Safe Travel
The ultimate goal of every traveller is to eventually return home safely; our goal at Beyond The Blue is to help you do that through our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop (GYITSA) and we know we can reduce the risks you face on your travels significantly.
There are many risks you will face every day when you travel, some are similar to those you face every day at home and some are greater. However the reason you may be at more risk when you travel is simply that the risks you face are different from those at home and therefore unfamiliar to you. You may not have all the answers and of more worryingly you may not understand or see the risks in the first place.
One way of protecting yourself is to complete a Personal Safety course (the subject of day one of our GYITSA workshop), the skills learned will limit your exposure to some of the human risks you face on your travels. This will teach you to act more confidently and give you more confidence, which in itself is half the battle.
Criminals generally prey on the weak and are opportunists. Most are in effect cowards targeting the weak and fragile members of the community, so a display of confidence goes a long way to preventing crime in the first place. But they also target people where the return is highest, if they identify two targets, they will either go for the weakest or the one who seems richest. Remember that in many parts of the world vast swaths of the population live in poverty; even after a year of dragging yourself and your belongings around the world, you are likely to still look rich by comparison.
But human factors are not the only risk and natural disasters, political turmoil, adventure travel activities and cultural sensitivities add further risk still. But amazingly when so far away from home in countries where the rule of law can be very 'different' from our own, the biggest risk can be you yourself. Ignorance of how to behave or how to resolve problems when they arise can escalate quickly.
Accidents and serious incidents that occur during travel are often completely avoidable simply by taking sensible precautions. It never fails to amaze our instructors when we hear of stories of harm coming to travellers simply because they have not followed the basic principles they would at home.
Even in familiar countries not too far away from our shores such a Greece people hire motorbikes and drive with no protective gear, on roads that are unfamiliar to them and when they have never driven a motorbike before. Hardly any wear helmets! Deaths and serious injury are not uncommon, through carelessness, drunkenness or the local traffic which can be a little more chaotic then what we are used to at home. Why is it we would never consider taking these risks in the UK, yet jump at the chance as soon as we get to our destination country? In Greece at least there are reasonable medical facilities and services, but don’t expect your insurance company to pay the vast bills that mount up when you have undertaken activities that even though the local authorities turn a blind eye to, are still illegal. In other parts of the world there just simply are not the same standards of medical care and even if there are, you may well have to produce a valid credit card before they will treat you!
Safe travel is a vast subject and problems can arise in many different areas. Through our workshop we identify the problems caused by drugs, alcohol, the activities you undertake, transport you use, political situation of the countries you find yourself in, natural disasters, the image you portray, cultural sensitivities, other people (including your travelling companions), corrupt officials, scams, confidence tricks, disease, wild life, crime, accidents and so many more. Let us help you to eliminate the phrase from your travel stories ‘it came out of the blue’ and allow you to see ‘Beyond The Blue’.
Our workshop identifies the risks involved in your travel and demonstrates proven ways to reduce them and to eliminate the stress of travelling. This process itself improves your confidence which in turn pronounces itself in the confidence you portray. It is this positive human behaviour cycle that allows you to make the most of your travel experience and not worry about all the things that might go wrong 24 hours a day.
We believe in a transparent approach and in providing accessto useful information through our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop (GYITSA).
A short introduction to all of the subjects we cover during our workshop is published to allow anyone planning to travel to gain an insight into the considerations they will need to make, these include:
For more details on our Wrokshop / Course Dates and Fee please visit the How to Book section of our website, call us on 0845 602 55 95 or Contact Us.
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