Thursday, January 21, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Five Simple Rules for Travel Safety
By exercising the slightest amount of common sense, you can greatly reduce the chance that you will experience any serious incident, whether at home or abroad.
1. Don't drink to excess. Most vacation incidents involve alcohol abuse. Drunk travelers fall off cruise ships. They get mugged on dark streets. They crash their car. They decide to jump off their hotel balcony. Whether it's crime or accidents, drinking too much is very likely a contributing factor, if not the root cause.
2. Don't try to buy drugs. Drug dealers are by their very definition criminals. Are you surprised if bad things befall you when you buy drugs in an unfamiliar place (or even a familiar place)? And don't forget that laws abroad can be significantly more stringent than they are in the U.S.
3. Don't carry all your money and your passport on your person. In general, you should carry only 5 things on your person: money for the day, an ATM card, a credit card, your driver's license, and a color photocopy of your passport. Leave everything else back in your hotel or villa safe; if there is no safe, lock it in your property manager's or hotel's safe or simply in your luggage. If you take even the slightest precaution you will decrease the chance of getting robbed exponentially. Most thieves are looking to pluck the low-hanging fruit.
4. Always try to look like you know what you're doing. As silly as this sounds, walking with a sense of purpose will place you among those people who are less likely to become the victims of street crime. Criminals prefer to prey on the weak and distracted; they like bickering couples and families with crying 2-year-olds. The more you can seem in control, the more you will be in control. You can't help but look like a tourist (even if you don't think you do), but you can certainly look like a tourist who knows what he or she is doing.
5. Don't be stupid. Whenever you are in an unfamiliar place, it's important not to leave your wits back at home. Don't take chances by doing things on vacation that you wouldn't do at home. Ask the front desk clerk or property manager about the safety of the area immediately around your hotel or villa; then follow that advice. If you find yourself in an unfamiliar city and don't feel comfortable walking around at night, then don't. Don't leave all your money and valuables on the beach; thieves know the most likely hiding places.
There's so much about life that's not in our control. We can't know if a mugger is going to try to rob us as we walk back from the the theater. We can't know if the money-changer is going to short-change us. And it's not as if we shouldn't worry about those problems. You need to do your research when you're traveling to find out about specific dangers and annoyances in the place you're going. That doesn't mean you should stay at home or even avoid a place because crime has been know to happen there. News flash: crime can happen anywhere, from the parking lot at Disney's Magic Kingdom to the gritty streets of Buenos Aires and yes, in our own backyard. But for the most part, if you exercise the slightest amount of common sense, you will be able to avoid 99% of all the problems you are likely to encounter.
Expert from Fodor's travel blog.
Safe travels everyone.
Loretanamama
www.casadeplayita.com
1. Don't drink to excess. Most vacation incidents involve alcohol abuse. Drunk travelers fall off cruise ships. They get mugged on dark streets. They crash their car. They decide to jump off their hotel balcony. Whether it's crime or accidents, drinking too much is very likely a contributing factor, if not the root cause.
2. Don't try to buy drugs. Drug dealers are by their very definition criminals. Are you surprised if bad things befall you when you buy drugs in an unfamiliar place (or even a familiar place)? And don't forget that laws abroad can be significantly more stringent than they are in the U.S.
3. Don't carry all your money and your passport on your person. In general, you should carry only 5 things on your person: money for the day, an ATM card, a credit card, your driver's license, and a color photocopy of your passport. Leave everything else back in your hotel or villa safe; if there is no safe, lock it in your property manager's or hotel's safe or simply in your luggage. If you take even the slightest precaution you will decrease the chance of getting robbed exponentially. Most thieves are looking to pluck the low-hanging fruit.
4. Always try to look like you know what you're doing. As silly as this sounds, walking with a sense of purpose will place you among those people who are less likely to become the victims of street crime. Criminals prefer to prey on the weak and distracted; they like bickering couples and families with crying 2-year-olds. The more you can seem in control, the more you will be in control. You can't help but look like a tourist (even if you don't think you do), but you can certainly look like a tourist who knows what he or she is doing.
5. Don't be stupid. Whenever you are in an unfamiliar place, it's important not to leave your wits back at home. Don't take chances by doing things on vacation that you wouldn't do at home. Ask the front desk clerk or property manager about the safety of the area immediately around your hotel or villa; then follow that advice. If you find yourself in an unfamiliar city and don't feel comfortable walking around at night, then don't. Don't leave all your money and valuables on the beach; thieves know the most likely hiding places.
There's so much about life that's not in our control. We can't know if a mugger is going to try to rob us as we walk back from the the theater. We can't know if the money-changer is going to short-change us. And it's not as if we shouldn't worry about those problems. You need to do your research when you're traveling to find out about specific dangers and annoyances in the place you're going. That doesn't mean you should stay at home or even avoid a place because crime has been know to happen there. News flash: crime can happen anywhere, from the parking lot at Disney's Magic Kingdom to the gritty streets of Buenos Aires and yes, in our own backyard. But for the most part, if you exercise the slightest amount of common sense, you will be able to avoid 99% of all the problems you are likely to encounter.
Expert from Fodor's travel blog.
Safe travels everyone.
Loretanamama
www.casadeplayita.com
Monday, October 12, 2009
Day 2 - San Diego to Loreto
After getting out the bug spray at 2 am, my husband and I finally got some relief from the mosquitos. We were up and on the road at 5 am desperate for coffee. Stopping at a town about 20 minutes later, we find a little store that sells coffee and off we go to Santa Rosalia about 45 more minutes. As we see the first glimpse of the Sea of Cortez we always have a feeling the roughest part is over and best part of the treck is about to begin. The picturesque coastline is always breathtaking and a good part of the 5 hour drive to Loreto. As we come into Santa Rosalia, the presence of Hurricane Jimena two weeks age is very apparent. The town was still cleaning up from the devastating mudslides with cars still trapped in mud upto the middle of windows. Many cars were just washed right into the sea of Cortez. The roads were a little rough but definitely passable. From what we saw in Santa Rosalia was nothing compared to the damage done by the Hurricane in Mulege. Entire water/river front resorts were demolished by flood waters with nothing left standing. Acres of Palm trees looked as if they had been weed wacked. But since this is the major transpeninsular highway for commerce, the Mexican government does a great job with making sure the roads are cleaned up and repaired very quickly. After leaving the town of Mulege, we come to Bahia Conception, the largest Bay in the Western Hemisphere. It reminds me of something you would see in Tahiti. Coyote Beach and Santispac are amazinge with the white sandy beaches, crystal clear turquoise water, islands and the token sailboat anchored just off the shore to complete the picture. We usally stop at another beach beauty, Playa Requeson, but couldn't get down the dirt road off the highway because of the boat. So by now were are about 1 1/2 away from our final destination: LORETO. Just one more Puesto Militar (Military Check Point) to go thru. We are always amazed at how polite and couteous the military are. Most of them are very young, 17ish and from Chiapas or places like Oxaca where English is non existent. It seems as if when they search you car, they are really more interested in just checking out your stuff. Which is fine. We keep saying that we are going to bring down some Playboys to pass out, but they got a baseball this time. As we get thru our final check point just 25 KM outside of Loreto, we are told to stop just before we get back on the road. The man presents himself as some sort of tourism government repersentative complete with a Loreto Tourism hat and a badge hanging from around his neck. PLUS he is still on the check point grounds. So we stop and roll down our window. He asks us if we have heard about what is going on at Ensenda Blanca, which is about 20 south of Loreto. We replied we did not and thought he was going to tell us some sort of criminal behavior there. He then asked us about our fishing habits, where we were from, where we where going and so forth. THEN, he TOLD me to take off my sunglasses so he could see my eyes and that it gives me more "credibility". So we started asking him, what was he looking for? He then went on to say that at Ensenda Blanca there will be a 5 star resort built and have we ever heard of Villas al Palmar in the Puerto Vallarta and Cabo. I was shocked. He was a timeshare sales person! I put my sunglasses back on and told my husband to just go. Well, Senor timeshare sales person didn't like that I put my sunglasses back on and told me to take them off again and that I looked nervous. So after my husband told him we were going now, he threatened us and told us that we better drive away before he has our car dismantled. Later in our trip, we boated to Ensenda Blanca to check out the development, and we wereVERY happy we were at Loreto Bay. So off we went on our last 30 minutes to Loreto, a quick stop to get the neccecities (pacifico, and coffee) and we were at our door step rushing to get into our bathing suits and out on the beach!
Stay tuned for more updates on our Loreto trip, the town and the Loreto Bay development.
Safe Travels,
Loretanamana
Sunday, October 11, 2009
September 2009 in Loreto
We spent three weeks in Loreto and got back on October 7. We were pulling a 30 foot fishing boat so were were concerned about the conditions of the roads just two weeks after Hurricane Jimena. I had contacted Alfredo Rosas, the Director of Sales and Marketing at the newly opened luxury 5 star in Loreto, La Mision, and he told me the roads were no problem and that eventhough Loreto had no power or water for 4 days during the hurricane, the town of Loreto came through relatively unscathed.
My husband and I drove from San Diego and crossed at the Otay Mesa boarder crossing this time instead of San Ysidro. The crossing was very quick and we found our way to the 2ooo Corridor. The Dos Mil Highway, as it is referred to, is a huge time saver compared to getting through Tijuana and driving through all the toll booths to Ensenda. It goes complete around Tijuana, is a 4 lane highway and NO TOLL booths! Which is great if you have 3-4 axels. The roads were in fact, in very good condition and in many spots had been improved with widened shoulders. Twelve hours later we were in San Ignacio by 7:30 p.m. We pulled over to our spot for the night where would sleep in the cuddy cabin of our boat for the first time, thus realizing that the bed is a little small for my 6'2" husband and that the mosquitos were out for BLOOD - no pun intended. Before hitting the hay, we walked across the street and had a bite to eat and a couple beers at the local family restaurant. Here we were serenaded by the grandfather as he played his Mandolin. He then got his 4 year old grandson to join in for a duet. It was too cute. Stay tuned for the second half of the trip to Loreto the next day...
Safe travels,
Loretanamama
My husband and I drove from San Diego and crossed at the Otay Mesa boarder crossing this time instead of San Ysidro. The crossing was very quick and we found our way to the 2ooo Corridor. The Dos Mil Highway, as it is referred to, is a huge time saver compared to getting through Tijuana and driving through all the toll booths to Ensenda. It goes complete around Tijuana, is a 4 lane highway and NO TOLL booths! Which is great if you have 3-4 axels. The roads were in fact, in very good condition and in many spots had been improved with widened shoulders. Twelve hours later we were in San Ignacio by 7:30 p.m. We pulled over to our spot for the night where would sleep in the cuddy cabin of our boat for the first time, thus realizing that the bed is a little small for my 6'2" husband and that the mosquitos were out for BLOOD - no pun intended. Before hitting the hay, we walked across the street and had a bite to eat and a couple beers at the local family restaurant. Here we were serenaded by the grandfather as he played his Mandolin. He then got his 4 year old grandson to join in for a duet. It was too cute. Stay tuned for the second half of the trip to Loreto the next day...
Safe travels,
Loretanamama
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