The unhappy reality is that travelers are seen as easy marks for thieves and other bad guys.

Fortunately there are some easy safety tips that you can follow to reduce your chances of being a victim.

1. Put a lock on your suitcase: Most luggage can be locked around the zip. This stops some opportunistic baggage handler from stealing your stuff or worse someone putting something in there. The locks come in 2 types, the kind that works with a key and the kind that works with a combination. Your local store sells these but they tend to be flimsy. Amazon sells quality luggage locks and here are links to them: key lock, combination lock

2. Be inconspicuous: If you hide the fact that you are a tourist, you are less likely to be targeted by thieves. This means no cameras, maps or looking generally lost.

3. Wear a Neck Wallet: This is just like a normal wallet, but you wear it around your neck. What you want to do is put your passport, plane tickets and most of your money in there. Just keep some spending money in your pocket. This makes it much harder for a pickpocket to rob you. You can see the exact same wallet I have on Amazon here. When I took my gap year, I slept with this thing around my neck.

4. Travel with less cash: Arrange it with your bank so you can draw money on your Visa/Master card in the country that you are visiting. Buy travelers cheques.

5. Have travel insurance: If the worst happens, travel insurance will take the bite out of your problems. Read the fine print of the policy and make sure that you have $1 mil of health, $1 mil of personal liability and $1,000 of baggage cover.

6. Make copies of your documents: Make copies of your documents and plane tickets, leave a set with a family member and take a set with you. This helps if you lose your passport and you need your embassy to issue a new one.

7. Don’t travel in a dodgy neighborhood at night: No brainer

8. Obey the country’s laws: Coping with the legal and prison systems in another country is expensive and unpleasant. Note, smoking pot and taking ecstasy is still mostly illegal. Some countries have weird laws, like in Thailand you are not allowed to insult the king or in Saudi Arabia your not allowed to drink. Check these things before you go.

9. If you are being followed: Go into a well lit shop and stay there until they leave.

10. Check with the US Department of State : This site is specifically targeted at warnings for US citizens, but I recommend everyone checking with them, before they travel. This is a really good safety tip.