Backpackers

Worried or nervous about certain aspects of your upcoming trip? Are you letting fear stop you from travelling altogether? Are the fears and worries of your parents or loved ones getting in the way of your trip? Then this service is for you !!

Covering everything from what you need to know before you go, how to stay safe on the road, how to deal with and avoid danger or difficult situations and what to do if something does go wrong, this consultation service is an absolute must for anyone about to embark on their first gap year or round the world adventure!!  

With expert, qualified advice for anyone travelling abroad, the Linguacasa Travels gives all travellers unbiased, professional advice and health information based on their own specific trips and needs. With advice on everything from malaria, dengue fever and antimalarial prophylaxis to what vaccinations you will need and even common traveller illnesses, this is an essential service for any backpacker or world traveller.  

That isn’t to say you still don’t have to be careful of course, but there is absolutely no need to let yourself become worried to the point of paranoia. Being sensible and using reasonable precautions to keep yourself safe whilst travelling is a good thing, but if you let that spill over into outright paranoia you will not only ruin your trip, but you will end up a quivering wreck! And no one wants that!  

Lingua Casa Travels is proud to offer a range of services aimed at educational professionals that serve to support Travel and Tourism curriculum at key stage 4 and 5 and assist with any travel related course content. Lingua Casa also assists with the logistical planning and arrangement of a variety of school trips that can be tailored to your schools curriculum needs.  

Need to understand some basics..

Get insurance.  

We know, No one likes paying for travel insurance, but believe me it is absolutely essential! Odds are you won’t even need it, but if the worst does happen and you are stuck without it, you will regret it. 

Back everything up. 

Keep a copy of all your important documents and passport separate from the originals, so that you always have a copy if anything does get lost or stolen. The easiest way now is to scan them and email them to yourself or keep them on a cloud drive. That way they can be accessed at any time, anywhere. 

Do your research. 

Official government advice can be quite alarmist and should be taken with a relative pinch of salt and a good dose of common sense, but that doesn’t mean it should be ignored entirely. The Government’s Foreign Travel Advice website is an excellent place to start your research and it should give you a good idea of when and where you should do further research and look a bit more closely at the situations in different areas. 

Know the basic scams. 

A lot of common travel scams are pretty universal, with many just being local variations of a common theme. Some are more unique to one or two places. Either way, it is always a good idea to do your research before you go and just get clued up on a few of the more common ones, that way you can recognize them and avoid them if someone tries it on with you. 

Let people know where you are. 

Keep loved ones or family back home in the loop by giving them a rough copy of your itinerary, and keep them updated with a simple text or email once in a while when your plans inevitably change.   

Develop your situational awareness. 

All this means is just staying alert and being aware of your surroundings, that’s it. Take out the earphones unless you are in transit or in your room, lift your head up from the screen of your pad of smartphone and pay attention! There is no need to take this to the point where you are paranoid about everything and everyone, just learn to pay attention to your surroundings and the people around you.  

Don’t stand out. 

Don’t advertise the fact that you are carrying expensive equipment or jewellery or a big wad of cash around with you. Don’t hang that camera with oversized lens around your neck for all to see. You may as well stick a big neon sign over your head declaring you a target for thieves.  

Use your common sense. 

This is essential here so I’ll repeat it again. Use your common sense! It really can be that simple. Don’t get so drunk you have no control over what happens to you, don’t go down a dark alley alone at night, don’t accept that lift off a bunch of complete strangers, be mindful of local scams when strangers approach you to talk and listen to those gut feelings. You use your common sense all the time at home, so why would it be any different when you are travelling? 

Finally, just relax. Okay, I know this isn’t technically a safety tip, but I want to give you some reassurance too. I want you to be able to enjoy your backpacking adventure and not worry about anything happening to you. 

It is good to be careful, excellent to be prepared, but bad to be paranoid. 

If you are confident, relaxed and follow the basic common sense advice above, because that is essentially all it is, then you will have significantly reduced the risk of something bad happening to you already. If you want to increase your chances of surviving bad encounters or reducing the risk of anything bad happening even further there are plenty of more advanced and specific tips, tricks and advice that are discussed in other articles. So do your research, don’t panic, and you will be absolutely fine. So go, enjoy your travels.