Travel confidently - your body language gives off messages to people, and you want them to be good messages. Be brave, walk with your head up and while it pays to be vigilant if you are looking over your shoulder every two minutes you are unfortunately at risk of giving off ''victim vibes''.
So how do you avoid this - as others have suggested - research. Do heaps. Read blogs, watch youtube clips of the areas you are planning on going to if you can so you can spot landmarks. Nothing stands out more as TOURIST than someone standing alone looking confused staring at a map.
Understand that travel doesn't always go the way we plan...and be flexible enough to make changes if you need to.
If you are an organised type person make a rough plan of what your ideal itinerary would be, this can go a long way to helping your budget last. Make sure you have travel insurance and that you register your travels with your governments embassy etc - that way they will contact you IF something like an earthquake happens, because while we can plan for some things, we cant plan for everything.
Trust your gut. If it feels wrong, leave. If that driver wants to just stop in at his brothers who sells great jewelry then listen to that inner voice and get out and walk off - do some research on common scams. There is actually a show all about scams on discovery channel. You may find something relevant to your destination on the net like this
By the same token, be open - you will meet amazing people who are all on their own journey and have their own stories. A smile at another lone traveler can be the key to finding you a lifelong friend. If you are sitting alone at a table in a restaurant, don't be afraid to ask people if they would like to share your table. Be open to other peoples cultural quirks and be honest about your ability to communicate and grasp new cultural habits so if you mistakenly make a gaff people will be more understanding.
I like to set myself silly little goals...find something you want to buy, learn how to find it, learn how to ask for it or at least say thank you for it in the local language. Even if you get it terribly wrong people will appreciate you tried. You don't need to start with anything big...just going into a market or store and doing an entire transaction in another language can make you feel incredibly accomplished and lift your confidence even more. Ive always found people are curious and talk more if you are asking for something a little out of the ordinary - I had half the drivers in phnom pehn looking for a particular elephant named Simbo for me not because I needed 6000 tuktuk drivers but because they thought it was hilarious someone would want to find a particular elephant, not just any elephant...operation Simbo made me a lot of friends.
As Rebekah posted above - The universe has an incredible way of opening up doors, we just have to have the courage to walk through them!
We all have a brave bone, find yours and step out and enjoy our amazing world. Good luck on your travels and blog regularly 😊
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