A former agent of the CIA and the FBI named several tricks to protect yourself from meeting criminals during the tour. She advised tourists on how to ensure travel safety. Among them – where to book rooms, how to protect yourself from uninvited guests in the room, and luggage and other valuables from loss.
“Tracy Walder, 44, worked as a CIA officer and FBI special agent between 2000 and 2005, so she knows something about taking extra precautions abroad,” the Daily Star introduced her expert. A former agent shared the safety tips that she used professionally and continues to use on vacation.
First, it all starts before the trip. “Before even setting foot in a foreign country, Tracy surveys the area for any threats and installs an app that notifies contacts of her location in the event of an emergency,” the publication writes. She adds that even this advice is not followed by everyone. “I’m surprised how much my friend didn’t think about personal safety when she was traveling alone,” she adds.
Her next piece of advice concerns accommodation in hotels. The first is the entrance and room availability. “Usually someone trying to do damage will take the easiest route and that would be the first floor entrance as it is the most accessible. I prefer to stay in a room located between the third and sixth floors. This is low enough for emergency access – if you need to evacuate quickly, it will be difficult for you to get out if you are very high. But at the same time, it is quite far from any intruders who can enter the first floor,” says the expert, assuring that she even asked to be moved several times when she was given a room on the first floor.
“The first thing I do when I’m given a room is to lock the room and put a security lock on it. My husband, Ben, 44, teases me about this. But although it is unlikely that someone will break down the door, the reality is that the hotel staff has a key card that allows you to enter your room,” she says. Also, the former agent adds that this habit remained with her “after one particular trip in which she felt in danger”, and the trip is “still classified”.
She also adds that she always shares her route with her family and uses the Panic Button app, which when pressed notifies all emergency contacts of her location. Another useful device is AirTags “gadgets”, which with the help of a special application allow you to find anything to which they are attached – she assures that she puts them in any luggage, and also puts a bracelet on the child.
Also, the former agent does not advise tourists to stay in private rental accommodation, calling it “risky”. “I will not stay in such places – I consider them extremely dangerous. You’re essentially trusting someone you don’t know by staying in their home — but you can never know for sure who their owner is, no matter what the service guarantees.”