Traveling? 3 Quick Ways to Check if the Location is Safe

You’re traveling in a foreign country — you might be alone, or you can be with family.

You don’t know anyone there, and you need to know how safe the place is. It's a new place. You are a little bit edgy.

Of course, there are online guides and forum reviews that you can always resort to. Those will give you a general idea of the safety level in a particular area.

But how about an instant check by yourself? Sometimes, a location can be safe during the day but unsafe in the evening. Understanding that quickly will help you.

Here are some quick ways to tell.

Tip #1: Check how crowded the area is.

Too many people can be a concern unless that is how it is supposed to be, like an area that hosts a lot of restaurants. If there are a lot of other people in some places, you should feel safer. There is that odd chance that you will get pickpocketed.

A crowd can still be ok and much better than a completely empty street. So if a place has a thinning crowd, it’s advisable to move away from there. Especially if that area is usually crowded. This is an indication of the change that you know nothing about.

I once went to Hangzhou in China to visit the West Lake. I reached dead at night. The entire airport was empty. I had no other option to take a taxi and show him an option. During that trip I was a bit worried. The taxi driver could take me anywhere.

So, before I went there, I downloaded and printed maps to track if I was in the right location. Sometimes it is not possible to avoid empty locations. As always, use your best judgment in those situations.

Tip #2: Check for the man-to-woman ratio.

I have found this to be a good indicator of how safe an area is. If local women are moving freely and they are not pacing, you can assume you are in a relatively safe place. That’s because locals know the nitty-gritty of a location better than others.

The higher the percentage of women, the better. You can also pay attention to whether they are rushing to get out of an area or seem comfortable enough.

Remember — a society that can make its women feel safe can maintain safety.

Tip #3: Trust your instinct & knowledge

If you are uncomfortable in an area due to stares, or your instinct is telling you to leave, it’s better to do so. I’m not suggesting to be paranoid, but it’s important to pay attention to your gut feelings. After all, you are traveling for pleasure. So if you are not enjoying something, why do it?

Also, if something you hear from a local doesn’t match what you know, get to the bottom of that. I can share a personal experience of my own.

I was checking into a hotel with friends years ago. The hotel manager said they had a flexible checkout policy that would allow us to check out 4–5 hours later than usual if we wanted to. This sounded too good to be true, but we were young so we didn’t question it.

When we finally checked out (at 2 pm), the hotel charged us for two extra hours saying the check-out time was at 12 pm. They even showed a printed document that was conveniently hidden at the time.

Bottom line: You know more than you think about a country or location and about how things work. Trust what you know, and if something doesn’t match, question it till you are sure that the new knowledge is true.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you agree or disagree with any of the suggestions.

Traveling should be fun. But an unpleasant experience can paint the entire trip in a gloomy color. If we can avoid those by being careful, we should do that. In this era of apps, traveling has become safer. We should make use of every bit of information we have at our disposal.

Happy traveling!

This article was first published on Medium