5 Mistakes Women Travelers Should Avoid
According to CIEE Study Abroad statistics, women make up 65% of the study abroad participants annually. Fear for women traveling abroad does stem from the fact that bad things happen to good people, but it is escalated and perpetuated by the media, which is quick to label us all damsels in distress. One particular film has plagued my travels and caused unnecessary fear in the minds of my friends and family.
If I had a nickel for every time I was warned to see the film Taken before leaving for France, well, I would probably be able to finance my semester abroad. After having Taken brought up in countless conversations by well-meaning loved ones, I decided to check out the film that had been robbing me of my family’s congratulations and excitement.
After all, one of the most rewarding aspects of travel is interacting with the locals and becoming immersed in the culture.
While watching the famous kidnap scene, in which two teenaged girls are abducted from their Parisian apartment and sold into sex slavery after having shared a taxi with a stranger and telling him details about their stay, I admit that I could see reason behind my family’s concerns.
The small series of mistakes made by the girls seems like such a familiar part of casual conversation, they would be easy for any girl to make when faced with an inquisitive and attractive French man. After all, one of the most rewarding aspects of travel is interacting with the locals and becoming immersed in the culture.
By no means would I suggest shunning all foreign men. But after watching this film, I would just like to remind my fellow wander-lusting women that there are a few things that should be left out of conversation with strangers in order to maintain your safety.
5 Mistakes Women Travelers Should Avoid
The Five Taken Mistakes
The girls in the film made five simple mistakes, which seem somewhat harmless, but should definitely be avoided in the real world. These tips seem like common sense, because, really, they are for anyone outside of a Hollywood film.
Mistake 1: Do not share a cab with a stranger.
If tight quarters and forced conversation with an unfamiliar person don’t immediately strike you as an odd situation to avoid, be aware of the fact that this stranger will now have exact directions to where you are staying, regardless of the fact that it may save you a few Euros.
Mistake 2: Do not let strangers know where you live.
In addition to keeping the cab to yourself, avoid bringing up specifics about where you live. Keep conversation in general terms while maintain courtesy. Telling someone that you live in the 16th arrondissement of Paris is just as easy as telling them that you live on Rue de la Pompe.
In addition to keeping the cab to yourself, avoid bringing up specifics about where you live.
Mistake 3: Do not stay alone.
Many independent women would react adversely to being told to maintain the buddy system when traveling for work or leisure. However, for students studying abroad, avoid living in an apartment by yourself. Live with a host family or find roommates and get to know the people who live in your building.
There is power in numbers (and it’s probably cheaper).
Mistake 4: Do not enter your access code in front of strangers.
Anyone living in a city will become familiar with entering an access code before being able to get into their building. It can become second nature, but always be aware of who is around when you do it. Treat entering your code like entering your credit card pin and find a different entrance if someone unfamiliar is waiting by the door to be let in.
Anyone living in a city will become familiar with entering an access code before being able to get into their building.
Mistake 5: Do not give details on your living situation.
While it can be difficult not to gush about your third floor apartment overlooking the garden, or how your host family is rarely home so you have the place to yourself until dinnertime every night, these are bits of conversation that can give away more information that you would like. Also, if you come across anyone asking too many questions about specific details of this nature, kindly remove yourself from the conversation.
Bearing these logical tips in mind, women should feel free to travel to every city they have dreamed about since childhood, understanding that they will likely be confronted with the Taken myth, but knowing that will not be another victim of the common Hollywood typecast.
5 Mistakes Women Travelers Should Avoid
Related Reading
The Other Side of Traveling that Facebook Doesn’t Show
Have you made mistakes you’d recommend adding to this list? Email us at [email protected] for information about sharing your experience and advice with the Pink Pangea community. We can’t wait to hear from you.
5 Mistakes Women Travelers Should Avoid photo credits by Unsplash and Jessica Hopper .
Related Posts
Paris: The City of Love and Catcalls
Delicious Encounters with French Men and Desserts
The Pros and Cons of Life in Paris
Leaving New York for Paris
Living in Paris: In Conversation with Isoke Salaam
8 Fascinating Things to Do Around Paris
The Ups and Downs of Traveling with My Sister to Paris
How Studying Abroad Made A Lifelong Traveler
To those nay-Sayers who believe that the premise of Taken is completely unfounded and that kidnapping and sex slavery are not to be found lurking in the Rues of Paris are dreadfully mistaken.
I live there and have heard stories from people I know here that make me want to carry extreme protection.
Like, a girl told me her friend was on the metro late at night comeing home from work when she went to get off, she was grabbed by a group of men who held her while another man took pictures of her and the other grabbed for her bag. Luckily for her, a passer by intervened and was able to get her and her bag back on to the safety of the train. It was later discovered that the motive behind the attack was to get his photo and ID with an address. Her photo would then be placed online to be bidden upon and once a high enough bid was made, her address would be used to kidnap her and sell her into slavery.
I wish it wasn’t so but don’t let the city of lights and love put you off your guard! Stay alert and stay safe.
The exact details of the movie ‘Taken’ may not happen, but these tips apply equally to situations that DO happen.
Read Gavin de Becker’s ‘The Gift of Fear’. It opens with the tale of a young woman, who is not traveling, who is headed to the apartment she goes to every day after work, and who is attacked in her apartment by a rapist who she let in when she came home laden with groceries, and he was waiting at the door. Pretending to be there to visit another resident. Without her even having had met him before that moment. In the United States.
This tips are very useful common sense, at home and abroad.
Although these facts might hold true in a few third world countries which are already known for being dangerous anyway, it’s a blatant lie to think that any type of situation like this has ever happened in Europe, let alone France or Paris in particular. It simply doesn’t happen. Yes, kidnapping happen in France and the rest of Europe, but they are the same kind of situation as in any other developed country. Some family member/loved one of a very rich person get’s kidnapped and will only be released after paying ransom money, and even this is extremely rare and even rarer to foreigners staying in Western countries. To believe the myth of a hollywood movie and take it as a fact will only spoil your travels in countries where there is no need for it. Just use common sense but don’t go overboard, these 5 “mistakes” are completely unfounded and based on nothing other than a hollywood movie, not exactly your most reliable or credible source of information when it comes to real life things, especially when they are about things that happen outside america. The general lack of knowledge about other countries among americans is the reason movies like “Hostel” and “Taken” exist, in reality nothing like it has ever happened. It’s such a shame that people actually believe crap like that and even act according to it.