Safety is paramount for a traveller

It doesn’t matter which country you travel in, you can never take safety too seriously.

Almost everyone is aware of vaccinations that are often needed for changing continents; political unrest in countries is also often widely reported in the media (such as in Zimbabwe at the moment, or in Kenya over the past few months, for example); and crime hotspots are often just known through word of mouth.

But it is a sad state of the world we live in that even in the seemingly safest places, gruesome events can occur. Take Canada for example. Alongside probably New Zealand, the Canucks have one of the best reputations for being a friendly people, and inhabiting a safe country (if you don’t count the bears!).

Chills were sent through my spine, as I read reports on Thursday of a decapitation on a Greyhound bus, travelling between Edmonton and Winnipeg. It was only three months ago that I was on that same route, making a stretch across the vast prairies of mid-West Canada. Remembering that journey, I had been blissfully carefree, chatting to most people on the bus, never feeling an ounce of fear.

There was no trouble on my trip. Thousands of other bus journeys, across thousands of countries, involving millions of travellers, have been eventless. I don’t want to encourage suspicion amongst you. I am just saying that it can become easy on the sometimes lonely road, to take friendly people on face value.

Meet people, see the world, making lasting connections. Just be vigilant.