Solo Trips and Safety Precautions

So Josh is leaving for Guatemala this weekend and has taken to telling me all the horror stories he keeps reading about on the state department website. Here's a tip people. Don't tell your spouse, partner, significant other that you're about to take a trip where X number of people have died by [insert horrible death]. We don't want to know!!!!!! But, this gets to my point of personal safety.

Saftey on trips should never be an afterthought. Despite Josh just now telling me these things, Im SURE (Im giving you the stink eye Josh) he looked into this beforehand. When traveling anywhere outside of the United States it's really imperative to check out the saftey reports from the State Department travel.state.gov website and also search for any recent news articles. These will provide you with vital information on where not to go, what not to do, and who not to talk to. Also, if you can, check with your hotel's concierge once you get there to get the low down on the area and whether or not there are any areas you should avoid.

It takes so little time to do these things but don't brush them aside. They could literally save your life!