Hi John, thanks for stopping by and reading. That fear of being affected by crime etc is really difficult for a lot of people to overcome, but you’re right, you really need to be careful not to let that prevent you from incredible experiences. I hope everyone can find that balance somehow!

Absolutely, having two credit/debit cards is essential! Between us Charlie and I have two, but if I was ever to travel on my own I’d certainly bring a back up. We met a lovely Austrian guy who was stranded in Leon due to someone in New York using his card fraudulently – and even if you’re not a victim of fraud, banks simply love to block cards that are used in multiple foreign countries.

Most of the people warned me in the same way before traveling to India, however just like you, guys, I didn’t have anything stolen and had no health insurance (sorry, Mom).

I wear really simple (and yeah, scruffy too) clothes when traveling and don’t care for jewelry or any other valuable things. Guess, it is one of the best strategies applicable anywhere in the world. Do not show off and you won’t be seen as an easy target. Another point, I have two credit cards kept separately just in case anything goes wrong with the primary one. It’s nice to know you won’t suddenly get cut off your funds :)

Yes – that’s a very good point about covering your medical bills. I was considering writing anther paragraph on that, but in the end I decided that when it comes to healthcare people are better off making their own decisions.

I actually have hemophilia (a blood condition), which makes travel insurance pretty much prohibitively expensive for me. It’s much better that I carry my own medicine and take good care of myself rather than spend a fortune on something that I *might* not ever need. I also have Charlie to thank, because she gently reminds me not to climb on high things or jump off tall things without thinking – which sounds boring, but it’s really not as boring as the days spent recovering in hospital beds that I used to go through each year!

Lastly – sorry to ramble – I have a confession: my mum took out medical insurance for me for my first month of travel in Costa Rica. I didn’t ask her to, but I also didn’t want to stop her as I know she worries less when I’m covered. Would I take out travel insurance if I didn’t have a supportive family that I could always return to back home, or if I had someone that was dependent on my income? I have to admit, it would be much more likely!

Hi Tascha & Patrick,

Yes, definitely an essential part of being careful when travelling with expensive devices. We always hide our things, though I’m sure if someone really wanted to it would be super easy to steal them, nonetheless I think that not having everything on display if someone was to by chance have a peek through the window goes a long way!

So glad to hear that you’ve also avoided robbery while travelling! Happy travels to you too!

Oh yes, you’re completely right, there’s definitely a big element of chance going on too. We’re still very wary and know that we’ve also been lucky for the past 2 years to have not had any bad experiences while travelling. Realistically though, we know it could happen.

Yes, we thought about organising travel insurance for health issues but just found that it was waaay too expensive and that we’d be better off paying the one-off amount we need to and flying right back to the UK for our NHS healthcare. We just hope that nothing will ever happen where that’s not an option!

Hey Polly – thanks! Oh yeah, it makes such a difference if it doesn’t look like you’re carrying much money for sure. We definitely look that way, and also can’t withdraw more than £200 from an ATM at any one time anyway, so we’re actually never really carrying much at all. San Jose is so sketchy in places, such a shame, I’ve heard a lot of people say that about Guatemala City so am feeling a bit apprehensive about heading there (fingers crossed though!)