Sleep On It

For a fishing trip to Bequia, the largest Caribbean island in the Grenadines, frequent traveler Mark Cooper stayed with friends in a B&B. With a beautiful secluded location overlooking the harbor, they settled in for a night’s sleep. Figuring their room to be secure on the second floor, they opened the window to let in the cool fresh air ... and fell into a deep sleep.

For a fishing trip to Bequia, the largest Caribbean island in the Grenadines, frequent traveler Mark Cooper stayed with friends in a B&B. With a beautiful secluded location overlooking the harbor, they settled in for a night’s sleep. Figuring their room to be secure on the second floor, they opened the window to let in the cool fresh air ... and fell into a deep sleep.

Sometime between midnight and 6 a.m., a brazen cat burglar propped a 2 x 6 against the outer wall and climbed through their window, making off with traveler’s checks and a camera. Luckily for the burglar, he didn’t awaken Cooper – a former NFL offensive lineman for the Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Keep windows shut in your hotel room, even if above the ground floor. Consider packing a small, portable fan if the hotel doesn’t offer air-conditioning or the a/c is on the blink.

Speaking of hotels, don’t fall for this scam: You get a call in your room from the front desk requesting confirmation of your credit card number and expiration date. When days or weeks later your next statement arrives, your heart lurches at the sight of numerous charges you never made. Turns out, the person calling your room did so from the outside or a lobby phone, and not the front desk. Simple solution: Never provide your credit card information to anyone calling you – go to the front desk in person if necessary.

Zip It

Feel like talking politics in a public place when traveling? That’s not a good idea in this day and age. After a couple of pints, an overly ripe and loudly opinionated fellow waxed on to tablemates in a London pub exactly what he thought about this nation and that.

When the blowhard later departed on his own, a man followed who evidently felt quite displeased at the offensive remarks cast upon his country. Fortunately, his friends saw the enraged man leave the lounge right behind their comrade in a state of hostility, and they intervened to discourage a potentially dangerous scene.

Leave your ego at home. Don’t get dragged into public discussions about politics, no matter your impulse. The same goes with telling offensive jokes or getting sucked into an argument with a local merchant or restaurateur. Many Americans falsely assume that law enforcement or the courts in a foreign setting will support them in a predicament.

Watch What You Touch

We can pick up numerous diseases from touching just about anything when traveling. Sitting at restaurant tables, seats at airport gates and on the planes themselves, hotel counters – especially shaking hands – should result in frequent hand washing. Always use a tissue or handkerchief when making contact with your face instead of bare fingers.

Even those safeguards might not be enough. A number of hand antiseptics – wipes, gels, sprays and rinses – on the market put the kill to germs. They can help control the spread of bacteria and viruses from person to person, surface to surface and animal to person.

For a variety of brands offering these products, do a net search for “hand antiseptic companies."

Good Eats

I’m often amazed at the casual attitude taken by many travelers about their choices of restaurants. You really need to be picky, because you’ll seldom get a chance to inspect a kitchen that may tolerate poor sanitation or employees who don’t heed health measures. In many cases – especially in remote destinations with a low per capita income – a cook with a family and on a tight budget isn’t going to give up a shift even when sick.

A few insights before you walk into that quaint little bistro to prevent ruining your trip:

• Before ordering, visit the restroom. If management allows an area they expect to be viewed to remain in an unsanitary and messy condition, don’t expect more for the out-of-sight kitchen.
• If you know the native language, read any window signs before you enter. You should especially think twice about dining at a restaurant with a sign that says, “cook wanted.” Even a “help wanted” sign call into question what kind of service you’d get, not to mention that if management is too cheap to pay for an employment ad, what’s the food quality like?
• If your waiter or the premises look unkempt in any way, hit the road – that’s a signal that management does not demand cleanliness.
• Carefully inspect your food when it arrives. Don’t ignore any sign of spoilage or a suspicion about the freshness. While most travelers feel reluctant to not eat what’s been ordered, that’s better than a trip to an emergency room.
• Never eat out on a Monday if you can help it, especially on the road. It might be less crowded, but you stand a good chance of being served the weekend’s leftovers. The leftovers might be days old too, since food distributors typically make deliveries prior to Saturday so the restaurant can cover the weekend rush. An exception: places busy all the time, necessitating constantly fresh ingredients.

Keep in mind that in many foreign countries, a Value Added Tax (VAT) will appear on your check in addition to tax. If the gratuity isn’t already figured into the total – another frequent practice – you should compute the tip based on the amount before the VAT and tax.