Money Archives - foXnoMad

Category: Money

How To Expertly Reduce Risks When Faced With A Mugging Abroad

bogota colombia night

We’ve talked about protecting yourself from pickpockets when traveling but in cases where the thief is overt – like in a mugging – what should you do? Every situation is different and the first rule is to never put yourself in danger but if certain opportunities present themselves you may be able to reduce some of the riskier parts of the situation.

Practice And Acceptance

Practicing how you would handle a particular situation can help you remain calm in the worst case scenario. Know where your decoys are if you are carrying a fake wallet – is that your right or left pocket? Split your cash up and know where your smaller bills are. Maintain a routine so there’s less you have to think about and can rely on muscle memory. Whatever your particular setup keeping it consistent is important – even if you don’t carry any decoy cards.

Thieves want to commit their crimes as fast as possible and you fumbling around for your money in your purse if going to prolong the encounter and put yourself at additional risk.

ridge wallet

It’s a good idea to always keep the placement of your personal items in the same place each time. If that’s decoy left and card top, stick with it. That will make you less likely to fumble at the wrong time. Also, if you’re asked to hand over your purse or empty your pockets, be compliant and get the moment over as quickly as you can. Your stuff is not worth getting hurt or killed over.

Calm Visualization

Time can be an important factor in a mugging with both you and the mugger wanting the theft to be as quick as possible. You can though buy yourself some time prior to a mugging by recognizing the instances right before it occurs. That means avoid walking alone at night and if you plan to, check with your hotel or accommodation about the route you plan on taking. Keep your eyes off your phone when walking (especially at night when your eyes have to adjust to a bright screen) and don’t use headphones. You don’t want to be caught off guard and a few moments can help you put into action any handover plan you’ve been practicing.

Being calm, collected, and calculated can help save some of your things if you get stuck in a bad situation when traveling – whether it’s getting pick-pocketed or mugged but remember – no security is foolproof. You can’t protect all of your things all the time but if you get out of a nasty situation with your health, even if you are a little rattled, it’s a win every time.

Wallet Tricks To Protect Against Pickpockets And Muggers

Depending on where you are, you might not have to think much about getting mugged or pick-pocketed but in some places, it’s unfortunately a common reality. There are however some preparatory steps you can take to prevent being pick-pocketed by a predator and they begin before you leave home.

A Valuable Equation

First thing first: if someone pulls a gun, knife, or is violent with you in a robbery, give up your things. Your life shouldn’t be a valuable in this equation, but your belongings, those we can work with. When it comes to your valuables it’s a good idea to carry some decoys, depending where you’re traveling, and the general crime levels. Your wallet is a good place to start. To begin with, don’t carry all of your bank and credit cards and cash with you at all times.

travel cash

Also, never keep your wallet in your back pocket.

Only bring the amount of cash you’ll need during your time out. Going out to dinner? Bring what the cash you need for a meal out and some extra. If you’re going out for $5 tacos, you don’t need to have $500 on you. Have, say, $50 with you. Now, instead of one massive bill, break it into a some tens, fives, and ones. You can keep a little in one pocket, your sock, and some in a wallet. The idea is to have your money spread out so you have something to hand over to a potential crook but without losing all of your money.

Fast Action

A lot of times during a mugging just throwing a money clip or wallet on the ground is enough to quickly end the situation. This is where a decoy wallet comes into play. Another thing to add to your decoy wallet are old, expired credit cards just to be a bit more convincing. You can even order some decoy cards and expired ones work too but keep in mind they reveal your name. Your ID, you want to keep that separate if possible and not attached to your money in a clip or in your wallet. This way you can slip out your wallet or decoy without having to give up your ID as well.

decoy credit card

Passport Control

In most foreign countries, a photocopy of your passport or ID card will work just as well as the physical one and leave it less vulnerable to getting lost or stolen. It’s important to know the local rules but where possible, stick to the copy. Older phones you’ve long since replaced also make great decoys and in some places, I would even go so far as to have an old Nokia or burner as my daily driver and leave the more expensive smartphone behind.

This might all seem like a lot of effort but it’s pretty straightforward – keep your valuables distributed, some cash or cards here, some there, and have decoys which can help against pickpockets as a passive security measure that helps protect the majority of your most valuable items. Keep your decoys on the outside, the easiest places to access, both for you and a potential thief.

The Problem With Airbnb

Airbnb has some major problems and it’s not one fix or leaky faucet they can just plug up. It’s a widespread set of issues that affect the foundation of the company. But there are some potential solutions, so here are some recommendations on how Airbnb can fix itself.

Some Of The Problems

From discrimination against people of color, who statistically have a harder time successfully booking properties to price gouging in Mexico City, prompting residents to protest, to users being banned from the site for incorrect background check results. It’s gotten pretty bad in general and using Airbnb is a really hit or miss experience so much so that I try to avoid using it when I’m traveling now.

prague skyline

I’m sure a lot of you too are looking at hotels or other alternatives because they often have better service, competitive prices, and a lot less of the weird random trouble that can come from an Airbnb.

A Situation

I needed to book a few days in Istanbul as a stop gap between apartments and ended up paying around very overpriced $1300 for a week’s stay. But when I got to the apartment it was unbelievably dirty, there was hair all over the bathroom, rotting food in the kitchen, and black mold on the walls. As soon as I was able to book alternative accommodation – I notified Airbnb and the owner I would be leaving, why I was leaving, with photos, and requested a refund.

I had stayed a night there I didn’t request a full refund, even though the apartment was so falsely advertised I should have, I didn’t. And you might be wondering why I waited to book alternative accommodation? Because with almost any Airbnb booking, you don’t know the reaction you’re going to get if you try to cancel early. The owner might have gotten pissed off and thrown me out or locked me out or who knows?

Airbnb, because of how their refunding system works, basically forces you into a negotiation with the owner, mediated by them, for refunds. This process is usually over email, through their support center, since many countries don’t have a local office number you can all.

In the end, my $1100 refund was rejected and the owner offered $800.

Let’s Work On Aircover

Since then, Airbnb has tried to counter these instant regret situations with what they call Aircover. It basically gives you a refund for reservations canceled by owners within 30 days of your stay, and if the place is dirty, you can report it within 72 hours.

hotel

So, it’s a tiny start but in practice to make Aircover actually useful, Airbnb needs to do the following:

1. Offer full refunds or alternative accommodation if owners cancel within 90 days of a booking. Right now, it’s only 30 days out. Some cities during peak tourism season are hard to find Airbnbs or there might be an event like the World Cup where 30 days out finding alternative accommodation might not be possible. A refund for an Airbnb isn’t going to do you much good if you can’t go to the event but have already paid for flights, and event tickets, taken time off work, and so on.

2. Give you the option to get a full refund within 24 hours if the apartment isn’t as advertised or is significantly dirty or not adequately prepared for a guest.

Obviously you’ll still have to collect the evidence, photos, and videos for Airbnb to review but if there legitimately is an issue, it shouldn’t require a fight with Airbnb over it. And a simple refund of the cleaning fee just won’t cut it. While we’re talking about cleaning fees, those need to be fixed as well.

Strike System

Another thing Airbnb can do to discourage dirty or improperly prepared Airbnbs, is to fine the owners. See, right now as it is, if you arrive at a dirty Airbnb, you’ll get a partial refund, maybe even a full refund. Assuming you can find alternative accommodation. But Airbnb still gets their fees, the homeowner at worst breaks even, but there’s not monetary penalty to a host. In fact, that same nightmare Airbnb I was in is still listed on the site.

home restaurant

Maybe they cleaned up their act – maybe it was just a really bad day? In any even there should be a penalty as well as a strike system.

Anytime there’s a valid complaint against a host or listing, there should be a strike assigned. And those strikes should be listed in the reviews. That way you would have the reviews but also see if and how many times disciplinary action was taken against a particular place by Airbnb. Right now, the review sections are usually a few good short reviews and maybe the occasional long 300 word horror story. It’s hard to know what to make out of those reviews because the others, the majority, of people were positive so perhaps you discount that one bad one.

But an Airbnb strike, that would show that disciplinary action was taken against the host, and protect you the consumer from giving business to a bad host and also incentivize hosts to maintain high standards of cleanliness and quality.

Hotels Caught Up

When Airbnb was first gaining traction it had some real perks. First, there was the novelty of various places, a more home-like feel, and prices were often lower than hotels. Now, hotels have adapted – they’re pricing more competitively, offering unique perks and touches to make rooms feel more inviting, and in many places are better regulated.

Airbnb has gone from an agile individual-based startup to a big lumbering corporation but without any of the sensible services the legacy competition can offer, big or small.

Does Airbnb survive? Probably, but for travelers like you and me, there are a lot of competing apartment services for longer term rentals out there and hotels around the world that are looking like a very good alternative to Airbnb – until (and if) Airbnb decides to fix their broken system.

Singapore Becomes A Back To Back Best City To Visit Travel Tournament Champion!

best city to visit travel tournament 2023

In a wild Best City To Visit Travel Tournament, Singapore was able to fend off a late comeback attempt by surprise challenger Helsinki. The Finnish supporters fought a great tournament, making it past favorites like Seville and Wellington. In the end though, it was Singapore’s year to shine, with 71% of your votes. It’s a poetic victory since I didn’t get to visit Singapore during the last tournament because of the pandemic. Now, Singapore shows again why it’s so popular and I’ll see you there later this year!

  • Congratulations to Lauren, who nominated Singapore and wins the $1000 prize!

Thank you everyone who voted, shared, and participated during The Best City to Visit Travel Tournament this year. To nominate a city in next year’s tournament be sure to subscribe to my newsletter. I’ve also got one of our final tournament live streams coming up this weekend, stop by and say hi – there will be prizes there too!

Let me know if you’ll be around in Singapore sometime in 2023 – we might just cross paths – and if you have any suggestions on things to do, share them in the comments below!

The Best City To Visit 2023 Travel Tournament: Defending Singapore Takes On Cinderella Helsinki

best city 2023 championship

The Best City to Visit Travel Tournament Final Four was a wild ride with both Singapore and Helsinki coming from behind to clinch a spot in the Championship. Now we’ve got the previous champ from the pre-pandemic days, Singapore, versus the very unlikely Helsinki, making its debut entry into the final round. Your votes will decide which will be named the 2023 Best City to Visit, who wins $1000, and where I’ll be going later this year.

  • You have until next Wednesday, April 5th 11:59pm US EST (-5 GMT) to vote.

Good luck to both of these very deserving cities! I’m the official tie-breaker in case both cities end up with the same number of votes. Remember, the winner will be announced next Thursday, April 5th!

The Best City To Visit Travel Tournament Is Down To A Strange Final Four

Take all of your predictions and throw them out the door because we’ve got two champions in the Final Four of the Best City to Visit Travel Tournament! Former champs Porto absolutely smashed Bilbao and Singapore edged Tokyo but surprise entry Helsinki and quiet Edinburgh want to spoil their plans. Your votes determine which two cities advance to the Championship!

  • You have until next Wednesday, March 29th 11:59pm US EST (-5 GMT) to vote.

I’m the official tie-breaker in every round in case any two cities end up with the same number of votes. Remember, the Championship begins next Thursday, March 30th! Good luck everyone and everywhere!

Loading
<script type="text/javascript"> jQuery(document).ready(function(){ jQuery(".post-meta").find('a:first-child').each(function () { var obj = jQuery(this); obj.removeAttr("href"); }); }); </script>

About Anil Polat

foxnomad aboutHi, I'm Anil. foXnoMad is where I combine travel and tech to help you travel smarter. I'm on a journey to every country in the world and you're invited to join the adventure! Read More

YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook

Image Map

Image Map