A selfie video appearing to show a male dropping a drug into a woman’s drink recently went viral on social media, and was reported on in the press. The young woman was partying at a festival with a friend, and appeared not to notice the mystery ‘pill’ being slipped into her cup. It prompts the question: “How safe are we in summer?” And it isn’t just the risk of being drugged that we have to consider, but also being stolen from, scammed or even attacked.
I took my first solo-trip last year, to Barcelona, and was shocked at how my naivety put me in a few situations that could have ended up far far worse.
So with sunny getaways being booked, suitcases being packed and festival tickets being bought, what are some of the lesser-known ways to protect ourselves during the summer season?
A lot of the well-known holiday websites such as Thomas Cook, Travel Supermarket and James Villa Holidays have dedicated web pages full of tips and tricks to help you stay safe while abroad. It’s the usual stuff, the rules we think we all know. They encourage you to keep your day bag secure, never to carry around large amounts of cash, and only use licensed taxis. But what about the other stuff?
Don’t draw attention to yourself as a tourist and be careful who you are friendly to.
This goes for solo-travellers and groups alike, although there is more safety in numbers, also because locals will notice someone who seems lost or alone. Many will offer to help, but others may take advantage. When I was sunbathing on Barcelona’s Barceloneta Beach, a group of older male vendors noticed that I was alone and came to sit on my towel and try to speak to me. I was friendly at first, and wasn’t all that worried.
But the situation became uncomfortable after they began insisting I come back to their house and take drugs, and repeatedly asked where I was staying. I was only able to shake them off after agreeing to come back and meet them later. Obviously I had no intention of doing that, and I found an older couple to walk away from the beach with.
Had I not entertained them in the first place, and mentioned to them that I was travelling alone, I doubt the situation would have got so bad. I should have said I was waiting for my friends, or that I was holidaying with my family. When travelling alone in the future I’ve decided to try carrying an extra towel to put down next to me, so as to make it look as though I have a friend with me.
Lock your windows, doors, lockers, safes and bags – even if it’s hot.
It’s understandable to want to sleep with the windows open, especially if you feel like you’re in a safe area. You might even forget to lock the hotel room door while you pop down for breakfast. But you should be more careful about protecting your possessions. Lock the windows and doors before leaving the room, jumping in the shower, falling asleep, or going for a swim in the hotel pool, just in case.
Invest in a money belt: a barely visible bum-bag style pouch that can be worn underneath your clothes. It can hold money, your passport, ID or important travel documents that would be devastating to lose. If you’re backpacking, get a small padlock for the bag. Many bag thieves will just throw a bag away because they are put off by the fact that they can’t get into it quickly enough.
Regardless of whether you’re in a budget hostel or a luxury hotel, it is always advisable to make use of the safes and lockers in the rooms. Cash, jewellery and bags are targets for thieves, and it’s better to leave anything you won’t need while you’re out back at the hotel.
If you’ve heard stories about hotel maids stealing people’s money, they aren’t always made-up horror stories. Depending on the country you’re visiting, the people you trust to respect your possessions may feel driven by poverty to take small items or money. Most staff are helpful and honest, but it is better not to run the risk.
Wise up to common scams
We’ve all been there: spending money on something for the promise of getting something else for free. I recently downloaded a £19.99 app for a ‘free’ fifty pound wine voucher. It was a scam – obviously – and more of these scams seem to crop up during the summer months.
If you’re buying festival tickets, only buy them from legitimate websites. Some people buy tickets just to sell them on for a higher price, and so you’ll end up paying more. Some festivals actually also void the tickets if they know they’ve been resold, so you may pay more and end up not even being allowed in.
Bars and clubs may offer “special” nights, encouraging you to pay for tickets that entitle you to ‘free’ drinks. Be sure to stop and do the maths. If a ticket costs you £50, are you sure you’ll get your money’s worth on the “free” drinks? Plenty of bars have live music, DJs and event nights with free entry, meaning you can choose how much money you end up spending at the bar.
When I was in Barcelona a couple of street vendors were sitting in the shade with an ice bucket filled with peach Ice Teas (my Kryptonite). I only had a fifty euro note, but they assured me they could give me change. I handed my money over and one of the men disappeared round the corner to go and “find some change”. I waited for about 30 minutes before realising I’d been taken for an idiot, and all the while one of the guys just carried on assuring me that his friend would be back. I gave up and walked away with my tail between my legs. That was the most expensive Ice Tea I’ve ever had!
Don’t be naive, but don’t close yourself off.
What I mean by this is pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep going. That day in Barcelona was disastrous. I got offered drugs by a group of older men on the beach; I got scammed out of €50 for an Ice Tea; and later on I experienced a sexual assault (but that’s another story). And yet on the next day I was still up bright and early and standing at the ticket office for an open-top bus tour.
The risk is that you can become so wary of danger while on holiday that you spoil the experience for yourself. I was certainly tempted to sit on the bunk bed in my hostel and not bother with any sightseeing at all. It would have been safer; it would have saved me money; and I could have read my book. But I knew that I had to make the most of my time away.
My dad was angry that I’d managed to get myself into such stupid situations, but he also made sure I knew that I should treat the experiences as part of a learning curve. I was not to be put off from going away on my way again.
On my last evening in Barcelona I got talking to a girl who was also on a solo-trip. We sat together for dinner and really got along. She asked if I would come to a bar with her that evening, and I was so disappointed that I couldn’t. Had I stayed in the hostel on that last day, not only would I have missed out on that spectacular open-top bus tour, I would not have made that new friend either.
