When you’re in college, it’s easy to get so excited about traveling that you forget a few basics when it comes to staying safe. In most cases, you will just have a ton of fun and you won’t need to worry about anything too extreme, but you want to always be prepared for anything.
Here are 5 spring break travel safety tips for college students.
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Keep your Valuables in Zippered Pockets
No matter where you travel, you never know when you might encounter a pickpocket and what they might want to do with your belongings. It’s easy enough not to carry too much cash and to cancel your cards right away, but what about your identification? If you leave your wallet in an open pocket, losing it could spell disaster for you. So be sure that all of your most valuable possessions are always on your person in a zippered pocket.
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Get all of Your Immunizations
Everyone knows that you need to get extra immunizations when you travel to developing countries, but a lot of people aren’t actually up to date on all of their standard immunizations. Be sure to contact your doctor before leaving to find out if you need any booster shots and if there are any vaccines you might want to get before you take off. If you go to the University of Cincinnati, just go to the health clinic on campus and they’ll have your records. You want to be sure that your immune system is in tip-top shape to avoid spending any of your vacation sick.
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Figure out how to Connect your Phone
You never know when you might find yourself in an emergency and need to use your phone. That’s why you want to be sure to call your mobile provider and find out what you will need to do in order to get service in all of the places where you will be traveling. It may not be the best service, but as long as there is a signal, you should be able to get through to people when it matters the most.
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Study the Culture
Before you travel to any foreign country it’s important to learn a thing or two about the culture. You want to know if there are any styles of dress that might seem provocative or suggestive to the local populations. You want to know if it’s considered polite or rude to tip and if it’s appropriate to haggle with the locals when you’re at a market. If you don’t know a few things about the culture, you could find yourself offending the wrong people.
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Never Wander Off Alone
Whenever you are unfamiliar with your surroundings, then you definitely don’t want to travel alone. If you meet someone while you’re out and about, you never want to follow him or her to their place or take them to yours. You just won’t be able to know whether or not you can trust them enough to go to a private place with them. It might seem like a lot of fun and you might feel like you really trust someone even if you just met, but you really never know and you don’t want to take any chances.
