Tag Archives: safety and security

Eiffel Tower Paris france

Don’t Make These 5 Mistakes When Deciding Where It’s Safe to Travel

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Given the past few years’ string of terror attacks from London Bridge to the French Riviera to New York City, you may be wondering where it’s safe to travel. You’re ready to go somewhere—you know the 7 Keys to Traveling Without Fear Despite Terrorist Attacks and the 5 Reasons Not to Panic About the Worldwide Travel Alert—but where? As you weigh your options, here are 5 common misperceptions not to fall prey to:

Mistake #1: Assuming you’re safer in the United States

By staying home, you don’t eliminate risk. You simply exchange one set of risks for another. Most of the cities we live in are statistically more dangerous than most of the places we visit overseas. If you think Europe is dicey, consider that from 2000 to 2014, there were 23 mass shootings in Europe, with 203 deaths; compare that with 133 mass shootings in the U.S., leaving 487 dead, during that same period. In fact, the United States leads the world in mass shootings. As for terrorism, from 2001 to 2013, the number of people killed in the U.S. because of domestic acts of terrorism was 3,030; the number of U.S. citizens killed overseas by terrorism during that same time period was 350.

Mistake #2: Thinking the most dangerous places to go are where the most recent terrorist attacks have occurred

In 2015 people cancelled trips to Paris the same way they canceled trips to Bali after the bombings there in 2002, and to New York City after the September 11 attacks.  Historically, though, high-profile terror attacks tend not to recur soon afterward in the same spot. That’s because places that have been attacked beef up security measures to such a degree that, for at least a year or two, they are unlikely to be attacked again. Also, terrorists want to surprise us by attacking new, unexpected places.

Mistake #3: Anticipating you’ll be worried throughout a trip

I’ve noticed that people expect to worry during a trip more than they actually end up worrying. As it turns out, that’s human nature. Psychologists will tell you that people typically overestimate how emotional they will be. Once they’re in the actual situation, there are dozens of interesting and demanding immediate circumstances that occupy their attention—circumstances that they didn’t factor in ahead of time. Similarly, once travelers get to their destination, they become so preoccupied with sightseeing, shopping, and other activities that they forget they were supposed to be worried.

Mistake #4: Painting an entire country with the same brush

State Department country-specific advisories single out certain locations within countries as trouble spots. That doesn’t mean the whole country is dangerous. Just because parts of Mexico near the borders are dangerous, that doesn’t mean you should avoid the Riviera Maya or Cabo San Lucas. Would you avoid Beverly Hills because of shootings in San Bernardino? Foreigners considering a trip to the U.S. would, but you probably wouldn’t.

Mistake #5: Not seizing the moment

Many Americans often respond to terror attacks in Europe by sticking to resort locales in the United States, Hawaii, and the Caribbean. (Which only drives prices up in those places.) But many’s the time I’ve been in a destination shortly after a crisis (Egypt, Istanbul, Lebanon, Mumbai, Syria, Fiji, New York City…)—and I’ve found a heady combination of few tourists and locals very happy to see travelers and in an unusually hospitable frame of mind.  These trips count among the most rewarding of my life; it would have been a real shame to have missed them.

But if you’re looking for other ideas, right now might be a good moment for much of Latin America. If you’re seeking a vacation spot that’s warm, affordable, and relatively near the U.S., and for which there are no country-specific State Department Travel Warnings or Alerts, you might consider Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, or Peru.

As for Europe, even if you’re nervous about big cities such as Paris and London, don’t rule out smaller ones such as Dublin, Edinburgh, Florence, Lisbon, Salzburg, Ljubliana, Prague … or islands such as Malta and Sicily.

 

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Dürnstein, Austria

5 Reasons Not to Cancel a Trip to Europe

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Note: This article was originally written in 2016 to address travelers’ questions about traveling after certain terrorism incidents. It is not related to the current coronavirus situation of winter 2020 and does not reflect our opinions and advice about traveling at this time. For information about traveling during the coronavirus outbreak, please see our article, Coronavirus: How to Keep Track of What’s Important.

Following last week’s terror attacks in Brussels, the U.S. State Department issued a Europe Travel Alert—and, to my mind, some people are overreacting. Before you cancel a trip to Europe, consider:

1. The State Department has issued a Europe Alert, not a Warning.

A Travel Alert does not advise you to stay home. An Alert is for “short-term events we think you should know about when planning travel to a country.” That’s very different from a Travel Warning, which is for “when we want you to consider very carefully whether you should go to a country at all.” An Alert merely reiterates what we already knew: When you go to Europe, be vigilant.

2. If you’re a smart traveler, you’re already vigilant.

You already steer clear of big crowds, such as at major train stations, sporting events, and public gatherings—places where pickpockets and drunken hooligans are a far more likely threat than terrorists. You already avoid mobs at tourist sites—by going at optimal times of day or bypassing the lines. If you don’t, here’s how.

3. State Department advisories always err on the side of caution.

If you were running the State Department, would you want to be in a position where a terrorist incident occurs and you hadn’t warned people? No. You’d want to avoid blame. The State Department has nothing to lose by issuing an Alert. Furthermore, it has nothing to lose if the Alert is not followed by an attack. (That’s because the spin can be that the authorities’ beefed-up vigilance is working.) Remember that the probability that you’ll get caught in a terror attack is minuscule.

4. The State Department tends to paint wide swaths of the world with the same brush.

There’s an Alert for the entire continent of Europe, even though a terror attack is far more likely to occur in a big city than in country villages or coastal areas or Mediterranean islands. Even when it comes to the State Department’s country-specific advisories, don’t think that an Alert or Warning for a nation means that that country is dangerous throughout. Just because parts of Mexico near the borders are dangerous, that doesn’t mean you should avoid Cabo San Lucas. Would you avoid Orlando because a bomb went off at the Boston Marathon? Would you avoid Beverly Hills because of shootings in San Bernardino? If I still haven’t convinced you, consider that the State Department currently cautions people about traveling everywhere in the world.

5. People think they’ll be more worried at their travel destination than they actually will be.

Over the years I’ve had email correspondence and phone calls with hundreds of people who cancel trips for no good reason, lose a lot of money, and miss out on what could have been wonderful memories. I’ve also watched hundreds forge ahead with trips and tell me afterward how glad they were to have done so. I’ve noticed that people expect to worry during a trip more than they actually end up worrying. As it turns out, that’s human nature. Psychologists will tell you that people typically overestimate how emotional they will be. Once they’re in the actual situation, there are dozens of interesting and demanding immediate circumstances that occupy their attention—circumstances that they didn’t factor in ahead of time. Similarly, once travelers get to their destination, they become so preoccupied with sightseeing, shopping, and other activities that they forget they were supposed to be worried.

Whether you’re traveling to Europe or any country that’s in the news, if you’re concerned about safety, here are smart steps you can take to protect yourself and give yourself peace of mind.

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

How to Avoid Food Poisoning When You Travel

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Part of the fun of travel is trying a ton of new foods. But if you eat the wrong thing…well, then the trip becomes no fun at all.

Luckily, it’s reasonably easy to avoid food poisoning in developing countries, as Wendy outlined in her recent TripAdvisor blog post.

Here are a few of the basics:

1. Keep your hands clean
Wash with soap and water right before eating, and carry antiseptic wipes.

2. Stick to bottled or sterilized water
Drink bottled water—and make sure the bottle is properly sealed. Avoid ice unless you can confirm it came from a bottle or was purified. And don’t brush your teeth with tap water (or shower water). Bring your own water purification tablets too.

3. Eat smart
Avoid seafood, buffets of food that has been out for a long time, and fruits or vegetables that might have been washed in contaminated water or touched by unwashed hands. (Instead, stick to bananas and other fruits you peel yourself). Don’t be afraid to try street food, as long as you look for dishes that are boiled or steamed in front of you and served piping hot.

 

What are your best tips for staying healthy while traveling?

 

Be a smarter traveler: Use Wendy’s WOW List to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Geneva Airport flightboard Nov 14, 2015

5 Reasons Not to Panic About the Worldwide Travel Alert

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The State Department has issued a worldwide travel alert and, in my opinion, some people are overreacting. First, such an alert isn’t new: The State Department has periodically issued worldwide travel cautions since shortly after September 11, 2001. Second, the State Department is not advising us to stay home—it’s advising us simply to be vigilant, which is smart on any trip.

Third, why is anyone surprised? When you look at a list of terror attacks since 9/11, it’s clear that anything can happen anywhere at any time. Most travelers I know have, in the years since 9/11, grown accustomed to that fact and learned to live with it. We’ve adapted to the new normal. We know that—as I point out in 7 Keys to Traveling Without Fear Despite Terrorist Attacks—the risk that we’ll become the victim of a terrorist incident while traveling is very small.

The more you’ve traveled, the more direct experience you have that is at odds with what you see on television news or hear about on talk radio, so you’re not overly influenced by the media noise that foments fear. I’ve traveled in many a country at times when a State Department Travel Warning was in place, and there were no signs whatsoever of any problem.

I actually think high airfares may be doing more to keep people from traveling than terrorists are. After 9/11, travelers were convinced that certain swaths of the world were deadly dangerous…until airfares and cruise fares were chopped in half, at which point they pounced on the deals.  Every traveler considering a trip does a risk-benefit analysis. When the benefit is great, they play down the risk; when the price drops low enough, they’re suddenly willing to travel.

I’ve been studying travelers closely since long before September 11, 2001. I’ve watched hundreds of them cancel trips for no good reason, lose a lot of money, and miss out on what could have been wonderful memories. I’ve also watched hundreds forge ahead with trips and tell me afterward how glad they were to have done so.

As you wrestle with whether to make or quash travel plans while the worldwide travel alert is in place (it expires on Feb 24, 2016), here are five things to consider:

1. The State Department is not advising you to stay home. 

It has issued a Travel Alert, not a Travel Warning. A Warning is for “when we want you to consider very carefully whether you should go to a country at all.” Travel Alerts are “for short-term events we think you should know about when planning travel to a country.” The problem with the worldwide travel alert—and, in my opinion, a reason why some people are panicking—is that it does not provide tangible steps of advice that are easy to follow. But I’ve done so here.

2. State Department advisories have always erred on the side of caution.

If you were running the State Department, would you want to be in a position where a terrorist incident occurs and you hadn’t warned people? No. You’d want to avoid blame. The State Department has nothing to lose by issuing an Alert. It also has nothing to lose if the Alert is not followed by an attack. (That’s because the spin can be that the authorities’ beefed-up vigilance is working.)

3. Other English-speaking governments have not issued worldwide travel alerts. 

It’s wise to get a second opinion by checking out other English-speaking governments’ advisories, such as Canada’s, the United Kingdom’s, and Australia’s.

4. If the Alert leads to fewer people traveling abroad, the warmer the welcome the rest of us will get.

There’s no reason to expect to encounter unfriendliness toward Americans abroad. It’s been my experience that there are at least three reasons why most people in most foreign countries are friendly toward Americans (at least, toward those of us who don’t behave like “ugly Americans”).  First, locals who depend on tourism are happy to see us, especially when tourism is down (and at a time when the Chinese, European, and Russian economies are flat). Second, Americans tip more than anyone else. As long as we continue to tip the way we do and the rest of the world doesn’t, we’ll be welcome. Third, I’ve found that locals differentiate between an individual traveler and his/her government; they don’t hold you responsible for your government’s policies any more than you would hold them responsible for their government’s policies.

5. The Alert will probably lead to travel deals. 

History has shown that special offers will be on the way. When enough people stay home, deals arise. I’ve already signed up for low-fare alerts from AirfareWatchdog, and I’ll look for hotel deals on TripAdvisor. FIve-star hotels and other luxury travel suppliers won’t want to lower their rates publicly because they fear devaluing their product; instead, they’ll share unadvertised deals with their favorite travel agents behind the scenes (including my Trusted Travel Experts).

Of course, each of us has his or her own comfort level for travel right now, and we must each do our own risk-benefit analysis. Nobody knows you better than you, and you’ve got to do what feels right for you. As for me, I’m going to watch out for good travel values and report them here. Watch this space.

 

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Tower of David, Jerusalem, Israel.

How to Stay Safe Traveling in Risky Countries

If you’re waiting for that perfect moment to travel to the Middle East, it’s probably never going to happen. It’s like waiting for that perfect moment to have a baby: You can always find some reason why now is not the optimal time.

At least once a week a reader emails me asking whether it’s safe to go to Israel, Egypt, Turkey, or [fill in country perceived as dicey] right now. I’ve noticed that the people asking have one thing in common: They’ve never been to the country in question.  And I think that very fact makes it harder for them to put the risks in perspective. If you’ve traveled in a supposedly precarious country before, you know first-hand how much less risky it is than all the media noise would indicate, you realize that the statistical probability that you will be the victim of a terrorist attack there is tiny, and you have no need to email me.

The news media never report the extent to which everyday life goes on as normal at a destination—because that’s not news. As I pointed out in Is It Safe to Travel To Turkey?, “Television and news coverage always make an incident in a foreign country seem more alarming than it actually is. If news sources were to report the extent to which life at the destination goes on as usual, with people going about their everyday routine unaffected, it wouldn’t sell ads, and the news sites wouldn’t get traffic.”

I’m writing this from Marrakech, by the way. It’s my fifth trip to Morocco. And in those five trips I’ve had so few safety concerns that it no longer even occurs to me that there might be risk involved in traveling to Marrakech.

So, in my opinion you should just go ahead and go. But be a smart traveler by doing three things:

(1) Book your trip through a Trusted Travel Expert.

Proven destination specialists like those on my WOW List have the latest security information at their fingertips, know which areas in a country are safe and which aren’t, employ the savviest guides and drivers, and know how to keep you from harm. Earl Starkey, Trusted Travel Expert for Turkey, has been keeping travelers safe there. And Joe Yudin, Trusted Travel Expert for Israel, is keeping travelers safe in Israel.

“I felt totally safe,” says Nadika Wignarajan, a WendyPerrin.com traveler from Bayonne, New Jersey, who just returned from a trip to Israel arranged by Joe. She and her parents were there for a week, including on November 4, when an Israeli Border Police officer was critically injured by a Palestinian driver who deliberately struck him near Hebron—the latest attack in a wave of increased violence since the start of October.

“Joe and his team have their ears to the ground and know what’s going on,” says Nadika. “I knew my guide wasn’t going to take us anywhere that wasn’t safe. There are parts of New Jersey that are more dangerous. We felt safer in Israel than in some areas of New York City where you don’t want to go at night.”

In fact, Nadika adds, there are advantages to being in Israel right now. “There are fewer tourists than usual. The religious sites are crowded, and there are cruise ships bringing in a lot of tourists, but other places were not crowded, and the hotels weren’t that busy; they were going out of their way to do stuff for us.”

“The biggest misconception travelers have,” says Joe Yudin, the Israel-based travel specialist who booked Nadika’s trip, “is that there is constant violence everywhere. That just isn’t the case. The second biggest misconception is that there is tension in the air. Not true. Yesterday I spent the entire day in an Arab village in the Gallilee, and everyone was nice, pleasant, accommodating, warm, smiling. There have been a few bad incidents, and these unfortunately are played up in the news over and over and over. But the fact is that usually there is no violent crime on our streets. Yes, there have been a few wars and everyone here is a soldier and knows what to do in wartime, but this isn’t a war. This is a wave of violence that we usually do not have. It brings the level of violence here up to the regular level of violence you find in Western cities.”

(2) Give yourself peace of mind via MedjetAssist’s Horizon Membership.

Even intrepid seasoned travelers who are able to put risks in perspective—and who understand the difference between the probability of an incident occurring in a country and the probability of an incident occurring to them while they are in that country—can still wonder how to lessen their risks when traveling there. If an incident occurs and does impact your trip, what are the smart steps to take?

You might not know the answer, but you can turn to someone who does. MedjetAssist, the air medical transport membership program that gets you from a foreign hospital that you happen to find yourself stuck in to a hospital back home that you trust—something that most travel insurance policies won’t do for you—recently added a new membership level that reduces your risk when your security is threatened: Horizon Membership offers assistance should a crisis—a terrorist attack, a political threat, violent crime, or the like—strike. You get access to a 24/7 Crisis Response Center, a veteran security expert to advise you, and response services to come to the rescue if necessary.

Actually, MedjetAssist Vice-President and COO John Gobbels points out, if required, a crisis team can come in and remove you from a situation even if it’s not been a declared a major event or incident—even if it’s just because you’re feeling uncomfortable due to the current situation on the ground and want to get out of that place.  Some other companies’ emergency response services benefit kicks in only after a “qualifying security event” has taken place, says Gobbels—for instance, after the State Department has issued a Travel Warning, or after the event that was merely threatening has escalated into a dangerous situation.

(3) Take smart precautions.

If you’re headed to Israel or elsewhere in the Middle East:

1. Enroll in the U.S. State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), so the Embassy can send you security updates and help you in an emergency.

2. Choose a hotel that has CNN, BBC, and Al-Jazeera, so you can monitor the news in the mornings and evenings. Also make sure the hotel has reliable Internet access, so you can check local English-language news Web sites.

3. Avoid public gatherings and demonstrations.
Don’t get caught in an angry mob.

4. Avoid public transport.
Use a driver.

5. Stay away from border areas and avoid bad neighborhoods the same way you would in New York City or Chicago.
“Don’t wander alone in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem, Hebron, Bethlehem, or Nablus,” says Joe Yudin, my Trusted Travel Expert for Israel.

6. Don’t photograph government buildings, military installations, airports, train stations, policemen, guards, or anyone who doesn’t want his/her photo taken.

7. Carry your hotel’s business card—the one written in the local language—so you can show it to non-English-speaking locals (such as a taxi driver) and get back to your hotel in an emergency.

8. Carry a cell phone programmed with emergency numbers (for the police, your hotel, and medical emergencies)

9. Carry a mini-flashlight (in case you’re caught in the dark).

10. Don’t focus on the wrong risks. Don’t get so caught up in avoiding risks that are highly unlikely—e.g., a terrorist attack—that you forget to focus on those risks that are much more likely to damage a trip—e.g., traffic accidents, pickpockets, food poisoning, sunburn.

 

Be a smarter traveler: Follow Wendy Perrin on Facebook and Twitter @wendyperrin and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Istanbul's Bebek Neighborhood

Is It Safe to Travel to Turkey?

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Is it safe to travel to Turkey? That is a question I’ve been asked dozens of times over the past two decades, usually as a result of a scary news story that makes someone second-guess a trip they’ve already planned.

Last week I was asked the same question again by a reader who has booked a Turkey trip through one of the Trusted Travel Experts on my WOW List. Even though she’s excited about the trip, she is getting pressure from her family and adult children to rethink her plans.

I understand that her family may be concerned, given what they are hearing and seeing in the news, but if it were me, there’s no way I would cancel. Turkey has had bombings every year since I can remember, and never have any of these incidents impacted or dampened my readers’ travel experiences there. I myself have been to Turkey four times—three of those times coinciding with major terrorist incidents—and every time I felt totally safe everywhere I traveled in the country.

I know that politics in Turkey are complex and that national elections are scheduled for November 1. But I also know that television and news coverage always make an incident in a foreign country seem more alarming than it actually is. If news sources were to report the extent to which life at the destination goes on as usual, with people going about their everyday routine unaffected, it wouldn’t sell ads, and the news sites wouldn’t get traffic. That’s why media outlets are forced to write sensationalistic, scary headlines: to get people to click and read.

True, there are areas in southeastern Turkey—near the border with Syria—that most countries’ governments are warning travelers not to visit. But those areas are hundreds of miles from Istanbul and other popular tourist sites.

Furthermore, any coverage that paints a story about difficulties travelers might be facing does not apply to travelers who booked through a destination specialist such as the Trusted Travel Experts on my WOW List. These experts know their destinations like no one else, and they know the truth about where it’s safe to be. In the case of this particular reader, she booked her trip through Karen Fedorko Sefer, a Turkey travel expert to whom I’ve been sending travelers for years. Karen lives in Istanbul and has the latest on-the-ground intel for making trips safe, not to mention extraordinary.

Last year, after another spate of news reports about terrorist incidents in Turkey, I interviewed several readers of mine who were traveling in the country at a seemingly difficult time. They had arranged their trips through Earl Starkey, another Trusted Travel Expert who lives in Istanbul. (Here’s his Insider’s Guide to Istanbul, as well as his Insider’s Guide to Cappadocia.) Examples of what these travelers told me include:

“The impression from the news in the U.S. is of a somewhat exotic, traditional country that is as progressive as a secularized Muslim country can be, but that remains somewhat poor and undeveloped,” Mr. Martin said. “I was, quite frankly, in shock to find a modern, affluent, and incredibly clean cosmopolitan city in Istanbul, efficient, modern airports, and generally friendly, accommodating people who truly were secular and in many areas very wealthy.”

“Before we left, my main fear was that there would be a great deal of hostility toward Americans. I never felt that! The Turkish people are warm and welcoming—just lovely people.”

“We were in Cappadocia when the U.S. bombing of Syria started. That day we toured a number of small towns in the area, and I looked carefully for any negative response from the locals. (I am over six feet and clearly American, so I do stand out in a small village). Everyone was very friendly and welcoming—I did not observe a single negative glance or frown.”

In that same article, I outlined steps you can take to decide if Turkey is right for you, along with precautions you can take to remain safe. While those tips remain useful, that article was written for people who travel totally on their own and do not have one of my Trusted Travel Experts watching over them throughout. The on-the-ground support that my Trusted Travel Experts offer is invaluable on any trip, and it’s the reason I created The WOW List in the first place.

So please don’t avoid Turkey. Just plan it right. Chances are you will be pleasantly surprised by the extent to which life goes on as normal, you will have fascinating conversations with the locals about current events, and you will feel jazzed about being there at an important moment. I say this because that’s what my readers who return from Turkey always tell me.

Imagine the news that Turkish people are getting about our lives in the United States right now. The sudden and all-too-frequent mass attacks of violence in our schools, movie theaters, and churches surely must make them question whether it’s safe to travel to the U.S.   Would you tell them not to come?

Grace Family Foundation relief work team

Just Back from Nepal: The 5 Things You Need to Know

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Sanjay Saxena, founder of Destination Himalaya and a Trusted Travel Expert for Asia on Wendy’s WOW List, is just back from Nepal, where he went right after the April 25 earthquake to help with relief efforts. He’s going back in June, leading a multi-generational family tour. Meanwhile, here’s his report from the field:

  1. Kathmandu, Nepal, is open and ready for travelers

Saxena was relieved to see that the city has not been leveled—as he’d been led to believe by initial media reports. Life is returning to some semblance of normalcy, with shops and restaurants open for business. All of the tourist hotels remain open. Saxena even felt totally safe spending a night on the fifth floor of the Yak & Yeti.

  1. It’s the rural villages that are a disaster.

Eight days after the quake, Saxena delivered 10,000 pounds of rice and chura (a ready-to-eat mixture of rice, lentils, and nuts) to a region five hours outside of Kathmandu that hadn’t yet received any food aid. In these small villages, Saxena discovered, almost all of the houses were destroyed, and those left standing were uninhabitable.

“There is no doubt that Nepal is seeing an overwhelming response from the international community,” says Saxena. “While I walked around Kathmandu and drove in the countryside, I saw the flags of nations from Sri Lanka to the U.S. on supply trucks, temporary housing, and bulldozers. But while the capital city saw a fair amount of quick response, the overall infrastructure in Nepal is completely taxed and outside of medical evacuations, the outlying village areas have seen little to no aid at all.”

Life goes on around the rubble in Nepal

Life goes on around the rubble in Nepal. Photo courtesy Sanjay Saxena.

  1. Here’s where you can and can’t go.

Travelers will not be able to see the World Heritage Sites in Bhaktapur and Patan, as many of these temples and buildings have collapsed. The Shechen Monastery’s main assembly hall suffered some very dramatic cracks, but thankfully the structure held, as hundreds were inside attending a teaching at the time of the quake.

Trekking in the Langtang Himal (a popular area due to its easy access from Kathmandu) will be closed for the near future because of landslides. Trekkers to the Annapurna and Everest regions will certainly see the effects of the earthquake, but that shouldn’t be a reason not to travel there; they’ll still enjoy views of the majestic Himalayan peaks and the company of the wonderful people of Nepal.

Parts of Tibet and India have been affected. Inhabitants of several border towns in Tibet have been evacuated, and the roads closed to all but military relief convoys. Saxena expects the Tibetan Everest Base Camp area to open for travel in the next month, however the overland crossing into Nepal will be closed for the rest of this season, if not longer, due to landslides in the Zangmu gorge. India’s Himalayan border state of Sikkim felt the quake too, but all reports are that no major damage occurred to the infrastructure there.

  1. The quake has shown the true colors of many companies.

Upon arriving in Kathmandu, Saxena received a text message from T-Mobile announcing that all phone calls and data would be free while he was in Nepal. His traveling companions who are customers of other cellular services received no such offer, and several vowed allegiance to T-Mobile as soon as they returned home. Stories abound such as the one of Dolma Dhakhwa, the owner of a small carpet export business, who visited each of his weavers and gave them bags of rice and lentils, plus two months’ advance salary. Less compassionate was the management of Kathmandu’s Hyatt Regency, who forbade locals to sleep on their 35 acres (many Nepalis pitched tents after the first earthquake, doubting the structural integrity of their homes).

Truck-loaded with supplies for Kunchuk Village about 75km NE of Kathmandu

Truck loaded with supplies for Kunchuk Village, about 75km NE of Kathmandu. Photo courtesy Sanjay Saxena.

  1. Nepal needs your help.

Saxena’s travel companion on this trip to Nepal was longtime client Dick Grace of the Grace Family Vineyards Foundation. They focused their efforts on the rural villages and continue to do so now that they’re back home. Along with mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears, Destination Himalaya has set up a fund to help rebuild three severely damaged schools in Chyangba. This village of 600 people in the Solukhumbu district is home to most of the Sherpas that Destination Himalaya employs on its Nepal treks, as well as the Sherpas who have summited Everest alongside Breashears.

Saxena and Breashears have pledged to cover all overhead costs themselves and spend 100% of any donations directly on the school rebuilding. Moreover, they intend to design the schools to better withstand earthquakes in the future.

Donations can be sent via the Grace Family Vineyards Foundation and are tax-deductible. Checks should be made out to the Grace Family Vineyards Foundation (write “DH-Nepal Earthquake” in the memo line) and sent to 1210 Rockland Drive, St. Helena CA 94574, or you can donate via credit card on the foundation’s website.

Saxena says it’s important to keep Nepal on your bucket list and show support for the country by traveling there when the time is right again. “Tourism is essential to the economy in Nepal, as it’s the largest employer in the country,” says Saxena. “ I would urge you to keep Nepal on your list of must-see destinations, Having traveled to Nepal numerous times and taken scores of travelers there, the one thing that people always tell me that they remember most is not the dramatic sunrise on Everest or the exquisite details on the Bhaktapur temples, but the wonderful people of this mountain kingdom.

Annapurna, Nepal

How to Get Help in an Emergency When Traveling Abroad

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Question:

“Wendy, thank you for your tips on what to do if an emergency happens when you’re traveling. I feel that a traveler ought to devise a ‘scheme B’ for getting out of the country in the event that ‘things go sideways’ due to political turbulence or unrest. You shouldn’t rely only on your country’s embassy. Shouldn’t you have a ‘scheme B’?” —Valerie

Answer:

That’s true, Valerie. Fortunately, there’s an easy Plan B. It requires zero effort on the traveler’s part and should, in fact, be your Plan A: Use the right destination-specialist travel-planning firm to arrange your trip in the first place. The destination specialists on my WOW List are chosen partly because they can and will rescue you in any emergency. Toni Neubauer of Myths and Mountains, for example, operates stellar trips to Asia and is the Nepal specialist on my WOW List. To understand how Toni came to the rescue when the Nepal earthquake struck, read this review posted to WendyPerrin.com by Joe and Rowena Burke, who were in Katmandu, Nepal, when the quake struck on April 25. Here, in the Burkes’ words, is how Toni got them out of the country:

“Behind the scenes Toni Neubauer of Myths and Mountains worked tirelessly to coordinate our hasty departure. We were able to reach out to her several hours after the quake. She immediately sprang into action and somehow, through her extensive network of contacts in the region, booked us a flight the following afternoon. Booking the flight was miraculous, but it would have been meaningless but for Toni’s people on the ground, as we needed transport from our hotel.

Toni’s (and our) guide, Ananta Gubhaju, and his colleagues were there whenever we needed them. They safely transported us through the chaos at the airport and then waited there for more than 8 hours, having promised not to leave until our flight departed. When the flight was cancelled, they promptly returned us to the hotel, which welcomed us with open arms.

All the while Toni continued to work behind the scenes, anticipating that the flight might not work. She confirmed the original flight for the next day and booked a back-up. She maintained constant contact with our relatives stateside. It was unequivocally clear that she had established a reliable, professional network of wonderful people as a result of her years of travel to the region.

Her efforts, and those of her network, did not end when we safely arrived in Varanasi. Somehow she marshaled people who met us at the gate and whisked us through customs as we ran to make a connection to Delhi. When we arrived at the gate after the flight’s departure, there was no cause for concern. Within minutes we were booked on the next flight out, giving us an hour or so to decompress before we travelled to Delhi, where, once again, Toni’s people were patiently waiting for us when we arrived.

It was apparent from my first contact with Toni that Myths and Mountains is much, much more than a travel agent. Her organization knows the region and has an incredible appreciation of the needs of its clients and the idiosyncrasies of travel to the region’s special places. Her understanding of the area reflects her decades of travel and commitment to the region, as evidenced by her support of READ Global.

I will not allow our trip to the foothills of the Himalayas to be defined solely by the catastrophe that struck Nepal because Toni made it so much more. We spent 8 captivating days in Bhutan, where her contacts were absolutely fabulous. Her colleagues in Delhi and Agra made our short time in India a truly great experience that forever changed my perception of that country. And when we return to Nepal—and return we will—Toni will be the person who will get us there and who will get us back.”

So you see, Valerie, relying on a country’s embassy to get you out in an emergency is really Plan B. Plan A is to use the right destination specialist to arrange your trip in the first place.

Dudh Kunda (Sacred Milk Lake), Nepal

Nepal Earthquake: News About Traveling in the Region

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Tragic news keeps coming in from Nepal. The earthquake’s death toll is now over 5,000, and more than 10,000 have been injured.

Though it’s impossible to plan for natural disasters like this one, there are some helpful precautions travelers can take when journeying to remote regions, and we covered those in an article earlier this week. And while our thoughts are with the immediate relief efforts and the long-term recovery of the region, we also know that many travelers who have trips planned for the future are wondering whether they should cancel or reroute their itineraries.

As always, we recommend the benefits of booking through a knowledgeable and well-connected travel specialist. It’s exactly times like these when you want to work with someone who knows the area intimately, has clout with the locals, has your back, and can provide quick and efficient help in a crisis (whether a natural disaster or a canceled flight).

We’ve turned to our own Trusted Travel Experts who live and work in the region to find out first-hand how travel is affected and what you can expect.

Mei Zhang, one of our Trusted Travel Experts for China, is based in Beijing and runs WildChina. She reports that “Bhutan has remained completely unaffected structurally by the quake” and reminds travelers that no travel warnings have been issued by the US or UK governments for Bhutan or Tibet. After reaching out to her local regional partners and confirming their safety and well-being, her company has chosen to continue its tours to Tibet and Bhutan, as well as to Lhasa, Yamdrok Lake and Gyantze. However, Tibet’s Everest Base Camp is closed to the public so that it can be used instead for relief missions, and cross-border roads between Tibet and Nepal are also closed.

David Allardice is another of our Trusted Travel Experts for China, and he confirms in a blog post on his company’s website that “Due to the geology of the area Tibet was largely spared and we can confirm that there has been absolutely no impact on Lhasa and its surrounding areas.”

If you were planning a trip to Nepal, Antonia Neubauer, our Trusted Travel Expert for Nepal and Bhutan, asks us to remind readers that Nepal’s largest source of income is tourism. “I would easily see planning a visit in the fall,” she said. “Kathmandu will be cleaned up in part, as much as it ever is. The city always had up to 18 hours of load shedding and water was always an issue, but hotels will have water and electricity. Rural areas and trails will be functional. People should go—a big help to the country.”

Annapurna, Nepal

What To Do in an Emergency: Lessons Travelers Can Learn From the Nepal Earthquake

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The earthquake that struck Nepal over the weekend, killing more than 5,000 people and injuring more than 10,000, reminds us that anything can happen anytime anywhere, including in destinations that top many people’s bucket lists. While it’s impossible to be fully prepared when a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or civil unrest disrupts a trip, there are some relatively quick and easy things that a traveler can do to be better prepared for any emergency, especially in remote places:

Before Your Trip

* Enroll in STEP.
Signing up for the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program makes it easier for the U.S. embassy to send you important information about safety conditions, contact you in an emergency, and help family and friends get in touch with you.

* Rent a satellite phone or satellite messaging device.
“Bringing communications devices with additional batteries is the single most important thing travelers can do and often overlook,” says Dan Richards, CEO of Global Rescue, the worldwide provider of emergency medical, security, and crisis response services. When a crisis strikes, cellular networks and electricity often get cut off. You can’t rely on your cell phone, says Richards—and, even if you’ve brought a portable Wi-Fi hot spot with you, it can suffer the same problem as cell phones: limited or no bandwidth. The good news is that satellite communication devices have dropped dramatically in price in recent years. Richards recommends the Iridium GO! satellite text device (an Iridium phone is even better) or Briartek’s Cerberus.

* Book through the right destination specialist.
The Nepal travel specialist on my WOW List of top travel planners, Antonia Neubauer of Myths and Mountains, had guests in Nepal during the quake on Saturday and managed to get them safely onto a Sunday flight to New Delhi. The best destination specialists have access to key people in-country who will take care of you, can contact your relatives back home on your behalf, can intervene on your behalf with your travel insurance provider, etc. If you are on your own in a remote place, it is infinitely more difficult to cope.

* Get a Global Rescue membership.
This is the closest thing I know to ensuring you will be rescued in an emergency.  Since Saturday, when the quake struck, Global Rescue has been providing intelligence to travelers in Nepal and coordinating evacuations to extract people to safety. “Many travel insurance companies really do not do an adequate job with emergency evacuation,” says Neubauer. “Many focus on releases or forms before they will authorize evacuations.”  In fact, some medical evacuation insurance policies do not even cover natural disasters (so it’s important to check before purchasing a policy). But Global Rescue typically performs dozens of helicopter evacuations in the Himalaya alone each year, and it regularly sends critical-care paramedics and special ops personnel around the world to respond to members facing emergencies. A Global Rescue membership also gives you access to the Global Rescue mobile app, which keeps you apprised of local developments.

* Know where the best hospitals are.
Another Asia travel specialist on my WOW List, Sanjay Saxena of Destination Himalaya, points out that it’s important to know which are the best hospitals, not just in the capital city—which could be hours away from where you are when a crisis strikes—but in other cities too. Of course, it’s difficult for an independent traveler to get such information. Saxena has compiled his own list of reliable local hospitals, based on his years of experience working in the region (he’s been working in India since 1977 and in Nepal since 1978)—and that list is always evolving. If you’re not going to book your trip through a stellar destination specialist, it’s even more important to have a Global Rescue membership, or a travel insurance provider, who will know the best hospitals and be willing and able to get you there.

* Pack a medical kit.
Bring a prescription antibiotic and prescription pain reliever that you know work for you, in case you end up needing to be your own doctor. Bring iodine tablets to purify dirty water too, since, in an emergency, bottled water supplies quickly run out. “Water will quickly become one of the most dire issues in Nepal,” warns Saxena.

During Your Trip

* Carry a photocopy of your passport photo page and any visas.
Keep it on your person during the trip, in case the original is back at your hotel (usually the smartest place to keep it) or gets lost in the emergency.

* If you don’t or can’t bring a satellite phone, rent or buy a local mobile phone.
In some countries, including India and China, satellite phones are illegal. Destination Himalaya gives its travelers a local mobile phone pre-programmed with numbers for local staff, hotels, emergency services, etc. “Our in-country and U.S. staff are available 24/7,” says Saxena, “If there is a problem, we typically send a local staff member directly to our clients as soon as we’ve been alerted.”

* Create an emergency contact sheet.
If you plan to rely on your own cell phone, remember that 911 does not work outside the U.S. and Canada. Find out the local emergency numbers for the country you’re in.

* Plot on a paper map where the local embassy, consulate, and best hospitals are. 
In an emergency you won’t want to rely on your smartphone or Google Maps app to get you there; you’ll want to save your battery for calls to loved ones, doctors, etc.

* Follow the right twitter feeds.
Twitter gives you breaking news and can provide potentially life-saving information in an emergency. Follow the U.S. embassy feed in the country you’re visiting (@USEmbassyNepal is distributing advice such as the local phone numbers to call for help), as well as the U.S. State Department’s feed, @travelgov. Such feeds are often the quickest way to find links to the info you’re seeking. The @RedCross and Google’s Crisis Response Team, @GoogleCR, are also worth following, as are the local airport’s feed, which may post updates about airport delays and shutdowns, and the feeds of local hotels, which usually have an emergency action plan and may be offering help or a landline.

* Know that Google offers a person finder.
In natural and humanitarian disasters, Google helps track missing persons.

If You Have a Trip Booked to the Area Soon

* Realize that the geographic area affected is limited.
So often, when a crisis strikes a country, U.S. travelers unnecessarily cancel trips to a huge swath of the world surrounding that country. They avoid regions that have not been affected in the least—which would be like Europeans deciding against a trip to New York because there was an earthquake in San Francisco or a terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon. The Nepal earthquake is not a reason to cancel a trip to unaffected regions of India or Tibet, says Global Rescue’s Richards. In fact, Saxena of Destination Himalaya is on a plane to Tibet at this very moment. We’ll keep you posted as to what he reports from the ground. He says it’s quite possible that he may even change plans and head to Kathmandu to help efforts there.

Here, our hearts go out to the people of Nepal as they cope with this catastrophe.  “I have traveled many places,” says Neubauer of Myths and Mountains, “but the people of Nepal stand out.  A family in a mud hut with nothing will share their rice with you and give you their mats to sleep on. Sherpas will risk their lives on mountains to save yours. There is a warmth and willingness to take a stranger into their home and heart that exists in few places. Travelers often say they go to Nepal for the mountains, but they return for the people.” Here are some good ways to help those people in their time of need.

Deyrulzafaran Monastery Mardin Turkey

How to Stay Safe Traveling in Turkey

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Dear Wendy,

My husband will be traveling to Istanbul and Cappadocia soon. With the news of air strikes surrounding Syria and Turkey, is it safe to travel there?

Thanks,

Alison

I’ve been getting this question a lot lately, what with the rise of ISIS and U.S. military action in Syria (Turkey’s neighbor to the southeast). When war is in the news, it can be scary for travelers. It might be easy to imagine that Turkey is a battlefield; we keep hearing about terrorists and an influx of refugees. But the reality for travelers to Turkey’s tourist areas is very different from what’s in the news.

As someone who has been to Turkey four times, including at times when many deemed it unsafe—I traveled the country on assignment for Condé Nast Traveler shortly after 9/11 and again in 2006 when the U.S. was at war with Iraq (in fact, I spent a week in southeastern Turkey within a few miles of the Syrian border)—I am here to tell you that Turkey is one of the safest places I know, filled with hospitable and friendly people.

There are so many countries that are viewed as precarious even though just one small pocket of the country is worrisome. It’s only when you’re on the ground there that you realize the extent to which life is uneventful and peaceful outside that pocket. That’s why the best way to get a sense of what Turkey is like for travelers right now is to talk to travelers who are there or have just come back. So, Alison, on your behalf, I’ve reached out to just such travelers. Here’s what they report:

What Turkey is Like for Travelers Right Now

Tom Martin of Minneapolis, Minnesota, had planned his trip to Turkey long before the current situation developed, and he started to have second thoughts over the summer. “As our departure date approached,” he said in an email, “the daily drumbeat of increasingly alarming stories in The New York Times became a matter of considerable concern and anxiety, to the point of causing me to question whether we should cancel the trip. In the end, we did not change our itinerary at all.”

When he landed in Turkey, Mr. Martin saw with his own eyes the difference between what he’d been imagining and what Istanbul is really like. “The impression from the news in the U.S. is of a somewhat exotic, traditional country that is as progressive as a secularized Muslim country can be, but that remains somewhat poor and undeveloped,” Mr. Martin said. “I was, quite frankly, in shock to find a modern, affluent, and incredibly clean cosmopolitan city in Istanbul, efficient, modern airports, and generally friendly, accommodating people who truly were secular and in many areas very wealthy.”

David Hornik of Palo Alto, California, who was traveling with his wife, Pamela, had a similar experience. “There was a massive gulf between our safety concerns heading to Turkey and our experience in the country itself,” Mr. Hornik said. “We felt safer in Turkey than we do in most cities in Europe.”

Davi Weisberg and her husband, Michael Harrington, also had some preconceived notions about their trip. “Before we left, my main fear was that there would be a great deal of hostility toward Americans,” Ms. Weisberg said. “I never felt that! The Turkish people are warm and welcoming—just lovely people.”

Added Mr. Harrington, “We were in Cappadocia when the U.S. bombing of Syria started. That day we toured a number of small towns in the area, and I looked carefully for any negative response from the locals. (I am over six feet and clearly American, so I do stand out in a small village). Everyone was very friendly and welcoming—I did not observe a single negative glance or frown.”

4 Steps to Help You Decide Whether to Go

When weighing the risks vs. the benefits of travel to any destination viewed as uncertain, these steps will help.

1. Put risks in perspective.

Sure, there have been bombings in Istanbul in the past, but there have also been bombings in London, Madrid, Boston, and New York. A terrorist incident can happen anywhere at any time. The risk that any one individual traveler will be harmed in a military action or terrorist incident is statistically tiny. Since 9/11 travelers have increasingly come to realize this—and it’s one reason why tourism to Turkey has not suffered despite last year’s incidents. Tourism is up six percent from last year, according to Başaran Ulusoy, the president of the Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, and by the end of this year Turkey expects to host a record 42 million tourists. In fact, Istanbul was named the world’s top destination by TripAdvisor this year, based on millions of travelers’ reviews.

2. Check governments’ travel alerts.

The U.S. State Department currently has no travel alert or travel warning in place for Turkey. Even when there is a State Department travel alert, I like to check other countries’ alerts to get a well-rounded picture—especially alerts from the U.K and Australian governments, which tend not to be as alarmist as the State Department can sometimes be. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s travel advice for Turkey reminds us that 2.5 million British travelers visit Turkey every year and that “most visits are trouble-free.”

3. Look at a map.

The U.K. alert advises “against all travel to the towns of Akḉakale and Ceylanpinar and against all but essential travel to areas within 10km of Turkey’s border with Syria.” That border is more than 800 miles from Istanbul. You’re likely not going to be anywhere near Akḉakale or Ceylanpinar.

4. Have a Trusted Travel Expert on The WOW List strategize for you and arrange your trip.

The travelers quoted in this article were traveling under arrangements made by Turkey travel planner Earl Starkey, who lives in Istanbul and is one of my Trusted Travel Experts for Turkey. Here’s his Insider’s Guide to Istanbul, as well as his Insider’s Guide to Cappadocia. When Earl masterminds your trip—and his team of in-the-know fixers, expediters, English-speaking guides, and drivers go to work for you—you won’t have a care in the world when you’re on the ground in Turkey. I say that based on my own experience traveling with Earl and his team, as well as on feedback from dozens of travelers I’ve sent to him.  To connect with Earl, click on the black CONTACT button below his photo here.  (By connecting via that contact form, you get VIP status with the Trusted Travel Expert and you get entered into the WendyPerrin.com trip-monitoring service.)

6 Smart Precautions To Take When Traveling in Turkey

So you’ve decided to go? Here are smart steps you can take:

1. Enroll in the U.S. State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), so the Embassy can send you security updates and help you in an emergency. Here is further security advice from the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, which suggests that travelers “exercise extra caution in Turkey’s eastern and southeastern provinces.”

2. Choose a hotel that has CNN, BBC, and Al-Jazeera, so you can monitor the news in the mornings and evenings. Also make sure the hotel has reliable Internet access, so you can check local English-language news Web sites.

3. Avoid public gatherings or demonstrations. Don’t get caught in an angry mob. Avoid neighborhoods where emigrants from Syria live.

4. Don’t photograph government buildings, military installations, airports, train stations, policemen, guards, or anyone who doesn’t want his/her photo taken.

5. Carry your hotel’s business card—the one written in Turkish—so you can show it to non-English-speaking locals (such as a taxi driver) and get back to your hotel in an emergency.

6. Carry a cell phone programmed with emergency numbers (for the police, your hotel, and medical emergencies), as well as a mini-flashlight (in case you’re caught in the dark).