Safety While Traveling

On today's episode, we tackle some of the things that could have a HUGE negative impact on your vacation. Listen in as we share some tips and tricks to help you remain safe while traveling.

Transcript

 We're the Essary family and we're exploring America one destination at a time. On this episode of TravelEssary, we are going to share some tips about safety while traveling. Let's chat. 

Welcome and thank you for joining us on this episode. As we talk about how you can be safe while traveling. Now,  it could seem like this should be natural to a lot of people, but a lot of people, whenever you go on vacation, Get really relaxed. And whenever you get relaxed, You do stuff that you normally don't do, or you forget to do certain things. 

And we want to make sure that you are as safe as possible while you're traveling, because there's nothing  scarier than something happening on vacation where someone takes advantage of you  and there's certain ways. That you can definitely protect yourself. 

Your belongings. And.  Have a pleasant trip, even though you may not be in situations or in places that you're unfamiliar with.  Even if you're familiar with the place, you know, we've been to places that we were extremely familiar with had been many times and had some situations happen because we got too comfortable, um, with our familiarity of that area. 

So even if it's something you are familiar with, , don't let yourself get to relax. Like Jeremy said, there are definitely. Some places more so than others that you need to be cautious. And one way. , figuring that out is do your research of where you're going, research, where you're going and you know, what's going on in that city or town neighborhood. Whatever during that time. 

And. Obviously larger cities tend to have more crime. They tend to have more safety issues. And I think if you're in a large metropolitan area, you should probably be on your guard twice, as much as you would, if you were.  Out in farmland somewhere. .  I mean, for example, we can pull up things that we've done in our own lives is kind of where we live is more raw. 

 Yes, there's bad people, no matter where you go.  But we just live in a place that doesn't have a high. Rate of crime. When it comes to burglaries.  Now. Even going to other places and even w we'll use Dallas Fort worth metropolitan area. 

That's our most visited places that we've ever been to. And there are certain places there. I would feel totally comfortable leaving everything unlocked  and then there's other places in the metropolitan area. I wouldn't even drive in.  Because I don't feel safe. And so in those areas, We've actually had some instances, you and I luckily the kids weren't with us that. We were, I think it was a Valentine's challenge. We took and, uh, we, we had some scary moments in our car. We kind of got lost. 

We lost kind of where we were located at. Although Misty grew up there and the more we started driving in a certain direction, he was like, um, I kind of remember this place. We need to leave. And I'm like, I'm hungry. Yeah. And so Jeremy was determined to get a burger. It was determined to find food somewhere. He didn't listen. 

He didn't understand, like, I mean, I went through some things as a child growing up in DFW,  and I'm trying to explain to Jeremy, this is not a good area. We need to leave. And he's like, I'm getting Jack in the box. So we pulled in a jacket. She's like lock your doors, roll your windows up. 

And I'm like, how am I going to order? She goes, you order, when you get to the window, then you roll your window back up. And then whenever they come to bring you your food, you roll your window back down. Get the food and then we leave as fast as possible. And then, like there was a guy that was standing at the end of the driveway. And there was only one way to get in and get out. Like blocking the way. You know, that pulled up red flags and then we were on our way back and we got passed by five or six vehicles, our cars that were going high speed. They were drag racing. 

I don't know if they were drag racing or they were trying to. They were definitely drag racing. They were trying to get somewhere to take care of a situation, or I don't know what was going on, but we were in the middle lane and we got passed on all sides. And.  I wasn't scared of the situation  but some people aren't used to that and that can definitely trigger someone. You're missing the part where before the drag racing, which is scary because people lose control of their vehicles all the time and, you know, innocent bystanders. Get hurt. But, um, when we were at the red light, right after he left Jack in the box, like someone tried to come up to our window and guys were talking to like a one o'clock in the morning. And someone tried to come up to our window and I was like, drive, drive, drive, drive, drive. 

And the person didn't look like they had great intentions. So, so definitely number one is.  You know where you're going to go on vacation, whether it's a familiar place or whether it's not just a quick Google search, you know, of crime rates, what's spiking, you know, that type of stuff. We'll let you know, kind of the areas that you need to go and that you need to be safe in, or that you just need to totally avoid going into those areas. Um, I'm going to have a person that I guess, because I did grow up in DFW. I have the frame of mind of always being cautious, no matter where you are, like, I will go to Walmart and I'm going to lock the doors. 

Jeremy's not going to lock the door of the car. Even if there's nothing of value in the car, I'm going to lock the door. Like, that's just my frame of mind, Jeremy. You know, growing up on a dirt road and being very rural, he doesn't have that same frame of mind that I do. Um, while we're at home, he does so more when we're traveling. 

But usually it's me saying, did you lock the door? Did you lock the door? I'm going to lock the door. I'm going to lock the door. 'cause it's just, I think it's more of a, a habit that I grew up with than you did.  

When you do your research know that.  The potential risk goes up significantly. Whenever you go to places like theme parks or concerts, or you go to large events that are going to have a population that. Is going to be outside of that normal area  and so you have to guard against those. And there's so many different ways that you can guard against these. There's some ways that. Should be everyday occurrences. Even on your normal day, you should do these. And especially whenever you go on trips,  in order to make sure that you are safe and secure in no matter what area you go into.  I think. Uh, one of the most important things is securing your belongings. Got to secure the belongings.  So I've actually had a cell phone stolen out of my purse. 

One time. In San Antonio. In the middle of the day. In the middle of the day. Yeah, it was around lunchtime, in a crowded area. It was on the Riverwalk. It was in the mall.  It was in the mall at the river walk.  We had just walked in. Yeah. And we passed the group of people. And I didn't know it. And so we got in the car, it was like 30 minutes later when we finally realized that.  Her phone was going. We had no idea what happened, but she was in the back of the pack. 

She was in the back of the group and she had the backpack on her shoulder. And it wasn't a backpack. It was a sling bag. It was kind of like a.  Like a boho bag and all you females will know what I'm talking about. I have no idea what she's talking about. It's a boho sling bag, but it didn't have a zipper. 

It only had a button in the middle. And so it wasn't everything in there wasn't secured. And even though it was on my arm, on my side, You know, it still has on either side of the button. You can slip a hand in there and I guess that's exactly what happened. And someone stole my phone. Thankfully, it wasn't my wallet, but someone stole my phone right out of my purse. 

 And, you know, it's funny even with that, San Antonio is still one of our favorite places in Texas to visit. And the river walk is still one of our highly recommend places. I think. I think the theft and crime that was  sweeping through San Antonio during that time has definitely lessened. 

Since then. We have taken several trips to San Antonio since then, and it's not near as bad, but be aware of your surroundings. Whenever we did go to San Antonio during this time.  Everywhere. We went, every restaurant, every hotel, every retail store had signs out front that said, lock your door, hide your belongings. 

There is like high crime coming through at this area.

And, um, I, you know, I haven't seen those, the last several trips we've taken to San Antonio. I haven't seen those. And even our hotel host is told us. , Park in a lighted area. Lock your door, hide your belongings. Like there is, I think they said some sort of gang that was going through  and it was just creating tons and tons of theft and even some minor violent crimes in San Antonio during that time. 

So like we said, research where you're going, be aware of your surroundings and secure your valuables. And there's so many different ways that you can secure your valuables. You can do a quick Google search and it'll tell you all these little nifty little secrets and you can follow those and read a whole bunch and purchase some of the stuff that they do. 

Or you could just follow these very simple things that we're about to talk about. The number one thing is what we'll talk about first is your vehicle.  So it all depends on what places you'd go, because I've seen a whole lot of different things, but number one, Is either. A hide everything. So under seat glove boxes, middle console. Put it out of sight because a lot of times, if they can't see a quick score,  They're going to go to the next people. Yeah. 

I actually watched this YouTube video of this ex uh, criminal and ex-con that he gave people tips and that was one of the tips he gave them because they want something where they can be in and out super quick. They don't want to be having to dig through vehicles and get caught. Yes. I mean, even with your car alarm going off, if they can get in and out 15, 20 seconds, no, one's going to recognize something's going on. That car alarm goes on for like 30. 45 seconds. 

Yeah. Um, Darren San Antonio, during that same trip, my phone got stolen. My mom and I actually watched someone break into. A vehicle.  In a San Antonio car park.  And parking garage and it just blows my mind again, right in the middle of the day. And it was like, we weren't even sure it was happening when it was already over. 

 It was, it was so quick and , my mom was like, I'm pretty sure that guy just stole something out of that car.

In other places that I've seen is the criminals will real quickly come up, break like a back window. And they know the vehicles that have those folded down seats in the back. And so they'll quickly.  Bring those down and then reach in and see if there's any kind of luggage that's in your. Um, your trunk. So. There's several ways of doing this. 

You can either lay the backseats down that way. You're giving full visibility of your vehicles. So that they can pull up quickly recognize there's nothing there. Hopefully leave your vehicle alone.  But definitely make sure that even your luggage is either hidden or taken out, left in a secure place. 

Yeah. You don't want to leave anything that is. That is seen. That you can see, and as much as possible, we try not to leave valuables at all in the car. Hidden or not. We just try not to do that. A little, little travel Esery tip. Uh, don't wash your car before you go on vacation, the dirtier your car, and the more ghetto it looks, the less likely someone is to want. Break into it.  Look around where you're at and.  Your car needs to blend in with all the other cars. Literally never have our car washed. 

Before we go on vacation, we live on the end of a little dirt road and our cars get pretty dusty. And we will, we might watch them after vacation, but we're not going to wash them before vacation because I don't want anyone to think that we're just out here living the high life in our cars. Valuables.  

So that's our little, our funny little tip.  But not only hiding. Like your, a phone, a laptop, an iPad.  Hide the courts.  Don't leave the cords out because if you leave the cords out, they're going to think that that item is still there. 

So everything really needs to be put away and hidden.  

If you are walking, there are several different things. Um, especially for gas now, we all know we've all seen the videos. We all seen the movies of  pickpockets.  They're really slot. They're really fast for guys. Do not keep your wallet in your back pocket. That is the easiest pickpocket.  Besides leaving it in your jacket that you can do. I guess, unless you have some really tight.  Unless, unless you got some really good feelings back in the Botox area. Don't put it in your back pocket. 

It might be a little uncomfortable, but put it in your front pocket. Especially your dominant hand to get the hand that always goes into your pant pocket somewhere. And this is just real simple because whenever you're walking or whatever, you're going anywhere, your hand is always close by to that pocket. 

And so you can always feel for it. You can keep your hand on it and keep your hand on the opening and it just helps you protect. Your wallet, which is going to have all, especially for guys, it's going to have all your information in it.  

Now for ladies.  Put a zipper on your zipper. So I definitely learned that. Make sure you're carrying a purse that zips up and can be completely secure.  It takes a lot longer for someone to unzip a purse. 

And that is, you know, you probably going to fill the tugging on that. Then it would for someone just to slip their hand inside of an open bag, which is what happened to me.  The second thing that ladies can do is.  Whenever you're with a group whenever there's two of you or more. Make sure that your purse is always on the side where your partner is at.  

And keeping with the same theme. Um,  I've seen so many videos of women who put their purses behind them. When they're eating at restaurants hanging off. The chair, and this is something that I used to do. And you would see like these women walk past and like just reach their  hand in the bag and pull stuff out. 

Like just blindly pulling stuff out. Um, I even saw a video where a mom sent her kid to crawl on the floor. Go in behind there. Take stuff out of the purse and then bring it back like a little bitty child that the mom was sending over to do that while they were eating in a restaurant or someone can come by and snatch it off the back of your chair. 

And you never even realize it. Right. And so now I've gotten to a habit where it's either in my lap or it's right next to me. Or I put it on the floor in between my feet where I can fill it is pretty much why I keep it every time we go to a restaurant now. So, you know, be, be careful of. Doing things like that. 

I've not keeping it on your person, right. Especially if you're at a table that has chairs, try not to put it out of sight. It needs to say somewhere insight. Um, if you're in a booth, it always needs to go as close to the wall as possible. Or I stick it between me and you when we're sitting next to each other or something. Right. 

You always want to keep it where at least one person has either I, or feel to it.  The more eyes and feel that you can put on us a certain thing, especially women's purse.  The better off you are. So that is definitely one of those easy tricks. Keep it between you. Keep it zipped up.  I know that it's really easy to get the clutch out of it or get your phone that's going back and forth. Just.  And it could be a pain every once in a while, but it's a whole lot better then to lose a phone or lose a wallet and go through the whole process of having to cancel credit cards we've had to do that several times. Yeah. Speaking of having to cancel credit cards, you know, you have to watch out for skimmers now.  And I actually just went through this where we live locally. Um, getting gas at a gas station here locally that is known for it to happen. I shouldn't have got gas there. It, you would think after them getting caught several times, it wouldn't happen there anymore, but it just keeps happening. 

And  I was running out of gas and it's the first gas station as you come into town. And so I pulled in and got gas and. Mistake, but, you know, um, watch some YouTube videos of how to detect skimmers at gas pumps and even  ATM's.  And even I've been seen at like, um,  Like I convenience stores and stuff. 

Like it's crazy. All the ones that have the outside. But they don't actually take her card anymore. You're having to do it all about. Or yourself? Absolutely.  You know that. The criminals are getting smarter and we have to get smarter on how we protect ourselves. And it's not the first time, like during a trip during a few of our trips, we have had that happen to us.  I think two or three times now throughout our travels, we have had to cancel cards. And get new bank cards because of skimming, because of issues like that.  Worse than that. 

I mean, being right in the middle of the trip and your card, we haven't to be shut down. Totally denied. And then you're like,  You know, you're usually you're in line purchasing something. Whenever you find out that if some type of fraud or something that's happening on your account. And then all of a sudden you're like, oh my goodness. How old were you going to pay for the gas on the way back? 

And what's this going to be looking like? And then, you know, you're probably.  Miles away and can't get to your bank. You know, in the time that you need to, and then everything is frozen. And you're having to deal with the whole financial crisis while you're trying to enjoy the nice vacation that you planned for yourself. Like we have had this happen to us before the days of mobile banking. 

And it was extremely stressful while you're on a trip. Um, thank goodness. Now we have mobile banking and, and another safety tip. I highly recommend you get fraud alerts set up on your cell phone. Because, um, this last time when it happened to me, it was instantly, I got the alert. 

 I didn't have to wait until my bank account was drained. I didn't have to wait for other things to go through. It was, I. Instantly get this fraud alert  I got gas and it was a few hours later that something tried to go through. And I got that alert and I pushed, no, this is not me. 

And immediately my card was shut down. So not only did what they were trying to get to come through, didn't go through nothing else did either. And so highly recommend you get fraud alerts set up on your phone, not just for traveling, but in general, but especially when you're traveling. 

One of the things that I want to talk about,  and this is more particular to airplanes than anything else. .  Do your best to have the important documents. Your credit cards, your ID, your passport. Uh, any kind of documentation that you're going to need either get in a country or out of a country. On your person. Don't put it in. One of the bags that is going to go above a compartment. Because sometimes, you know, it fills up above you. 

It all depends. If you're going to get there first or not, you might have to put your bag two or three hours down. And then if you fall asleep, you'll never know if someone got into your bag or not. So keep those important documents on you. If you're in a vehicle. Or you're traveling by land or you're just out and about. And you have those important documents with you. 

Try to keep them hit. There's so many different ways. There's like the Fanny pack. There's the money pack. That goes around your waist underneath your shirt or underneath some clothes where you can keep it where it's hidden, but it's still on you. And even sometimes, and I know this could be bad in certain areas. 

Most of the time you're in a safe location where you can do this. A lot of the hotel motels have safes inside. Of your, your room. 

Probably 90% of those, you can  trust. And you won't have any issues. There are a few now plant. You know, this is where it goes all the way back to the first thing we said, researcher area, because there are some that, although you may put it in a safe and you think that everything is safe inside of there. That's not necessarily the case. 

So be mindful of using those safes inside of hotels and motels, but. Do everything that you possibly can to keep the very important documents. On you at all times.  Because if you lose those especially passports. You're gonna have a hard time getting back in. Well, here's another one that I just thought about. Is if you're going to have, like, we have debit cards.  , but besides our debit card, because if something happens in our bank account does get frozen. We have a credit card, right. So have some type of alternate means.  In order for you to get funds to either complete your vacation or to at least get back home. Because if you don't have anything and that one card freezes.  You're in, you're in a world of hurt. 

Yeah. Whenever we are traveling through multiple states, I like to contact my bank and say, Hey. We're traveling through this date, this date, this date, and this date for this period of time, because if it gets blacked for fraud and our bank freezes it, then. It's sometimes a hassle to unfreeze it, especially if it happens on a weekend. Yes.  Definitely make that contact with your bank. That's another great point in order to keep yourself safe because they'll know at least where you're supposed to be. And so if something happens outside of that parameters, Hopefully they can help you out before anything drastic, really happens.  

We hope that you use these tips and tricks and use them every day, because the more you use them, , the easier it is whenever you're on vacation, 

the biggest. You know, is just be aware of your surroundings and it's unfortunate. That you know, you have to make a podcast like this. And for the most part, people are great. People are really great. But there's always that small percent that you don't have to ruin it for everybody else. And if, if you're not cautious, these, these things that can happen can absolutely destroy a travel at. A vacation, a trip. 

Oh, you know, wonderful memories that you're making with your family. It can cost you so much money so much time and just, and just destroy a great thing that you're having. So be aware and be cautious. Don't don't trust everybody. My instinct is just to be like, Hey, I love you. You're my friend. You're good people, but you know, Unfortunately, we live in a world. You can't do that with everyone everywhere you go. Um, so she'll just be cautious. Join us next week. As we talk about how you can become a snowbird.