Trouble On The Road

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Transcript

In this video we will touch upon a few subjects that are not as fun when you are confronted with it. For instance, what do you do when you get sick? Did you ever get sick? Yes. So whenever we travel countries and areas where our body encounters viruses and bacteria that we never met before, then we don't know how we're going to be act. So my rule of thumb is that whenever I'm sick, I asked for help and I asked my fellow travelers for the right medication because maybe they don't know how seriously injured or or ill I feel, and not once someone said no to my asking for help.

Exactly, exactly. I think it's very important being part of the travel community as well is know yourself. So know where your weaknesses are. Because the most common illnesses that you will come across while traveling is a fever, stomach pains or viral problems like diarrhea. So it's really important that you take precautions with you like the sodium again, when you get dehydrated. also asked for medication within the community or go to a local pharmacies that could help you.

Especially in Latin America, one of the things that we come across many times are parasites. There's some easy pills that you could buy in the local pharmacies that will kill you within three days, if you know about them. This is exactly why I prefer not to plan so much ahead because I have no idea when I'm going to get sick. And if I miss a flight because of that, then I feel even worse because I lost out on a travel or the money. So I feel that whenever I get sick, I'm just going to take a break and whenever I feel good, then I'm apart from being sick. Let's talk about other challenges that we've been faced with well Being on the road, for example, sexual intimidation, this is especially affecting the ladies.

And we both travel Latin America a lot. And everybody is going to experience it to some extent, men as well. And this might be a very new experience to you guys, but it will happen. And when it does, we have to accept that this is part of the culture now that there are some tricks and tips that we found on the road. And it worked for us we are going to share but first of all, we have to accept it that this is part of a cultural difference. And if we get offended every time that we're not going to enjoy the trip, and there were areas where I felt overwhelmed that men keep coming up to me talking to me even touching me, but then nobody's forcing me to be there.

So I can choose to just leave and go someplace else or deal with it in different ways expected that this is part of their culture and moving Well, first of all, there's no point in being very defensive towards people approaching you, especially men. Why? It's part of their culture. They're they're extroverted. Does that mean that you have to accept it? No.

But the way that you handle that situation is crucial. You have to find a way to let them down easy. People in Latin America are very receptive. They're really have a lot of heart and soul. So when they come up to you, and they are curious and you don't feel comfortable, let them down easy. A trick that helped me many times when I felt that I felt a bit more intimidated was that I told him that I worked for the embassy.

And because of that, they left me alone. Yes, in some countries, I found it easier to say man that I have a husband from Colombia for some reason. Some of the countries are afraid of Colombian men. I have no idea why but it works and the locals are This specific country gave me this advice. So then I learned to ask next time I changed the country as the locals. Okay, what can I do to protect myself?

And the locals know it best? Because they encountered with this problem they day in, day out? Is there any other tips that you can give here to men for example? No. Not at all. Well, from I have no trouble at all.

They love the attention of black men. And let me tell you that anyway. Yeah, I've seen a few examples when it was too much because women can also be very touchy, very possessive. Another tree that could have was changed the ring on your finger. For instance, I always traveled with this ring on and if I felt too intimidated, I would change it to my other finger and tell everybody I was married, and then they would back off. That would not mean that they would start talking to me, but there would be some space available because I was no longer available.

So What I found that if I'm trying to defend myself too much, or I'm being offensive to them, it just doesn't work. It doesn't work. So if nothing works, leave and go to someplace as if it's too much. Another thing that might be a bit weird, depending from what country you have as a background is bargaining. When you travel Latin America, you bargain, everything. Everything, for instance, except that we've learned is never get into a taxi before you bargain your price.

Know what you are going to pay for. And here's another trick. What I've done is I asked the local to step a taxi for me and ask for the price. And then I got into the into the taxi because I was going to get tourists or or gringo prices as we say, but I just asked for the help of the locals. Exactly. Also don't feel intimidated by the fact that you have to bargain all the time coming from a very Rational part of Europe where everything is very strict and defined by rules, bargaining was a complete new thing for me.

And my first country that I visited was Cuba. And I thought they taught me a lot about how to bargain. Locals really learned the skills and taught me the skills of bargaining. And this is not just Latin America and Asia as well, even though we are not talking about that specifically, it's the same thing right there. And what I realized that if I don't bargain, my trip is becomes very expensive, because I will always get the most expensive price. But also when I stayed in one place for a long time, and I knew my way around the prices, I told them how much I'm paying, so they didn't get a chance to tell me how much they are charging for that.

And I said, this is what I'm paying. They tried to bargain. They were bargaining with me and I said, No, this is the final decision. If you're not selling this product to me for this price. I'm not buying it because I know exactly what it costs exactly anything. This is one of our key messages.

It is a game. Don't take it too serious. Just enjoy Leamon. Get out of your comfort zone and get into the game of priorities, cheaper countries that I can afford all the products. I don't mind to pay 10 20% more because they need the money more than I do. But if they charge me double the price, that is the principal issue.

That's where I really bought in my way. Okay, so another topic that you might encounter, which is accidents or robbery. And it's very unpleasant if it happens, but there are precautions that you can do. For example, when it comes to robbery, I never I've never been robbed. But I've been on a bus where people behind me were wrong. The mistake that they made is they did not follow those rules that you have to when you're taking buses in Latin America.

Now this is not something that they advertise on the bus station. This is something you have to put yourself out there and ask how do actually traveling on the buses here. What do you do with the taxis? What did you mean my stuff. So my rule was never to put anything on on top of me, or like above me, but I had all my valuables with me and I was sleeping with them on my chest or they were strapped around my leg. But the key was that I followed the rules that they told me about I asked the travelers and but whatever their best practices and following that now from other people's experiences, Robert can still happen.

And it's not entirely our fault. But what I've seen that most of the time it is because if someone wants the traveler not to go on the street after nine, and they do, then it's their fault, because it's part of that culture that who is just get robbed. And what I've seen is nobody's trying to hurt the Nova. They're just trying to get the money or the phone or whatever. So I always had a fake phone on me a really cheap one. And I had someone you and me K, some stuff, I can give them something to fulfill that desire to take my position.

But it didn't give them my good stuff that I was hiding in under the belt in the shoes or whatever. But I followed the unwritten rules. That's it, go to the hospital, talk to the people, talk to the locals, and follow whatever they stay. True and good hospitals will also have locker rooms where you can put all your valuables. So when you leave to go exploring where you go out, never leave with for instance, your passport, your credit cards, or your phone even, or expensive camera material. Just leave that in your locker in the hospital, lock it down.

So you put yourself out of risk. The key point here is to be street smart. And let me give you an example when I was in Colombia, and I stayed in the capital in an area where all the tourists go, and I knew that I'm not supposed to go outside on the street after a certain hour, but I really wanted to so how did I go around it? First of all, you can either ask the hostile to call your taxi and take a good, trusted taxi or in this area, there were security guys with four security guards with with guns walking around the streets. I just stopped one and I offered him a beer if he walked me to someplace where I needed to go, and then of course, the guy said yes, because he was going to walk around town anyway for him. It doesn't matter where he goes.

So he accompanied me, he came with me to the bar, and I offered him a drink. He accepted and asked him to come back in an hour and take me back to my hostel. So this is something that I came up with right then right there because I saw the resource. I had a personal security guy. I'm stupid not to take advantage of that. That is one of the beauties about traveling people, you become really resourceful right?

So I hope we've given you some lights on a few topics or a few subjects that you might encounter when you travel and we will put some more explicit advice in the comments below.

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