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(c) Elliott Publishing.

Do As I Say
Err Travel · December 19, 2000

I'm an expert in travel security. I give advice for safe and secure travel. That's what I do.

In my workshops, in my book, and in this column, I tell people what they ought and what they ought not to do to prevent becoming victims of crime while on the road. I've discovered that giving that advice is easy - and profitable.

I've also determined that following that advice is another story. If you or I were to follow every travel tip I dish out, we'd find it to be way too much of a hassle to even think about taking a trip. So naturally I don't expect anyone to follow every bit of advice. Travelers have to consider each circumstance in which they find themselves and apply the most appropriate advice to those situations.

That being said, here are ten things I almost always do and the ten things I almost never do when I travel.

I almost always:

1. Lock the doors of my car whenever I'm driving around.
2. Leave room in front of my car when I am stopped in traffic so I don't trap myself.
3. Carry a map.
4. Cover the identification I put on my luggage.
5. Watch the people getting on my airplane with an eye out for troublemakers.
6. Review the Consular Information Sheets from the U.S. State Department before I travel overseas.
7. Make advanced reservations for lodging using only my first initial and last name.
8. Refuse to stay in a hotel room on the ground floor or in a room with a "hidden" entrance.
9. Plan two escape routes out of my hotel room and make sure the fire exits are not locked or blocked.
10. Put my hotel key, flashlight, spectacles, and cell phone in a one place near the bed so I can collect them all in a hurry if I have to evacuate my room. (Modesty note: Ever since the first time I had to evacuate my room and in deference to the women who I race past as I make my escapes, I've learned to keep a pair of pants nearby too.)

Now here's where I 'fess-up. Even though it's sound advice - and it's even my advice - I almost never:

1. Travel with a business companion. (A function of being an independent consultant, I figure.)
2. Check in early at transportation terminals.
3. Carry phony business cards. (Maybe mine look phony enough.)
4. Bypass major car rental locations when picking up a rental car.
5. Figure out which side of a rental car the refueling cap is on before I need gas.
6. Shine a flashlight into my parked car before entering at night.
7. Keep the windows up on my car in the summer. (I like the wind-in-the-hair-that-I've-got-left feeling.)
8. Use a bellman to find my room. (There's just something about paying a guy a buck a minute to show me where the light switch is in my room.)
9. Look under the bed for thugs in my hotel room. (I figure I "take" a guy skinny enough to hide under the bed.)
10. Allow a room service delivery person into my hotel room. (But I do keep the door open and I don't allow him to get between me and the open doorway.)

There you have it. I feel much better now.

Dr. Terry Riley is a psychologist and travel security authority. His column appears on Wednesdays. He is author of the popular book Travel Can Be Murder. Visit his site at http://www.appliedpsychology.com or e-mail him at terry@ticked.com.