To paraphrase LP Hartley’s famous line from The Go-Between, “Abroad is a foreign country, they do things differently there”. Recent cases of people getting into trouble have highlighted in the media the need to be very careful when travelling. It’s amazing how many people just don’t do basic research into the places they go to, or just assume either that they can do just like they do at home or, if they do get into trouble, the British Embassy will get them out of it (note: they won’t).

Be very careful where you go plane spotting

There have been two very high-profile cases, one in India in January 2010 and and another in Greece in March 2001 and therefore pre-9/11, that show that foreign governments take a dim view of people filming and taking pictures of their aircraft. Collecting numbers and images of means of transport, planes, trains, buses even more so, trucks, is a very British habit that is rarely understood by other cultures. Find out what you can and cannot do in advance.

Say nothing to airport security

It seems like a prerequisite for working in airport security is a complete lack of a sense of humour. If ever the maxim “speak when you’re spoken to” applies, it’s at the security gate. So jokes about bombs in suitcases or swallowing illegal substances are definitely out. Expect at least to be strip searched if you do.

Smuggling drugs through just about any airport in the world

This is a no brainer, but it’s amazing how many people get trapped into these situations, voluntarily or not. Midnight Express, although it has many inaccuracies, was a walk in the park compared to what could happen to you in many countries across the world. In both Thailand and Indonesia for example, it may well get you the death penalty.

Don’t have sex on the beach in Dubai

Local constabularies anywhere in the world tend to take a dim view of sex on the beach. In the Middle East, even in countries that are more open to Western culture, it’ll get you into very hot water. Even a snog in the street, married or not, will get you a severe reprimand. Skinny dipping at midnight might sound very romantic to you, but not everyone sees it that way.

Be very careful what you do on a stag weekend

Now, I don’t want to be a killjoy, but you really should find out about the cultural sensitivities that exist in some countries before going there and getting legless. A while ago, a group of guys got themselves arrested for dressing up as nuns and wearing suspenders in Crete. They didn’t realise that Greek Orthodox Christians take their religion quite seriously and their party was cut a little short. Constabularies in Eastern Europe are also getting increasingly intolerant of Brits that can’t take their booze littering the streets of Vilnius, Prague and Budapest.

Topless sunbathing will get you more than a tan in a lot of countries

It goes without saying that it’ll get you into big trouble in the Middle East, but also in countries like the Maldives and Barbados, it’s illegal and in Thailand, whilst not being illegal, you may well feel the stare of social exclusion.

It’s all really down to common sense and a bit of general knowledge about the country you’re going to. If you get into trouble, your insurance definitely won’t cover it!

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1. How e-readers will change your holiday reading forever
2. 10 holiday tips for the first time golfer
3. Boosting your half term holiday fun

6 things that could land you in jail when you’re on holiday | World First Travel Insurance Blog

In an occasional series of interviews, we’ll be asking members of the World First team and beyond, a number of questions about their travel experiences. Today, it’s the turn of the Editor (well, we’ve got to start somewhere!).

First holiday memory

My father worked for British Railways (as it still was at the time) so from the early 1960s, the cheap travel gave us the opportunity to go to a relatively under-developed part of Spain where I first experienced a sunny beach. We continued going throughout the 60s and 70s. Before that though, I can remember a wet Dun Laoghaire beach, Pinky and Perky at the cinema and my 6-month old brother being fed chips.

Favourite place in the UK

The Sussex Downs and Brighton. I lived there for much of the 1980s. I love the seafront in Brighton in a wet January, the deserted pubs on the beach and the railway journey between Lewes and Newhaven.

Holiday reading

Wherever I go, I like to take a book that is set in the area that I’m in. In recent years then, beach reading in Spain has included Paul Theroux’s travels round the Mediterranean, The Pillars of Hercules or Carlos Ruiz Záfon’s The Shadow of the Wind and Angel’s Game, both set in Barcelona. Being roughly in the context changes the way you read a book and helps you appreciate it more. I’m looking for some set in the Seychelles now!

What places have seduced you?

Paris in the winter can be as depressing as anywhere else, but go to Notre Dame when there are no tourists walking around in November. There’s  strange inner peace.  Alternatively, go to the Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada (one third of the size of Wales!) and hear the silence fall on you, it’s quite eerie. I also went to Berlin six months after the wall came down, Check Point Charlie was still there as were the the 8 U-Bahn stations closed when the wall went up in 1961. I have an East German stamp on an old passport somewhere. Living history.

Better to arrive or to travel?

That all depends on the journey. Low-cost airlines are a cattle truck nightmare, get there as soon as possible. The train I took between Trieste and Istanbul in 1978, even if it was in Bulgarian couchettes (8 per cabin), was a joy and an integral part of the trip.

Worst travel experiences

Hoverspeed hovercraft across the English channel – the only time I’ve ever been seasick. Any trip on EasyJet. And a trip years ago from the long-defunct station at Boulogne-Aeroglisseurs to Paris on an overcrowded train (two car set when four was required). Sore bum time, at least I wasn’t standing.

Worst meal abroad

When I was 14, I went on a school trip to Paris. The journey was delayed for a reason I can’t remember and we arrived at something like 9 in the evening – to be served with tripe. Needless to say, I ate an orange that evening. It wasn’t all bad though. That was the trip I met the 13 year old that is now my wife.

Dream Trip

A drive from Quebec or Montreal to Boston or New York in September or any one of the trains across the USA. The Taj Mahal any time of the year or the Transsiberean Express, preferably in the summer. Trains, me? Nah, can’t stand ‘em!

Greatest travel luxury

This is going to sound corny, but a nice notebook. I take my iPhone and laptop with me when I travel, but nothing gives me greater pleasure than writing in my increasingly illegible scrawl on a pristine, plain sheet of paper with a good writing implement.

Worst tourist trap

Lourdes. OK, I’ll admit an agenda here. As an atheist, I would say this, but there was ever a case for Christ in the Temple, it’s Lourdes. Maybe I don’t get it, but it’s one of the most repulsive places I’ve ever been to.

Traveller or Tourist?

When go the the now slightly more developed part of Spain I first went to in 1963 or even more, when I go to France, the answer’s neither. I’m at home, I feel part of the furniture – I lived in France for 20 years. When I go anywhere else, I’m a traveller of course, I’m there to discover and talk to people if I can, not just soak up the sun. Even on a package trip to Tunisia, although that was a bit difficult!

Related posts:

1. My life in travel – Martin Rothwell – Managing Partner at World First
2. Welcome to the World First Travel Insurance blog
3. My Life In Travel – Steven Usher – World First Website Management

My life in travel – Mike Garner – World First blog editor | World First Travel Insurance Blog