer actually had a very negative impact on the environment.

The same goes for some volunteering projects. If you are going to plant trees in China to help combat global warming for two weeks, would you not be leaving a large carbon footprint overall? Maybe you can plant trees closer to home? However equally importantly the trees which you plant may also be protecting biodiversity, soil erosion and the micro climate, add to this your personal experience working with local communities and it may be worthwhile after all. If the alternative is you taking a two week holiday on the beach in Thailand it makes the balance between your potential carbon footprints even more complicated. Ultimately it is only you who can decide and that decision can only be made if you research all the information available.

Be sensible and decide for yourself whether your trip or volunteering is worth it and what impact it will have, but if at first you feel it is not worth it, look again there are many many honest worthwhile organisations out there and you will find one that suits your needs, your interests and your motivation.

At

Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Ethical and Responsible Travel alongside sessions on Travel Safety, Travel Equipment, Travel Health, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice and more. Taking a gap year, career break or volunteering can be the experience of a lifetime, it need not carry any guilt in fact it should make you very proud, choose wisely and you’ll have a positive impact on yourself, those you meet and your environment.

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.

British arrests soar 32% in Spain

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Title – British arrests soar 32% in Spain
Source – www.bbc.co.uk & The Independent
Date – 12th August 2008

That over 2000 people were arrested in Spain out of 17 million visitors is hardly a headline, if anything the headline should be how few people are arrested and how tolerant the Spanish authorities are towards us Brits…

Now I know this opinion is generalising a little and based on the extremes we seem to champion on our less subtle cable TV channels and ‘reality’ programmes, anyone who has spent any time in one of those Spanish resorts that attract the millions of visitors can surely be under no illusion that there are many more people that go unarrested who probably should count themselves lucky.

More importantly and less attractive as a press headline are some of the other statistics. Visitors to Indonesia have a 1 in 100 chance of having a serious incident, be that robbery, drugs related or accident; in Thailand we have long warned of the high incidence of traffic accidents involving Britons on motorbikes and scooters, these latest figures show the high degree of hospital admissions and deaths from such accidents; UAE we recently highlighted as a country where not understanding the local culture and law could land you in very hot water indeed and this again is reflected in these latest figures.

The warnings are there and plain to see. Take out comprehensive travel insurance and don’t take part in activities that would render this insurance invalid; research your destination and learn something of the culture and laws of the country you are visiting; have respect for your hosts and don’t think you you will be granted special dispensation because you are a foreigner, those days are over and if anything today foreigners are made an example of; seek comprehensive travel health advice at least 8 weeks before you leave; act responsibly.

We can help you in all of these areas. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop helps to prepare you thoroughly for your planned travels where ever in the world they may take you. Day one covers aspects of conflict resolution which will give you the skills to avoid conflict in all its forms and personal safety techniques that enable you to free yourself from aggressive or violent situations without the need to use force. Day two covers all practical aspects of travel including Cultural Awareness, Destination Advice, Travel Health, Transport Options, Travel Equipment and Travel Insurance.

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.

Off into the unknown

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Title – Off into the unknown
Source – The Independent
Date – 11th August 2008

This is a very balanced article and one which echo’s much of what I write in this blog; there are many dangers out there but if you maintain perspective they are not as great as they may seem. One of the problems is that when a tragedy occurs especially to a young ‘gapper’, the stories are sensationalised and magnified because of the sadness felt, that someone (often a young adult) with such a spirit of adventure has been the unfortunate victim of crime or tragic accident.

But the article is right, statistically taking a Gap Year may not be much more dangerous than our every day lives, however the two points it omits are ones that anyone travelling should consider.

The first is that when travelling even minor situations are exaggerated because we are often so far away and in such unfamiliar locations, that situations we would handle almost as second nature at home are difficult for us to resolve. The second is that most travellers will take risks when travelling, which they simply would not take at home.

Let me give you some examples. In 2002 I travelled to

Mongolia, this vast and beautiful country is really only fully accessible on horseback. At home riding a horse is inherently dangerous, but helmets and other safety equipment is mandatory and we at least have good medical facilities to come to our assistance in the case of an accident. Back in Mongolia I never saw a helmet and the saddles and other equipment were very rudimentary. The horses themselves were semi-wild and certainly not familiar with the frame of a well fed European. But the thing which struck me most when I was 5 days into my adventure on horseback, was what would happen if I fell off and hurt myself? I am not even thinking of a serious accident, something as simple as a broken ankle which considering the mountain, swamp, river crossings etc. was not unimaginable. In itself not a life threatening injury, but when the nearest medical assistance is five days horse ride (on the assumption I could cover the same ground with a broken ankle as I could without) away, followed by a flight (twice weekly); what state would my ankle be in by the time I reached the modest medical facilities available even in the Mongolian capitol Ulaanbaatar?

The additional risks we seem willing to take when travelling are as a result of the euphoric effect of travel itself. We need to do what is possible to temper this over-confidence without taking anything away from the travel experience itself. Once we have assessed these risks we need to actively control them and manage them as effectively as possible; most of us would not even consider cycling in the UK without a helmet these days, yet we will happily drive a motorbike we have rented on some of the worlds most dangerous roads when we travel. It does not make a great deal of sense, yet the willingness to take additional risk, where that risk is exaggerated by our location, somehow seems overwhelming.

At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness Workshop (GYITSA) considers issues of Travel Safety, we help you evaluate the risks, show you the consequences and allow you to travel with more confidence in yourself to make the right choices when it comes to managing the risk involved in your travel. We look at issues such as Travel Equipment, Travel Health, Travel Insurance, Destination Advice which you have to consider before you travel and when you travel. To make sure you can make the most of your Gap Year we will help you prepare for every eventuality so that you can not just benefit on your return but make the most of every experience while you travel.

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.

Briton faces jail for sex on Dubai beach

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Title – Briton faces jail for sex on Dubai beach
Source – The Independent
Date – 10th July 2008

Just a month ago we were warning that a number of people visiting UAE were unwittingly finding themselves facing stiff sentences for drugs offences; in one case simply because poppy seeds were found on their shirt after eating a roll for breakfast in the UK before travelling.

Here we are again with two Britons facing very serious charges and potentially long gaol terms for an offence which in the UK carries less severe punishment or a slap on the wrist and a healthy dose of embarrassment. In Dubai any sense of embarrassment has no doubt been forgotten with the threat of three years inside a Dubai gaol, loss of employment, deportation and an expansive legal battle, not to mention the effects on family and friends.

But the fact is they were not in the UK, they were in Dubai and they probably should have known better and informed themselves better; if nothing else they should have had more respect for their hosts. I’m not condoning the very stiff sentences some countries dish out for these offences, it is difficult for me to agree with them because of the culture I come from. However when I travel, I take time to learn about the culture of the country I am visiting and I appreciate that I should show respect to my hosts, because as a guest I am privileged to be there and I do not take the approach that the country is lucky to have me there.

Many countries have laws that we find at best ‘odd’ and worst ‘ridiculous’, but as I always tell people ‘if you don’t agree with the law in another country, don’t visit!’

UAE is not alone in having strict decency laws, the list of offences includes; sex outside of marriage; cohabitation; adultery; homosexual behaviour. In Laos for example it is illegal for a foreigner to have a sexual relationship with a Laos national. In other countries any sign of affection in public is considered illegal and activities such as holding hands and kissing in public can land you in hot water.

The key is to ‘know before you go’. That’s where we come in. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety and Awareness workshop provides candidates with the information they require to travel more safely. We teach conflict resolutions kills and personal safety techniques, but also examine aspect of Cultural Awareness that will affect you at your destination(s), reducing the instance of Culture Shock. We also examine the practical aspects of travel such as Travel Equipment, Visas, Travel Health, Travel Safety and Transport Options.

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.

Tackling Cambodia’s landmine legacy

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Title – Tackling Cambodia’s landmine legacy
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 11th June 2008

Cambodian landmine clearance projects are undoubtedly a great success and a credit to all those people who have over the years risked their lives and often paid with their lives in order to clear the estimated 5 to 6 million landmines that were laid in that country. This figure is almost incomprehensible when you take the time to think about it and then consider the excruciatingly slow process involved in landmine clearance. That it takes the average soldier just minutes to plant a landmine and takes a trained expert such a long time to firstly discover the mine and then clear it, does lead many to believe that countries like Cambodia may never truly be clear of them and clear of the horrific injuries they now cause the innocent civilians who come across them inadvertently.

The life shattering effects of the landmine are clear to see in every corner of Cambodia, a country that suffers the highest percentage of amputees of anywhere in the world. The situation is compounded in Cambodia not only because many people are effectively self sufficient and grow their own food or work in agriculture, but also that being one of the world’s poorest countries there is a lack of state aid for those no longer able to work. Add to this the effect that the 1 to 3 million people who were killed during the Khmer Rouge regime of the 1970’s and the hole that this left in a population, the effect it had on nearly every family in Cambodia and it is not difficult to see why Cambodia lags behind some of its close neighbours in terms of the remarkable development that has occurred in South East Asia.

What is wonderful despite these three or four decades of trauma for Cambodia, is the Cambodian people themselves. It is such an open society, there is such honesty about their history, they parade it openly for the world to see and talk about it freely. They genuinely believe that this approach will stop it ever happening to them again. The overwhelming feeling you get from Cambodians is a feeling of being welcomed to their country and to their culture. You should not underestimate the positive contribution that tourism has on that country and country that in relative terms is still very new to tourism.

Landmines undoubtedly pose a danger to visitors to Cambodia, but it is relative. Mine clearance has been concentrated on areas of high population and on areas that attract large numbers of visitors, the real dangers lie in more rural areas and in the forests. But the risk remains and will remain for decades to come. Take sensible measures and listen to local advice. As travellers get more adventurous and as more remote and beautiful parts of Cambodia open up to tourism, the risk will undoubtedly rise.

Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop examines your destinations and the risks you will face during your gap year, career break or while travelling independently. We provide you with the tools to assess the risks enabling you to make informed decisions as you travel. Cambodia will remain heavily mined for years to come, but sticking to well used paths, regularly frequented areas and heeding local advice will allow you to experience all that this beautiful country and it fascinating ancient cultures has to offer in relative safety. Understanding the effect landmines and the Khmer Rouge still has on the people of Cambodia allows you to better understand the country and your hosts and will give you an insight that you simply will not get from a seat on tour bus round the temples of Angkor Wat.

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.

Two held in The Gambia on gay charges

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Title – Two held in The Gambia on gay charges
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 3rd June 2008

Understanding and accepting local cultures, local laws and local tradition is very different to agreeing with them. Clearly beheading people because of their sexual orientation is an abhorrent stance for anyone to take, let alone the President of a country. It is simply not a point of view that we would accept in the UK.

However travellers have to accept that if they travel to The Gambia that is the reality they face in that country at this time. The views expressed by the president and the laws in that country means that homosexuals face severe sanction. As much as people feel this to be fundamentally unjust, you have to accept that when you visit another country you have to follow the current laws of that country, to live by them and to ‘respect’ them.

If you disagree with the laws of another country the way to voice your opinion is to write, demonstrate and lobby their embassy in the UK and join international pressure groups. Going to that country and thinking that your status as a foreigner will provide you with some form of protection, is asking for trouble. If anything being a foreigner in many such countries will mean you are more heavily scrutinised.

This is an extreme example, but there are many cultural and legal sensitivities in other countries that we may not agree with, but we must always observe. If you can’t observe them or don’t want to, then stay at home, or travel somewhere you can abide by local laws. Too many people apply their normal principles from the UK at their destination and in many destinations our way of life, our values and our cultures are as alien to our hosts, as this law in The Gambia is to us.

As part of our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop we examine Cultural Awareness and the effect culture shock has on travel, we discuss your approach to the different cultures you will encounter and how to behave at your destination in order not to fall foul of local authorities.

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.

German tabloid mocks UK tourists

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Title – German tabloid mocks UK tourists
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 3rd June 2008

No doubt some people will take great offence at the article in ‘Bild’ and how will they respond, well it’s simple they will resort to all the old German clichés. The odd thing is that they will be wholly unaware that they are doing exactly what they are complaining about. How many times have our tabloid press stepped well over the line when describing our European neighbours, especially when it comes to Football; how many of the songs sung on the terraces at internationals are derogatory of our opponents. Possibly we should for once listen to our own sayings, ‘if you can dish it out then you also have to be able to take it’ or ‘what goes around comes around’.

The sad fact is there is some truth in what the Germans are mocking us for here, how strange has our country got that someone can win damages from a court, because they were surrounded by ‘foreigners’ when they went abroad? But then should we be that surprised by it; go to many of the most popular southern European resorts and you will find more ‘British’ pubs advertising ‘authentic British grub’ and selling the uniquely ‘British Pint’ then any local dishes or delicacies.

But there is a more serious point we should take from this story and that is the image the British have in other countries round the world. As travellers we have two responsibilities, firstly to understand and accept the current view people have of us and deal with the consequences and secondly we have to try and change that view by our actions.

Britain has undoubtedly lost some of its gloss in the eyes of rest of the world, once held up as a bastion of democracy, progress and politeness, the more modern view of Britain revolves around our actions in Iraq, our unquestioning loyalty to the USA, the sporting failures of our national teams, the associated hooliganism and the behaviour and arrogance of many of our tourists when abroad. We have to realise that all the good things that come out of the UK may not be reported on across the world, but the killing by police of and innocent Brazilian on our tube system, the compliance of our government in rendition flights are. In exactly the same way we view other countries through the media we are characterised by the negative aspects of our country. If we think of Syria, we naturally think of terrorism, extremism, middle east conflict, yet if you visit Syria, you will be treated as an honoured guest, the very friendly people will welcome you and treat you with respect; hardly the image most of us have of that country.

It is not all negative, you will find the UK still held in great respect in many countries; there are many countries where although language barriers prevent you from communicating the language of the Premier League will transcend these barriers and start heated debates about which team will win the next seasons competition. I have been to remote parts of the world and frequently meet people who know every player in every team and results dating back years that my knowledge simply can’t compete with, that they view Britain as a wonderful country is because of David Beckham, Micheal Owen and the great Steven Gerrard.

Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop discusses your destinations and what preconceptions local populations might have of the UK and how your behaviour and plans should reflect these to make your travel safer and more enjoyable.

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.

‘Manners Police’ hit Japan metros

To view this article please visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7312672.stm

Title – ‘Manners Police’ hit Japan metros
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 25th March 2008

Let’s set the scene; you are on the London Underground, grappling with one of the free papers thrust upon you as you try and avoid being swept along in the crowd onto the wrong platform. Fighting for a seat does not even cross you mind, after all when was the last time you actually managed to sit down on the tube?

Standing next to you on the platform, on one side is a young lady obviously several months pregnant, on the other is an old man who has braved the underground with the assistance of his trusty walking stick and just in front of you is a city worker, lost in his FT, desperate to get to his destination if only to regain his mobile phone signal. The tube stops in front of all four of you and remarkably there is one free seat. Who do you think is going to get it?

Survival of the fittest does sometimes seem to take precedent to respect in our society here in the UK. Anyone who takes the tube on a regular basis in London will be familiar with the feeling of surprise when someone does actually get up and offer their seat to another passenger, most hide behind a free newspaper or laptop and pretend they don’t notice anyone else. Many will have witnessed people who clearly need a seat being left standing and struggling in the crowd. Some will have witnessed the abhorrence of an offered seat being taken by someone else rather than the person it was originally offered to.

But we should never confuse what is ‘acceptable behaviour’ at home with what is acceptable when we visit new countries. What many people in the UK will frown on as rude behaviour other cultures will see as unacceptable, disrespectful and inexcusable.

Japan and the Japanese people have long been known for their respectful culture, by most they have been admired for it and visitors to Japan should familiarise themselves with the culture in order to avoid causing offence in their behaviour. By its very nature the respect they have means that they will often not demonstrate outwardly their displeasure at the actions of short sighted visitors who act in a manner they find distasteful, but at the same time those individuals will be frozen out and will not be afforded the protection that respect carries.

Japan is a very safe country, levels of crime are low and very few visitors face anything more than language problems. Visitors that gain an understanding of the Japanese culture will find the effort made by their hosts to make them feel welcome, easily compensates for the lack of common language and this alone enables a level of communication without the need for a common language.

Sadly even Japan is changing and the ‘Manners Police’ have their work cut out, requiring bodyguards to protect them in extreme cases, but these are unlikely to be what we expect by bodyguards and an outburst of violence against a respected older gentleman in Japan is about as likely as you being offered a seat on a busy tube train in London. Imagine if the Japanese ‘Manners Police’ were deployed on the London Underground…..

Gaining a Cultural Awareness of your destination should be a vital step of your travel planning. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop will help you to gain this knowledge and avoid you being subject to ‘harassment’ from the ‘Manners Police’ on your arrival

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.

How Moko the dolphin gave humans a master class in saving stranded whales

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Title – How Moko the dolphin gave humans a master class in saving stranded whales
Source – The Times
Date – 13th March 2008

So you might justifiably ask the question, what has this story got to do with Gap Year and Independent Travel and well the link is a tentative one… it took place in New Zealand, somewhere very popular on the backpackers trail… I think that really is the best I could come up with, but I make no apology for including it.

In this blog I look mostly at news stories that may affect travellers to all parts of the world or have a message that we can learn from, by their nature these stories are often sad or bad news, so every so often we have to remind ourselves the world is still an amazing place, with amazing stories and still in many ways a complete mystery to even the brightest minds.

We know about so much in the world, we can identify the individual DNA of every individual on the planet from every other individual’s, we can manipulate nature for constructive and destructive purposes, but we still have a long long way to go. Take the biggest animal on the planet, the blue whale, still we know very little about this animal, it’s habits and breeding cycle and where they actually go for long periods of their lives when they disappear from our radar; still we discover new species and not just tiny insects, but even mammals in Borneo (cat), Papua(frogs, birds, plants, butterflies and much more) and Mongolia (long-eared jerboa); still we learn more about the incredible adaptations nature has managed through evolution, to allow species to survive where really they should have given up millions of years ago.

We should not forget that evolution is not something that happened, it is something that is happening, so we have many more delights to look forward to, things change, sometime for the worse but also sometimes for the better. Countries that were closed open and countries that were open close. Anyone who travels will have heard the story that starts “I went there some years ago before the tourists were going…” the stories which suggest that you have missed the boat by leaving it so long to go. I have to admit to starting many a story the same way, but I try and convince people that different is not bad, different can be good and sometimes different is just different. When I visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia, that country had only recently opened its doors and mass tourism had not really kicked in. Talking to someone who visited in 2007, it sounds like it is more like a scene from Tiananmen Square in Beijing on the weekend than Indiana Jones as I remember it. So what did they think? They were blown away and their stories made me want to go back all over again. Was my experience better than theirs? No just different, both of us know exactly how lucky we were to get a chance to see this truly magnificent construction.

So back to Moko… myths and fairytales abound about dolphin rescue and they must be on the top ten list of everyone’s favourite animals, but this story is for me as amazing as they come. Travel is about new discovery; about new experiences; about learning from others; and about learning from ourselves. If anyone thinks they know it all then explain this to me, when the travel bore tells you they know everything ask them to explain this story. Maybe most importantly remember that is makes life more interesting when some things remain unexplained and with an air of mystery and the world is full of unexplained cultures and experiences to discover.

If we can take one thing from this story, one parallel, it is that communication is relative. Can Dolphins and Whales communicate? Nothing we know suggests they can, but do they need to 'talk' to communicate? I spent 2 weeks riding through the Mongolian Steppe a few years ago with just a Mongolian guide for company. He spoke no English and my Mongolian even now stretches to 5 words, of which many are commands for a horse (go, stop, greeting, thank you and bear…), But when I tell stories of that trip, I recount all the conversations we had and the many things I learned from my guide, so language is clearly not the solution to communication, certainly you can do without language, what you can’t do without is tolerance, appreciation of others and respect.
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.