151–160 of 236 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
any EU country, for example?
Ah yes. Some dude tried to mug me in Dijon in 2018, but I must have been imagining things... or obviously a very uncommon situation! I should have travelled to someplace safe like Saint-Denis, or maybe stay safe in America and go to Chicago.
This isn't hotel-specific but my tip is the following: Assume your smartphone gets lost/broken/stolen or your wallet gets lost/stolen (or a credit card gets flagged for fraud). Do you know where you're actually staying? Do you have a copy of your itinerary more generally? Do you have backup credit cards and IDs? I'm not super-fanatical about having printed maps etc. in a familiar city but I try to have backup of ever…
Yeah, at present, you’re not required to show ID to fly. Not sure how the Real ID project will affect this: https://www.tsa.gov/travel/frequently-asked-questions/i-forg... https://www.uponarriving.com/tsa-no-id/
This guy neglects to mention wearing a bullet-proof vest when checking into a hotel, which makes me think he hasn't really thought this through. What if someone were to open fire on you while you're checking in to the hotel?
Much insecurity.
Kind of cool to read but these are not any tips that a normal (non-paranoid) person will need to follow unless they are traveling to some seriously dangerous locations. Except maybe the tip not to use the hotel safe or leave money under the mattress, those are good. But do normal people really need to write their name down on pieces of paper and pass them across the desk with a wink to avoid their name being said out…
> But do normal people really need to write their name down on pieces of paper and pass them across the desk with a wink to avoid their name being said out loud? Every time I check into a hotel, I have my ID and credit card ready to hand to the clerk. They are going to ask for it anyway. I don’t bother with them asking for my name and spelling it wrong when looking up the reservation.
It makes check in much faster. Especially if you are jet lagged, it's much faster and easier to tell the clerk "here is my reservation confirmation", plus it's faster for them to type it in.
Second, if you don't have internet access it's nice having a hard copy. For example, your phone may be dead after traveling, or your current sim may not work in the country you traveled to. You might want to check into the hotel before going to buy a local sim so you don't have to carry your bags with you. Plus, having a hard copy also means you have the address of the hotel for a taxi driver.
This doesn't at all need to be a 'wink wink' type situation, this is how I normally check in and I've never done it for opsec reasons, it's just easier. Plus, I had a situation where I had forgotten my phone charge cable and had trouble remembering my reservation details due to a long flight.
I put my stuff in the safe not to protect it from outside thieves but to protect it from hotel employees. I don't have any source but I'm sure this represents the vast majority of hotel theft.
The hotel employees can open the safes, though.
> I find the fire escape plan, and I follow it. Yeah, actually try this sometime. I do this regularly and it's amazing how often floors are locked from the stairwell, and more than once I have found floors skipped--you take the 4rth floor stairwell down and end up in a basement kitchen or something. Also he neglects to mention in the "Book online" section that it's always safer to book directly from the hotel website…
This is a common balance to ensure you can still evacuate to another stairwell if your chosen one becomes blocked for whatever reason, and providing additional security.
Sometimes called « crossover floors ». I guess you could ask at a hotel to NOT be placed on one, but I kinda doubt front desk will be familiar with which to avoid.
This isn't hotel-specific but my tip is the following: Assume your smartphone gets lost/broken/stolen or your wallet gets lost/stolen (or a credit card gets flagged for fraud). Do you know where you're actually staying? Do you have a copy of your itinerary more generally? Do you have backup credit cards and IDs? I'm not super-fanatical about having printed maps etc. in a familiar city but I try to have backup of ever…
The only useful advice in there is to know the escape routes from your room, the rest sounds like it would have a net negative effect for the average person. Choosing your hotel room based on maneuverability in the event of an attack is not only completely pointless if you don't know how to maneuver in the event of an attack, but more importantly, for the average person, running those sorts of scenarios in your head…
Don't use hotel safe or under the mattress - yup, good advice, seen that before, and definitely need to think about valuables & passport storage at all times anyway.
Book in advance and hand them copies of addresses, docs, passport over the counter - yup, great advice, also means you have a 2nd copy on you, which can be a lifesaver if your phone or primary docs get lost/stolen.
Checking maps and orienting yourself to the surroundings is something I do anyway just to know where I am, and actually allows me to enjoy the sights better since I'm no longer primarily occupied with wondering where TF I'm going.
Having actually walked the exit routes would be incredibly useful in a wide variety of emergencies. Both being able to exit from memory if something happens, and also knowing that one exit is actually blocked. It'd really suck to die because you went out an exit and found it blocked, but could no longer access the other one... I also find that, although I haven't done it explicitly (I will in the future), it's often just handy to know other routes to get to/from the outside - they often wind up being more convenient, especially when carrying stuff.
Asking for 2nd/3rd floor room sounds like excellent advice, especially in unknown foreign areas, off the (vulnerable) ground floor but multiple escape routes in fire or attack. Self-rescue by jumping or down-climbing a bedsheet rope is still very possible in ways that it isn't on floors 4 and up...
Etc... I really don't understand not only rejecting such good advice from a clearly knowledgeable expert, but also taking the trouble to write a post advocating that other people also ignore it. Seems you're insecure in your willful ignorance, and want others to join you; please stop doing that.
The only useful advice in there is to know the escape routes from your room, the rest sounds like it would have a net negative effect for the average person. Choosing your hotel room based on maneuverability in the event of an attack is not only completely pointless if you don't know how to maneuver in the event of an attack, but more importantly, for the average person, running those sorts of scenarios in your head…
You sound like the kind of person who doesn't prepare because "oh you know it's so unlikely". In other words, the kind of person who accidents happen to.
Imagine living this miserable a life.