How to determine if a travel destination is “safe”.

I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer here, although I’m curious how others approach this topic…

My general philosophy on travel and safety

For many people, safety is a major concern when traveling. When planning a trip, they may be concerned about the safety of the airline they are traveling with and the destination they are traveling to. Having flown millions of miles and visited 100+ countries, here is my general philosophy:

• I don’t care about airline safety, and I’m happy to fly any airline; It simply comes down to relative risk, and even the least “safe” airline is safer than other forms of transportation.
• I’ve visited about 100 countries, and I think most destinations are safe when traveling solo, especially if you just apply common sense and take some basic precautions (no flashy stuff, be careful where you go, research scams beforehand, etc.).

Of course, everyone has different standards for what’s “safe” and what isn’t. In terms of destination safety, there is a big difference between Dubai, Paris, Sao Paulo and Mogadishu, for example (in roughly that order).

Speaking of people of different backgrounds, I have family friends who always call before booking a flight to ask if a particular airline is safe. “Is British Airways safe?” “Is Norway safe?” “Is JetBlue Safe?” I always say “yes,” but of course they ask. It just goes to show how we all have different levels when it comes to this stuff.

The challenge with analyzing access security

Let me take my question as an example. I am considering two separate trips that will take me to Abidjan, Ivory Coast (ABJ) and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (VVI). I could meet directly, or spend a day or two at each destination. Personally, I always enjoy seeing a place I haven’t been to before, at least for a day or two.

But of course I also don’t want to be completely careless, or at least aware of what I’m getting myself into in terms of precautions. Can I wander the streets during the day (carefully)? Should I hire a guide? Do I need to arrange airport transfers in advance? Is this enough?

While the Internet is generally an amazing resource, sometimes it may not be very useful to establish the relative risk of access.

• Travel warnings are often overzealous for destinations that I find too safe, and sometimes make it difficult to determine whether a destination is high risk or has the usual disclaimers.
• While there are some online message boards that talk about the safety of different destinations, sometimes it can be difficult to know if people have the same risk tolerance as you. Some people seem overly cautious, while others go anywhere
• When you google “it seems [insert destination] all right?” The answer is always the same, and sometimes it refers to the presence of violent crime, vigilantism, etc.

That brings me to my general question for OMAAT readers – how do you decide if a destination is safe to visit, whether you’re planning to visit it as a destination, or just as a long layover on your way out of the airport? I certainly welcome ideas on the above cities, but I’m more curious about the thought process people use.

at last

Most people think about safety when traveling somewhere off the beaten path. This is one of the surprisingly difficult things to research as everyone has different standards when it comes to safety and government travel warnings are of little help.

So I’d like to hear from OMAAT readers on this topic – how do you decide what precautions to take when traveling based on the destination?