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7 Tips For A Safe Latin America Vacation

By Gary Sargent

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Published: 01Jan2011
Word count: 890
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You've booked a Latin American vacation with a reputable tour operator or travel agent and you're looking forward to enjoying your trip - maybe even relaxing a bit, right? Well according to a ton of websites and articles out there, you just made the worst decision of your life! Danger awaits you around every corner, and a long queue of people are poised to steal your stuff and do horrible things to you. But, you are assured, you should try to relax and enjoy yourself...

Guess what; with the right advice and a little common sense, your upcoming vacation is going to be FINE. You're going to have a great time. And if something goes wrong, you'll be able to deal with it. Why? Because you know the deal with your vacation destination before you arrive and will have the correct advice before leaving home and all the necessary contacts.

Here are 7 tips to prepare you for your vacation so that you can just get on with enjoying your Latin American vacation once you leave your home country.

1) Get your body ready
Nope, not some punishing bikini workout, but getting all the immunizations and medications that you need for your destination. Check with your local medical health-care professional and make sure you have all the right jabs up to date. If you're going somewhere with the risk of malaria, make sure that you get a course of medication; normally they require you to start taking the pills a month in advance. Once you're immunized, you can forget about it!

2) Overcome the language barrier, medically speaking
Prepare a piece of paper with any allergies, medical conditions or medications that you are taking in the language of your travel destination. If you ever need to let anyone know any of this information, just hand it over. No stress, easy!

3) Something could go wrong...but that's ok! Just have it covered
Arrange an insurance policy, but be careful about the small print! Make sure that you are covered for all the locations that you will visit and all the activities that you want to do. Once you've got your policy arranged, print out a summary of the details and keep it with your medical information slip, ready to hand over if you should ever need it (which you probably won't). Even the best laid plans made by you, your hotels or your tour company can go wrong, travel insurance is a must and you should not just assume your nominal credit card insurance will cut it!

4) Send your travel itinerary to friends or family
Again, a simple precaution in case something should ever go wrong. If you are traveling with a reputable travel company they will give you a full rundown of your schedule and 24 hour numbers in an electronic document so you can print it out and carry it with you, and send it to friends and family so everyone knows where you are (only if you want them to know of course!)

5) Get to know your destination
What are the local customs? How do people dress? Are there any common problems that you should be aware of? This can be great fun to research (much of this may be covered on the websites, blogs and articles that your travel company produce), but it can also dispel any myths about the dangers of certain destinations, as well as helping you make well-informed decisions on your trip without any agonizing. Other good sources for information include checking the latest news from your destination country and guidebooks. Your government's website is also a good source of information, but remember that it will probably produce a long, terrifying list of worst-case scenarios. Just read the information once, process it and leave it - you'll remember it if you need to.

6) Travel with common sense!
Most of us are well equipped with common sense, thus foregoing the need for a long list of "do not" orders. If you spend a little effort in preparation with the previous points, your common sense will be boosted by a little well-honed caution. This will serve you much better than memorizing a list of "The Top 20 Deadliest Dangers Of Your Death-Trap Vacation" (seriously).

7) Take things slowly if you can, dont cram absolutely everything in!
It's your vacation and you need to relax. Dont try to see everything in one visit and be crazily running around the whole time making mistakes, forgeting your belongings and accidents more likely. Some tour companies will try to sell you everything but the best ones will advise you to have a free day here and there, especially on a longer trip. If you ever get the feeling that someone, especially a stranger, is getting pushy with you, you've got 100% authority to tell them to get lost.

Remember that things can go wrong...if you're two blocks away from your home or on the other side of the world. The trick is not to let the possibility of problems cloud your Latin America vacation. Prepare well, make sure you book with the people in the know and leave your concerns at the check-in desk!

Gary Sargent is the Managing Director of the tour companies Escaped to Peru and Escaped to Latin America and has lived in South America for over 10 years. Gary is passionate about Latino life, people, customs and places. Visit his website for more Latin American travel advice or to book Latin American vacations.

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