‘Manners Police’ hit Japan metros

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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.

Fire Safety Advice for Travellers

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Title – Fire Safety Advice for Travellers
Source – The Travel Magazine
Date – 23rd March 2008

Fire safety is often overlooked amongst the list of subjects you need to consider when planning your travels; after all you probably have enough on your plate already and may feel a like you are being paranoid, but are you?

We tend to protect ourselves from the risks that we know about and although we are all very aware of the risk of fire, it is something we do have a tendency to take for granted in the UK. The laws on fire safety under the Regulatory Reform Order 2005 (Fire Safety) and associated Building Control laws set strict guidelines for public buildings in the UK, both in the way they are constructed and the way they are operated. Every premises has to perform regular Fire Risk Assessments and Fire Safety Training such as that provided by Beyond The Blue.

But just as this provides a degree of safety for us at home it can lead us to be complacent when we visit countries where regulation is not enforced and the awareness of fire safety is much lower. There have over the years been a number of tragedies including the Hostel fire in Chile in February 2007 and the Arson Hostel Fire in Australia in June 2000; but there are many many more close escapes that go unreported in all corners of the world.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that the risks are confined to cheap hostels, those building constructed of combustible materials and to countries we consider to be part of the ‘developing world’; fire can strike anywhere and at any time, it’s your ability to detect it and escape safely that is most important. I was only recently staying in a relatively expensive hotel in Manila when I came down to the lobby to ask for directions, only to find part of the lobby on fire and 3 fire engines tackling the blaze. The alarm was sounding in the lobby but not on the 5th floor where my room was. I have stayed in a ‘hostel’ in Mongolia which was in the upper floors of an old soviet style apartment block, where at night they padlocked the gates in the stairwells for ‘safety’; I dread to think what would have happened had a fire broken out. I have also been in too many bars and nightclubs all round the world, where maximum capacities were ignored and fire escape routes were obscured or locked.

Fire safety does not mean being paranoid and it doesn’t need to ruin your trip or your enjoyment, even taking 5 minutes to familiarise yourself with your environment will give you a better idea than most. Most travellers will check a room before agreeing to book into a guest house or hotel, many will object or ask for a new room if cleanliness is not up to standard or the room is unpleasant. During our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety and Awareness workshop (GYITSA) we provide you with the basic knowledge you will need to perform dynamic risk assessments of not just the unexpected everyday risks you face on your travels but also on those that are predictable, such as the fire safety. Before you fret at the mere mention of ‘Risk Assessment’, don’t worry, we are not going to make you fill in any long forms or turn you into a bore; Dynamic Risk Assessment is just about a logical systematic way of evaluating the situations you find yourself in, to allow you to make decisions based on sound judgements.

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.

Dalai Lama attacks ‘cultural genocide’

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Title – Dalai Lama attacks ‘cultural genocide’
Source – The Independent
Date – 17th March 2008

Tibet is closed to the world once again, when it will reopen is anyone’s guess but with the Olympics 5 months away it could be some time and independent travellers should probably not make any plans in the short term. Even if it does reopen before the games extreme caution should be exercised and serious consideration given to changing plans and visiting other parts of the region or the world. However other countries in the region have their own difficulties; Nepal has faced its fair share of problem in the last few years and even the peaceful tiny country of Bhutan is starting to experience small scale disturbances as it transfers from an absolute monarchy to a form of democracy.

It is very likely that even if Tibet reopens its doors, it will remain highly militarised and further violent confrontation will remain a very real possibility, if not a probability. Foreigners should note that the problems in Tibet are very deep-seated and getting involved or joining protest in Tibet itself is very ill-advised. The Chinese crackdown will pay little or no attention to the nationality of those involved, if reports even by the government, of live gunfire being used to quell the protest are as many believe under-reported, then it is a fair assumption that the numbers of dead can already be counted in the hundred plus region; joining a protest in Tibet itself is very different to standing outside the Chinese embassy in London with a free Tibet flag. I am not saying that people should not protest, in fact I urge people to visit sites like www.freetibet.org, but do so here in the UK where you have the freedom to influence in safety and don’t think that the myths of Tibet and the spiritual homeland of the Dalai Lama will give you any immunity, it will not. That spirit is being quashed by the Chinese army and they will crush anything along with it, including those unwelcome visitors.

What the Chinese don’t seem to be able to realise is that their actions are destroying the very fabric of a country. Tibet without the Tibetans, Tibet without the Buddhist monks, Tibet without the Buddhist monasteries and Tibet without their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, is a country (or province if you happen to be in the Chinese government) without a soul. The one thing they can not remove is the Himalayas, the spectacular mountains crowned by Everest itself. But they must soon realise that the mountains alone are not what drives people to save for years to visit Tibet, they alone do not make the experience. The experience is in the history of the people who live on top of the world, who have made it spiritually almost unparalleled on the planet and who draw people from every part of the world just to get a glimpse at this most interesting of cultures, that compliments its environment and can teach us all about the best way to save the rest of the planet.

In 2007 8% of the Chinese economy was as a direct result of the ‘fake’ trade, fake Nike trainers, fake Rolex watches, fake Hot Tuna t-shirts, fake antiques, fake medicines, fake anything… including fake chicken eggs... In fact the Chinese seem to be able to take anything and replicate it more cheaply, of a less good quality and often at great detriment to those who purchase the fakes. Estimates put the death toll from fake medicines in China alone at over 200,000 already; but the trade in all fakes continues unabated and while it accounts for such a large part of the overall economy, don’t expect it to change any time soon.

Travellers love the fakes they can pick up, they love how cheaply they can obtain products in places like China that cost ten times as much or more at home, but be warned, there is a reason they are so cheap and it is not all down to corporate greed. Fakes are always poor quality, they break, shrink and harm users, it the worst case scenario they can be life threatening. Temptation is a terrible thing, but this is one area where avoiding temptation will not only save you money, it may well save you and will certainly help convince governments like the Chinese that they need to rein in this trade and eliminate it.

The one thing they can’t fake in China, despite trying everything within their power; they can’t fake that which makes Tibet so special, they can’t fake the spirituality, they can’t fake the culture and they can’t force the integration they have been seeking for nearly 50 years. Travellers have a duty to ensure that the Tibetan people are supported, that their real culture is supported and that the Chinese (whatever their future role may be in Tibet) are not allowed to ‘fake’ and sell Tibet. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety and Awareness workshop helps those attending to travel safely and to understand the real culture of their destination and how their visit can be a force of positive change rather than a capitulation in favour of oppressive governments.
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.

Climbers banned from Everest as China seeks to stop protests on summit

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Title – Climbers banned from Everest as China seeks to stop protests on summit
Source – The Independent
Date – 17th March 2008

For years now the Chinese government has been seeking to ingratiate itself with the rest of the world and the rest of the world has been happy to turn a blind eye to their appalling human rights record and promote all that is good in China; massive economic growth, economic growth prospects that other governments ignore at their peril (after all they we want a cut of the action to come), development at a pace not seen since the industrial revolution and what seemed to be a process of opening up a country that for decades was closed to the rest of the world and marginalised. But no longer; China is no shrinking violet and I have yet to find anyone to contradict the view that China is well on it’s way to becoming the ‘third super-power’. So should we be worried and what can we do?

Well realistically there is nothing much we can do, China is well on the way to being one of the world’s economic super powers and is using this new wealth to build its military power, no one is really in any doubt that its intentions are to become a force to be reckoned with in the world.

What should concern us is not that China is growing, because to a degree that it great for the Chinese people themselves, what should concern us is how it is achieving this massive growth and at what cost? For a few years now the Chinese PR machine has been pumping out good news stories, ever since the Tiananmen square massacre, there have not really been too many headline bad news stories about China and governments are terrified to criticise or highlight those that do come out for fear of China ‘cutting them off’. So the world has not had to deal with its conscience too much, because we have managed to conveniently ignore the millions that have been forcible removed for controversial 3 rivers dam project and the millions that have been forcibly been moved to make way for expanding cities and the million that have been forcibly moved for the Olympics...

The latter however is starting to catch up with the Chinese and questions are staring to be asked about what measures the Chinese government are willing to take to ensure the success of the Games and what measures the opponents to the Chinese government are willing to take to highlight their causes while the worlds media spotlight is firmly pointed in their direction. The first big move in this chess game to really catch the world’s attention is Tibet and the continued struggle that has been playing out there for nearly 50 years since the Chinese annexation of that country. For anyone who thought the Chinese government had changed in that time and anyone who thought that they had liberalised, their action will come as a shock; for those who believe that the communist era was coming to an end and a pseudo dictatorship being established in its place, their actions will be less of a shock.

At the first sign of trouble, in go the troops, out come the guns, out go the cameras and media and out go the outside world’s eyes. As for the Tibetans, they face the full force of the Chinese military that has been slowly building in strength thanks to their new economic power. If the Tibetans faced the horror of their actions in the 80’s now they face an even stronger opponent, an opponent unwilling to change and opponent unwilling to enter into dialogue.

Travellers should take heed, especially this year. The Chinese authorities make no concessions to their own, let alone the outside world; the next 5 or 6 months in the lead up to the Olympics will be ‘interesting’ and unpredictable. For now Tibet has been closed, mount Everest has been all but closed and although China purports to be welcoming visitors in unprecedented numbers this summer, they and they alone will decide where those visitors go and what they do. Travel to China has always been tough, it may yet get tougher and travellers attending our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety and Awareness workshop are urged to plan travel with their own personal safety in mind, but also to examine the need for responsible and ethical travel as well. Travel can be a force for good in some countries, but only where there is an understanding of the problems in the countries you visit and an understanding of how to travel in a manner whereby you make a positive difference not a negative one.
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.

Foreign women must be more careful, Goa chief says after ‘murder’

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Title – Foreign women must be more careful, Goa chief says after ‘murder’
Source – The Times
Date – 5th March 2008

Whatever the rights or wrongs of this tragedy we have to accept that risk and danger comes in many forms and understanding it, goes some way to making travel safer and reducing culture shock. It simply can not be totally safe and it is clear that 15 old Scarlett was the victim of an unforgivable violent crime and that the local police tried to cover up, for reasons that we may never know. But it would not be the first time no justice or justice that seems a little too swift for comfort, is passed in order to try and avoid negative publicity for the country or resort whose economies rely heavily on the tourist dollar.

Scarlett’s mother had to go to unacceptable lengths to simply get the truth acknowledged, a situation which for us in the UK seems wholly unacceptable and one that should lead to a national outcry. But this is Goa in India, not the UK. Ask the average Indian if they are surprised by the police actions and you will get a very different point of view expressed.

India has had to deal with a number of high profile similar cases over the past few years that should lead us to believe that this is far from an isolated case. Children missing from Indian families living in the slums and body parts turning up in the property of a wealthy and connected businessman being covered up, poor Indians being bullied into accepting small compensation rather than justice or simply being ignored, seem to be all too common place.

So what has this got to do with culture shock? Well culture shock is more than understanding local traditions, local religions and local customs. Culture shock at its very core is understanding, accepting and living in the local way of life, good and bad. Culture shock is the feeling you get when you step off the plane in Marrakesh walk out of the airport door and are hit by the heat wave and are surrounded by hundreds of willing cab drivers and porters offering to help you out of kindness, culture shock is realising that when you are walking down the beach in your bikini in the remoter parts of Thailand and the local fishermen point at you and laugh; culture shock is when you walk through Tiananmen Square in Beijing China and the kids ask to have their picture taken with you and laugh and call ‘big nose’; culture shock is when you travel through any part of Madagascar and on entering a town by road are expected to pay a bribe to the gendarmerie, police or army and when you leave that same town via a different route and have to pay another bribe to whichever of the aforementioned agencies has negotiated the road block at that point.

Unfortunately culture shock in its worst form is the difference in priorities some law enforcement authorities have and what they believe they can get away with and culture shock can be getting to terms with local crime and other dangers that you may be unfamiliar with at home.

Understanding the culture and local dangers is a good starting point is to making your journey safer. It can not prevent tragedy and violent crime is an unfortunate factor in some of the areas we choose to travel to, but it can reduce the risks. What we must do is understand the realities of the places we visit and not believe in the myths. Goa has a reputation as an old ‘hippie’ hang-out, beautiful beaches, relaxed atmosphere, placid friendly people and to some it still feels like a great place to go and relive the sixties drug culture. This leaves some people with the impression that it is all safe and is a throwback to the days when children walked to school and played freely on the streets, where it is safe to leave your doors unlocked and not to question people’s intentions and integrity. Unfortunately this is not the case. Scarlett was the victim of a violent crime, a crime that has devastated a family. Sometimes no amount of understanding will protect us, but other times having a better understanding of the places we visit will reduce the risks we face. But when it does go wrong, we can with a little help and support and by learning from Scarlett’s mothers courage, challenge the status quo and seek justice where sometimes there seems to be none.
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.

Guatemala bus crash kills dozens

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Title – Guatemala bus crash kills dozens
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 3rd March 2008

Transport options in-country are sometimes limited and local options are sometime the only ones available and can be a great way to see the country from a new perspective, to meet new people and a to experience a way of life so alien from that we are used to at home.

But these experiences do unfortunately carry additional risk and in many ‘developing countries’ tragedies like this one in Guatemala are not altogether rare occurrences, more alarmingly when accidents do happen they often end in a great loss of life or serious injuries.

It is a risk of travel that we sometimes have, to a degree, to accept or avoid altogether. Emerging economies and poorer countries inevitably can not always manage the costs involved with the tight regulation we have in our transport networks, that have made them progressively safer. Without this regulation and yet having to supply these services to a poor population, means that in some countries quality tends to win over quality.

However we must remember that in many countries bus and boat journeys are the only way people can get about effectively and allows them to move from rural areas to urban ones to work and trade and to move between countries for the same reasons.

The risks need therefore to be put into some perspective. Is a bus journey in Guatemala less safe than one in the UK? Almost without doubt. Does that make a bus journey in Guatemala inherently dangerous? No, it means there is added risk as there is in almost anything we undertake, but it can be managed.

Understanding some simple signs to look for, asking some simple questions, collecting local information and getting local recommendation will all enable you to reduce the risks this or any type of travel involves. Having the courage to change your plans when certain answers you get to your questions suggest you should or when you see something you are uncomfortable with sounds easy, but can be remarkably difficult to make when you are put on the spot.

Consider the consequences before you make your choice, it’s not always simple to do and many travellers have opted instead to take the chance and hope for the best… it’s never worth it when put into context.

Our workshops will help you to put things into context, help you see beyond the obvious and help you to stop things happening out of the blue, as they rarely do if you know what to look for; we can help you see beyond the blue.

Please visit our website at

www.safegapyear.com

Planet’s Burma guide ‘unethical’

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Title – Planet’s Burma guide ‘unethical’
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 21st February 2008

I make no secret of being a firm believer that people should not visit Burma on holiday at this time, the argument for visiting are flawed and anyone who has a good understanding of how things work in Burma will know that the very simple fact is that they don’t, nothing is said and nothing happens without the say so of the military. This is the same military which is responsible for oppression, violence and extra judicial killing of its own people. The list of atrocities is substantial and truly disturbing. The recent demonstrations in September 2007 highlighted this further; peaceful demonstrations by Buddhist monks (by their very nature people who preach peace and tranquillity) quelled by a government with gun fire, beatings and indiscriminate violence. As if it was not enough to break up demonstrations, this was followed up by violent raids on monasteries, abductions incarceration of the monks that took part in the demonstrations and the same treatment for their families.

The Burmese military is such a secretive organisation ruling by fear alone that no one quite knows the number of people killed, injured or imprisoned but most agree that the official figures of 10 – 15 killed is probably at least ten times lower than the actual figures. As for those sent to detention camps far away from their homes in the remote north of Burma, the figures can only be guessed at but they certainly number in their thousands and there is never even the suggestion of a trial, let alone fair trial.

So should we blame Lonely Planet for all of this or for publishing a Burma travel guide? I don’t believe it is that black or white. As a staunch supporter of organisations like the Burma Campaign (http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk)i/ believe strongly that people should not visit Burma. It has long been the request of Anug San Suu Kyi that people do not visit Burma until the generals are defeated, she is the only legitimate leader and representative of the Burmese people and acknowledged as one of the world’s great leaders and greatest advocate of peace, so she should be listened to.

The argument about Lonely Planet for me is more than just the fact that a guide book promotes a country, it is the fact that in our free society we should let people decide for themselves if they want to visit Burma or not, otherwise we are not much better than the Burmese Generals. Democracy is about freedom and choice, we should defend that, but that does not mean that we should promote Burma as a travel destination. The lonely planet Burma, gives people the choice to visit and it gives them the chance to find out more about the country in a stark warning at the beginning of the book, does that warning go far enough? Probably not.

So for me we should campaign for Lonely Planet to go further with the argument and the facts behind Burma’s regime, tell the real horror story and make more of an argument about not visiting, make the Lonely Planet a tool for change in Burma waking readers up to the atrocities and the support they will give the Burmese government if they visit, not simply banning the book which censors our freedom of choice. I object to travel companies advertising Burma as a destination with phrases like 'an unspoilt paradise' or 'a place of serenity and beauty' as they are just lies, if travel agents tell the truth and if Lonely Planet tells the truth a bit more extensively then people will not travel to Burma anyway and we will not have to censor our books. The truth is always more powerful then hiding behind lies, the Burmese military have been fighting that for years and with the help of the world standing up for the innocent voiceless people of Burma the truth will defeat the Burmese Military and destroy their grip on the Burmese people.

Besides if Lonely Planet publishes more of the real story about Burma and presents the real facts, not the lies of the generals, the Burmese authorities will stop letting people bringing it into the country, solving the discussion at a stroke…

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Yellow fever crisis hits Paraguay

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Title – Yellow fever crisis hits Paraguay
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 20th February 2008

Paraguay’s fight against the mosquito has taken another turn, as they are fighting the rise in cases of Dengue the latest blight is Yellow Fever, and once again it seems to have crept across the border from Brazil and moved outside of its usual jungle habitat and into more urban areas.

So should you avoid Paraguay?

The answer is no, the is no reason to take Paraguay off your itinerary for now, certainly it is worth keeping an eye on developments, but good preparation and suitable vaccinations before you go, as well as deploying good bite avoidance techniques once you’re there should help ensure your trip is a safe one as far as is possible.

The key to travel planning is to ensure you are as self-sufficient as possible, do not rely on the health service of the country you are visiting to provide the vaccinations or treatment if you get ill through failure to take sensible precautions before you leave. One of the key lessons to take away from stories like the outbreak of Yellow Fever in Paraguay is that the Yellow Fever vaccination is essential and that the health services in Paraguay are currently stretched to the limit trying to cope with their own citizens, they don’t need and may not be able to cope with visitors adding to that burden. No matter how much insurance you have you may simply not be able to get a vaccination or treatment in country if they do not have the resources.

With Yellow Fever it is imperative to get a certificate of vaccination otherwise you may well find on leaving Paraguay that many other countries (especially in Asia and Australasia) may not allow you entry as they are currently Yellow Fever free and desperately want to stay that way. Certainly with this first outbreak in 30 years, customs and quarantine officers at the points of entry will have been alerted to look out for recent Paraguay entry stamps in passports of travellers.

To many people ignore Travel Health and too many fall foul of diseases, viruses and illnesses that are wholly preventable. During our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops we examine the most recent advice available and look at the risks of your chosen destination, arming you with the questions and suggestions you will need to take to your GP or Travel Clinic when you go for your vaccinations and prophylactics. But just as importantly we also examine what you can do to prevent and protect yourself from catching these diseases in the first place.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com

You’ve been scammed

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Title – You’ve been scammed
Source – The Sunday Times
Date – 17th February 2008

It is one of the most common problems faced by travellers, the scam, rip off, con artistes, being over charged… to cut it short being taken for a ride by clever locals.

Some people dwell on it and let it affect their whole trip and their whole impression of the people in the country they are visiting, others unfortunately have no choice but to change their plans as they find themselves out of pocket, but in the most part sensible people accept it and move on, a little poorer, but also a little wiser.

Learning from other is a great way of avoiding the more common scams, but it would take a lifetime to learn them all and as people get wise to one scam another is born; to the point we have to accept it as reasonably unsolvable. But we also have to put it in perspective, most travellers will at some point during a long trip feel they have been hard done by or ripped off.

I have travelled widely and on each trip could probably recount at least one time I have been ripped off; the cab driver who strangely had no change; the bottle of water that seems to cost twice as much when I buy it as the local buying it in front of me in the queue; the fakes that cost a fraction of the real thing yet are still a rip off when I know what I could get them for and a real rip off when I get home and they shrink, fade and break; the tour guide who I spent hours negotiating with and who seemingly didn’t understand that a day trip means more then two hours on a boat with a hole in it; the boat we were told it was a safe time to leave in yet we found ourselves stuck in the middle of a tropical storm just an hour out to sea. Then there are the more complicated scams involving gem stones, drugs and other black-marketering that seems rife in some countries.

Avoiding scams does sometimes seem to be a full time occupation, but don’t let it ruin your trip, accept it as part of the experience and if it starts to grate on your nerves think back to your life at home; for me the solution is simple, whenever I feel I have been ripped off I think back to the cost of rail travel or a pint of beer at home and start to feel better. I may have been ripped off but actually what was most hurt was my pride and that is easily fixed.

The worst rip off I ever fell for was in Surrey (UK). I comfort myself that the many times I have had bits of equipment stolen or paid too much for products and services have not actually ruined a trip, but enriched a few locals and helped me avoid these scams in the future. During our Gap Year & Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops we examine the scams you might come across and the best ways to avoid them and how to react when you are caught out. The key is to try your best to avoid them, accept that they happen and move on when you are the 'victim' and not let it affect the rest of your trip or from taking future trips.


Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com