If you love travelling but want all the intel on staying safe abroad, former CIA and FBI agent Tracy Walder has your back.
Walder worked for the CIA as an officer and the FBI as a special agent between 2000 and 2005, and taught herself extra levels of safety while on assignments in countries like Afghanistan, Morocco, Denmark, Sweden, Italy and England.
The Dallas-based professor of criminal justice and author of The Unexpected Spy recently shared her must-follow tips to ensure safety while travelling in an Instagram video – and they’re especially useful for people who tend to take solo trips.
Walder said the first thing she does when entering a hotel room is use the security lock on the door. “Keep that lock locked,” she advised in the video. “There’s no reason to have it unlocked if you’re inside your room.”
She also travels with a rubber doorstop which she’ll simply pop under the door at night to prevent anyone from accessing her room – it’s all about giving her an “added sense of security” and, as a bonus, doesn’t take up much room in her suitcase.
Here are some of her other tips for staying safe abroad.
1. Set up app alerts
Before Walder even steps foot in a foreign country, she researches the area and sets up an app that alerts her contacts about her location in case of an emergency.
“I would recommend the Safe Traveller App,” she said in the video. “It will give you insight as to whether or not there are any national security and security issues in the countries that you’re at, and it’s free.”
Another app she has on her phone is called Panic Button, which alerts her emergency contacts to her location if pressed in an emergency.
2. Avoid staying on the ground floor (if possible)
In the Instagram video, Walder explained that she prefers to stay between the third and sixth floors of a hotel, and if she’s put on the ground floor, she’ll ask for her room to be changed.
She does this as the third and sixth floors are “pretty accessible” in the event of an emergency – for example, if she needs to escape during a fire – but away from intruders who might enter the hotel via the ground floor.
“Someone who’s trying to harm is going to go the easiest way that they can and that would be entering through the first floor as it is most accessible,” she added.
3. Send your itinerary to loved ones
“I always send mine to my husband, even though I’m 45 years old,” she admitted. “I do send it to my mum as well so they know where I am.”
Walder started using these tips after a specific trip left her feeling like she could be in danger.
“When I was in one particular country that’s when I realised I might need to take extra precautions because all the hotel doors faced outside, and I realised someone could fire something in,” she said
Even with all these precautions, the former CIA agent still thinks travelling is “awesome” – and it is! But do you know what’s even better? Staying safe while doing so. Thanks, Tracy.