Travel means going to new places and meeting new people in the process. And you may have to face situations which is not comfortable for you and your nature. Especially on solo trips, you have to face to people on your own and not every situation is friendly.
I am going to document a few tricks I used to do during such a situation.
Not comfortable with trail mate?
Imagine you are walking with some new friends on the trail and your trail mate is not friendly enough and/or at some point you reach a point where you doubt his intention. During such a situation, what I would do is I watch his behavior attentively and have whatever defensive tools I have handy. I try to keep a safe distance and think of a way to overpower in case his intention appears malicious. I would try to join with other groups/trail mate if possible.
If you feel someone is following you, try to confirm it by taking turns and when you confirm, stop at clear space where other people can see you and wait for other people and get prepared to act in case you need to.
Not feeling safe on your shelter?
Whether you are sleeping in a motel, on tents or with locals, you might sometimes feel unsafe because of the location or because of the people nearby. My strategy on such a situation is to have my valuables like wallet, documents, camera close to me. I had slept many times with my camera bag on my side. Next, I will secretly place the defensive tools like the whistle, knife, pepper spray at a reachable distance so that I can surprise the attacker and overpower them. If you are in a tent, you better have some stuff on the camp door so that you will notice unusual behavior quickly. If you are doing gorilla camping, camp after dawn and camp away from trails so that you will remain unnoticed.
Unknown foods and beverage?
Avoid having necrotic drinks or foods where you don’t feel safe. Those kinds of stuff will make your attention weak and vulnerable which will ease out the people with bad intentions. Be socialize but stay into the limit to not lose your attention and always remain active to take action in case you need.
Do it all the time
Have contact of police or other local organization or people to whom you can text or call in case you need some help. Inform your friends/family of your stay and share your co-ordinate, if you feel comfortable. Try to speak up and be friendly with the people you are walking/staying with. Share about yourself and listen to them. During this, you should try to find something common, like common interest, common origin, etc. It will bind up the relationship and which will be paid off in case you need some support.
Saying all that, I don’t mean to give you the impression that the world is not safe for travelers. The world is safe and people are helpful most of the time but some people with bad intentions could be encountered everywhere and It is good to be safe than sorry. According to my experience, people are helpful and interesting especially towards solo travelers.
