Take risks, be safe

The murder of British backpacker Katherine Horton in Thailand has raised alarm about the potential perils of travel. But while some tragedies can't be avoided, there are ways of balancing adventure with caution, as Ingrid Marson explains

Wednesday January 25, 2006

"I think you're really sexy." These are not the words you want to hear when you're alone at night in a deserted part of the Australian outback with an eccentric man whom you thought was only interested in friendship. He became angry when I rejected him and, for the remainder of the long night, I slept fitfully, nervous that he would attack me.

I always feel slightly sheepish when I try to explain how I came to be in this position. I had decided to buy a car and had phoned up a guy that restored secondhand cars, whom I'd met in a pub a few weeks earlier. It turned out that he was selling one of his cars and invited me to visit him in Coober Pedy, the outback opal-mining town where he lived, so I could see the car for myself.

Nowadays, such a situation would set off alarm bells, but filled with the desire for adventure and comforted by the fact that he was a fundamentalist Christian, I ended up visiting him for a few days. On that particular night, he had persuaded me to go camping in the outback, claiming he wanted to prove that the car was ideal for backpacking.

Although the night passed uneventfully, I was shaken for a few days afterwards, even after I had put a few hundred miles between the two of us by catching a bus back to Adelaide. What particularly frightened me was that I hadn't even told anyone who I was planning to stay with, nor where, so if something had happened no one would have known where I was.

Neil Thompson, a director at security risk company red24, which has helped backpackers get out of some sticky situations in the past, says that if you go off with a stranger while backpacking it's important to tell someone back home that you're going with that person, and give them a description. "That way we have something to start with if you do go missing," he says.

Luckily, the majority of times, even when someone goes missing there is an innocuous explanation - backpackers are notoriously bad at keeping in contact and often do not hear about local events, such as bombs or riots, so do not think to contact their families.

But, with the recent murder of Katherine Horton on an idyllic beach in Thailand, the potential risks of travelling are in the forefront of people's minds.

"Since her murder, parents are terrified of their children going backpacking," says Tom Griffiths, founder and director of The Gapyear Company.

Caroline's Rainbow Foundation, a charity that was set up by the family of murdered backpacker Caroline Stuttle, has produced a video that raises awareness of backpacker safety. The foundation says it has been "inundated" with requests for the video since Katherine's murder.

But Griffiths points out that what happened to Katherine is rare. Nine British nationals have been murdered in Thailand since August 2004, while 35,000 Brits are resident there and another 750,000 visited the country last year, according to Foreign Office figures. The same figures show that illness and accidents are a more common cause of death in Thailand - at least 188 British people died in the country last year, "mostly from natural causes and road accidents", says the FCO.

Charlie McGrath, the director of Objective Travel Safety, which runs a backpacker safety course, says road traffic accidents are one of his main concerns. When you're catching a bus in London, you don't have to worry about the road-worthiness of the vehicle or the sobriety of the driver, but in developing countries this can be a problem. "Rather than just bumbling on to a bus in Africa, you should check the state of the bus and look at the driver - does he look drunk or tired? Sit near the front of the bus so you can keep an eye on the driver," he says.

McGrath maintains that being aware of what is going on around you is the best way to avoid getting in trouble, whether that means avoiding crime or getting involved in an accident, or staying healthy.

"The key thing for backpackers or young travellers is that they've got to think on their feet," he says. "In the UK, when you talk to a policeman you don't think, 'is he corrupt?' and you don't think, 'is this taxi going to take me to where I want to go'. You have to be more aware overseas."

Although being alert and confident can help you avoid becoming a victim of crime when travelling, there are also steps you can take to minimise the impact of crime. John Cummings, director of Safetrek, an alternative backpacker safety course, advises that you carry your valuables with you, rather than leaving them in a potentially insecure room, and distribute them about your person.

"Take a money belt, a day pack, a dummy wallet and a real wallet with you. A thief or mugger is not going to have a checklist - they just want something that is of value to them," he says.

If you do face a mugger, simply hand over your money, rather than risk your life, says David Marks, the co-founder of Caroline's Rainbow Foundation.

"If you are approached by a mugger, give your goods over - don't fight back and don't try to be brave," he says. "You've got to realise that in certain countries, life is a lot cheaper."

To prepare for the worst-case scenario in which you do lose everything, keep some local currency in a safe place, such as sewn into your clothes, or under the insole of your shoe. This money will allow you to travel to the nearest UK embassy, where they can issue an emergency passport and help you contact family or friends to get help with money or tickets.

While crime and road accidents are relatively rare, one area where backpackers take big risks is with travel insurance. One in three backpackers aged between 18 and 24 travels without insurance, according to a Gapyear Company survey in 2004. If these backpackers fell seriously ill they could end up facing steep medical bills, which the majority of parents could not afford to pay without taking out a loan. "It's very easy to rack up a bill of £50,000 to £100,000 with medical problems - for the majority of parents this would mean remortgaging their house," he says.

Although it is important to take care of yourself when travelling, it is equally important to remember that most tricky situations can be easily resolved by believing in yourself and treating people with respect. Go into situations with your eyes open, but also trust that people usually mean well. During the year I spent travelling, the majority of the people I met were genuine and hospitable - from the Malaysian woman who invited me to her home and fed me a sumptuous meal of freshly caught crabs; to the Burmese man who arranged for a car to take me back to Mandalay when I was too ill to catch a bus; to the backpacker who looked out for me while we travelled around Cambodia.

And it is these examples of human kindness that I remember much more clearly than any of the hiccups along the way.

Top five tips
1 Take out travel insurance before you go
2 Take any required vaccinations and if you're taking anti-malarial tablets always complete the course
3 Be aware of what is going on around you
4 Treat people and the local culture with respect
5 Don't put all your valuables in one place and sew some local currency into your clothes