Lucas's Blog

“I don’t remember the plane being so hot” I thought to myself

Taking off my jumper and the supplied Air Italia plane blanket

I was about halfway through my 14 hour flight from Rome to Rio de Janeiro

I’d gotten about a third of the way through the Godfather & noticed i’d started to sweat a little

Sure the movie was gripping, but this was something else

I stood up, briefly saw stars & realised something may not be right

Wading through the aisle of sleeping travellers, I made my way to the bathroom

As I locked the doors the cubicle, my body informed me of what was about to transpire

My cheeks started salivating

You can guess what happened next

Painting your last meal on the back of a planes toilet 20,000ft in the air isn’t something I’d wish upon anyone

The subsequent 15 minutes were spent cleaning up the damage & exiting the bathroom

Food poisoning

That Burrito i’d eaten in Madrid 12 hours earlier wasn’t as harmless as i’d previously hoped

The remaining hours of the flight were spent attempting not to unload any other bodily fluids on the passenegers around me

As I disembarked, I had the monumental task of getting myself to my hostel some 25kms away

I handed over my Italian passport to the Brazillian passport officer

“perché sei qui?” (Why are you here in Italian)

Not having an extensive backlog of Italian in my vocabulary, and severely weakened by recent illness

I reverted back to the mother tongue of english

Confused as to why I didn’t respond in Italian, the Brazillian man took an extra care in inspecting my picture

Eventually he took pity on me (my face must’ve been a deep shade of white at this point) & let me pass

I shakily walked through the airport, located my bags miraculously & found the exit

I fired up Uber & prayed it my 4.46 rating would be enough to score me a ride

after 30 minutes of waiting I was picked up & subsequently began my South American adventure

As I rode in the back of the uber, I wondered if this man was taking to my hostel

or to take me into the Favela’s to take all of my belongings

and it made me think of all the small things that had kept me relatively safe over the course of 10 different trips over my life

Thankfully, it was the former

I made a swift 2 day recovery in my hostel bunk after an unintentional 48 fasting period

When you arrive new country

You’re alone in a totally unfamiliar place

You might know some things about the local culture, food, & how to get from A to B

But besides that, you’ve got to experience & find out the rest for yourself

Thankfully, after doing a few trips over my life, there are things you can do to ensure you remain safe, healthy & happy as much as possible

I wanted to make this guide to share what’s helped me in various continents, cities & situations

From getting home safely after a night out, to eating local food & making sure you don’t miss your bus

It’s worth mentioning – there will always be the outliers here.

Despite taking every precaution sometimes, you may end up at the wrong place at the wrong time

That’s an unfortunate reality of both travelling & living

This guide is to control as many of the external variables as possible

Research your destinations –

Sometimes a cheap Air BnB might be cheap for a reason

As me & my friend Jonny Ristrom found out a few years ago in London

“it’s only a 5 minute drive from Big Ben” It must be nice

Unfortunately our optimism didn’t prevail & we ended up staying in a suburb called Walworth

Nothing more than a below average British town

Besides a homeless gentlemen charging towards us on the bus home with his hand in his jacket

Nothing awful happened, but it was a good lesson in doing some research beforehand

This mostly applies to bigger cities with a vast sprawl of neighborhoods

One area can be up-market, the next can be a little sketchy after dark

It’s worth jumping onto a travel forum like Nomadlist.com or a quick reddit search to see if there are some recurriung themes visiting the areas

Are there good areas to eat? Is there lots of nightlife around? is it a busy area? Hotels/hostels etc?

I do like visiting a place without an overwhelming amount of knowledge on the topic, but I do like finding out where I should and shouldn’t go

From people who have walked the path before

It’s worth mentioning, read the answers people give in these forums carefully & don’t take them as gospel

For example, if you’re visiting Rio i’d avoid visiting Favela areas unless you have a local friend

or if you’re in Buenos Aires, visiting La Boca after 5pm

Use these as a guide to make your own choices

Connect to the world wibe web –

I’m always impressed by the analog, old school way that my parent’s generation used to travel

One phone call a month, travellers cheques & maps were your keys to success on the road

Fortunately, modern technology has made the travellers journey slightly easier

For people landing in a new country, one thing that is handy to have soon as you step out is internet access

When i’m more famililar with a place I can go without mobile data for a few weeks

But i’m always wanting it as soon as possible when I arrive at a new destination

I’ve utilised small E-Sim packages a few times on this trip so far just to get me through the first few days and I can buy a local sim for cheaper

I’ve used Airalo a few times on this South America trip and have been happy

From there you’ll be able to get around on maps, message home or do some currency conversions

Download offline maps

This one has come to my rescue many times throughout my travels

I used to use an app called maps.me, but unfortunately when they asked me to fork out to use their app

I was no longer a user

Since then I’ve been a big fan of google maps for all my navigational needs

Whenever I’m about to head someone new (assuming I won’t have data) I download the town’s map for offline use

You can’t ‘get directions’ with the offline map, but you can see where you are in relation to your location

I’ve found this to be super helpful especially when getting off busses in rural areas

Turn the music down in public

I’m a big lover of both Music & Podcasts

Especially while I walk around a big city & explore on a sunny day

So it pains me to bring up this next tip

When you’re walking around a big city, especially at night & especially if you’re solo

You do need to have some awareness of your surroundings

When I turn the noise cancelling headphones feature on my headphones I can hear about 10% of the outside world

Great for relaxing in your room or cooking dinner

Not so much when your walking the streets of a foreign city

If you can find headphones that allow you to turn off noise cancelling or have a ‘hear through’ function, this is a greeat resolution

If someone is looking for a quick oppurtunity to grab something of yours or to put you in a dangerous situation

They’ll probably look for someone who isn’t paying attention of their surrounds

Not being able to hear around cuts off a key ability to react to your exterior environment

Act confident & move with purpose

When moving about the city, always walk like you’re heading somewhere specifically

It is nice to wander around & get lost

But for the most part, especially in poorer areas or places at night

It’s better to look like you’re heading somewhere then to have no plan at all

Appearing lost can make you a much easier target for people to try & scam you or to steal from you

If you do end up getting lost, walking into a local business to reconfigure the maps or to ask a trusted shop assistant for help can be a good option

If people try to stop you (particuarly if you’re carrying your bags) it’s best to ignore them and keep moving towards your destination

Sometimes it can be genuine acts of hospitality, but others might be taking advantage of the situation you’re in

Learn some basic lingo

As an English speaker, you can get a long way around the world without having much trouble

I don’t know how it became such a global language, and if you do know, please comment below

If you are visiting a country where english isn’t the first language, make an effort to learn 5-10 basic words or phrases that you can use on your travels

Everything from a greeting, a goodbye to thank you, Where is the toilet and what is the wifi? Are all a good start

Locals will be thrilled that you’re trying the local language & may even give you something on the house for your efforts

It also makes you blend in a little more with the local crowd

Language is obviously a little easier said than done, you’re saying sounds you’ve never heard of before in hopes they mean something to the other person

but even butchering pronunciation or saying the complete wrong word can be a source of a great story or friendship down the line

Phone home

This is a simple but often overlooked one

Especially if you’re really enjoying your holiday time

But an easy way to kill two birds with one stone

1. sharing your travel experiences with home
2. eliviate the mental unrest from your immediate family

Always let people know where you are or where your heading next

If your not a words person

Photos or videos of your last destination with a brief description of where you are can suffice

You don’t need send your itinerary to your entire friends list

But some updates every few days or weeks is a nice way to both stay in touch & secure if anything were to happen

Another option is using an app like find my friends and leaving your location on whenever you connect to wifi

Then family can see where you are without having to do anything on your end

Cash is still king

As credit cards and apple pay slowly take over the payments side of the world

There is still a place for the physical currency that those systems are based off

Whether you’re in Europe, South America or Asia

Having a few hundred dollars in cash in your pocket is peace of mind

Sure you’ll wince at the heinous ATM fees you’ll encounter (the most I’ve paid is 20 AUD)

But with the right planning, you’ll be able to minimise these visits and still have enough cash to spare

Cash gives you the freedom of getting out of various situations without much incident

Whether it’s paying for a taxi, a meal in a small restaurant or a souvenir at a market

Having even a small amount of cash in your wallet can get you out of some sticky situations

A bonus tip here is any money you have left over you can bring home and keep as your own souvenir for the places you’ve visited

This multi part series should act as a good basis for small things you can do to stay safe on the road

In the next instalment I’ll cover other things from heading on a night out to what you can do to never miss a bus again

You’ll learn more about things that work for you when you get out there and explore yourself

The less you worry about these things, the more fun you’ll have & the more memories you’ll make

LB