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Greg Ellifritz

Foreign Food Etiquette
Foreign Food Etiquette 1280 700 Greg Ellifritz

Don’t make a culinary faux pas.  Read the article below to learn about how dining customs vary across cultures.

 

An International guide to food and eating etiquette

 

Mammalian Bite Wounds
Mammalian Bite Wounds 184 37 Greg Ellifritz

When you travel in the developing world, your risk of getting bitten by stray cats, dogs, and feral rats increases significantly.  One of the most important skills you should have is to know how to handle animal bite wounds.

 

The article linked below covers the basics for treating a bite wound.  You’ll note that the most commonly prescribed antibiotic for animal bite wounds is Augmentin.  I always carry some of it in my travel medical kit.  If your personal doc won’t prescribe a dose for you to take on your trip, you can generally buy it without a prescription in most developing world pharmacies.

 

Mammalian Bites: ED presentations, evaluation, and management

Second Passports and Long Term Visas
Second Passports and Long Term Visas 700 430 Greg Ellifritz

Did you know that there are some countries that will give you a passport after you invest a significant amount of money in the local economy or pay a large fee?

 

Having an extra passport may reduce the hassles in traveling to certain countries that require visas from Americans.  Read the article below to learn about the process.

 

How To Get A Second Passport By The End of 2020

 

If you want to live in another country without buying a passport, your best bet is probably a long-term “digital nomad’ visa.  More and more countries are making these visas available.  Read more about that process below.

 

Countries with Digital Nomad Visas: The Complete List

 

English Proficiency Index
English Proficiency Index 436 285 Greg Ellifritz

Have you ever wondered how much English the average local speaks in the countries you visit?  This information is available.

 

The world’s largest ranking of countries and regions by English skills

 

In my travels, I’ve found that once you drop below #30 (into the moderate proficiency category), it’s actually fairly difficult to find an average person on the street or in a bar who speaks English conversationally.

 

Many amateur travelers worry about this. You shouldn’t. When two people want to communicate, they can generally make it happen regardless of language barriers. I’ve been to 15 of the countries on the “low” or “very low” proficiency section of the chart and I’ve done fine by learning 20-50 words of the host country language.

 

Don’t let a lack of language skills impede your travel plans.

Hand Gestures
Hand Gestures 620 417 Greg Ellifritz

 

Read the article below and understand that some of our commonly-used hand gestures are quite offensive in other countries.

 

What Hand Signals Should I Avoid When Traveling Abroad?

Tips to Avoid Being Kidnapped
Tips to Avoid Being Kidnapped 800 1200 Greg Ellifritz

I probably get more questions about kidnapping than almost any other travel related topic.

 

Did you know that the American government won’t publicly reveal how many Americans are being held hostage overseas?  The government won’t release he numbers out of “privacy concerns” and fear that the knowledge of the true number of Americans being held hostage might increase the risk for other citizens who travel overseas.  If hostage takers recognize that there are benefits, financial or otherwise, to taking hostages, more Americans will become prisoners of rebel groups and foreign regimes around the world.  The government wants to keep information about covert negotiations and ransom payments quiet, to avoid encouraging more hostage taking worldwide.

 

With that said, most estimates place the number of American hostages being held long term in foreign countries to be somewhere between five and twenty at any given time.  Some sources estimate that approximately 25 American business travelers are kidnapped worldwide every year.  Neither is really a large number.

 

Almost all long term hostages are either journalists or members of the armed forces.  Most are being held in war zones where there is little tourism.  The recreational traveler’s risk of being held as a long-term hostage is extremely small.  As is true with many subjects, what people worry about tends not to be the most likely risk.  Rest assured that you are not likely become a political prisoner if you travel to South America, Africa, or Southeast Asia.

 

Low risk does not mean “no risk.”  You should probably know some things about kidnapping and how to respond to a kidnapping attempt should you travel overseas.  The article below provides some sound guidance.

 

How to Avoid and Survive a Kidnapping

Lessons Learned from the Nairobi Mall Attack
Lessons Learned from the Nairobi Mall Attack 640 360 Greg Ellifritz

I think it’s instructive to look at past terrorist attacks to gain some insights about what we might experience in a worst case scenario.  One of my favorite incidents for study is the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya.  It hits close to home because I actually visited that mall when I was in Kenya back in 2008.

 

CNN  gathered CCTV surveillance video showing the tactics used by the terrorists in the Westgate Mall attack in Nairobi, Kenya.  The video is short and very instructive.  Watch it below…

 

 

I’ve discussed several of the lessons learned from the attack HERE.  This video brings up several more….

 

1) Long Guns.  All the attackers in this event were armed with AK style rifles.  You will be dramatically outmatched by them if you are carrying a pocket pistol.  Their choice of weapons also brings up the issue of using cover.  Quite simply, there aren’t many things you can hide behind that will reliably stop a 7.62x39mm round.  Traditional advice about “taking cover” is almost useless in this environment considering the terrorists’ weapon choice.

 

2) Running.  How many people do you see running in the video?  Hundreds.  Are you physically fit enough to escape?   If not, you will be one of the folks shot down if you are stuck in the next hostage siege.  This article may help you get back on track.  Another point is to wear suitable shoes in public.  Flip flops and running over broken glass make for a slow escape.

 

3) Hiding vs. Escaping.  I get in passionate arguments on this topic with people who teach active shooter tactics.  Many folks advocate “locking down” or hiding as the first choice in such an event.  I don’t.  While those tactics work well if there will be a rapidly responding police entry, in some cases (like this) police intervention will take days.  The people who “locked down” were found, tortured, and killed.  The people who hid were shot.  Watch the video around the :56 second mark for proof.  If you hear gunshots in a public area GET OUT!

 

4) Playing dead.  Similar to the response of hiding that I wrote about above, playing dead should be a last resort response.  Take a look at what happened to the person playing dead in the mall at the 1:46 mark.  The same thing happened to students playing dead at both Columbine and Virginia Tech.

 

5) Team Tactics.  In most of the footage, the terrorists operated in teams of two.  Their tactics were far from state of the art, but they were effective.  Have you ever trained to defeat attackers working as a team?  Program yourself now to immediately start scanning for multiple attackers in situations like this.  Be careful who you attack.  Your “victim” may have friends nearby.

 

6) Surveillance video.  If your long term survival plan is to hide, lock down, or “shelter in place”, have you considered the effect of video cameras?  Undoubtedly, the terrorists took control of the video feeds.   Watch the video around the 2:30 mark to see the terrorists attempting to identify where the cameras were positioned.  You may have been able to hide from a single gunman, but can you hide from the cameras?  Have you thought about how you could disable any cameras near your hiding place?

 

Remember folks, this video was just from the first day.  The torture and mutilation had not yet begun.  I doubt the rest of the video footage will ever be released, but it is likely to be even more brutal.  Come up with a plan now so that you don’t end up tortured and killed when the attacks  start happening here.

 

 

Covid-19 Travel Insurance Options
Covid-19 Travel Insurance Options 750 500 Greg Ellifritz

Many countries are now requiring that arriving passengers now show proof of insurance specifically covering Covid-19.  This is a very thorough article covering many of the available insurance options.

 

Travel Insurance During Covid-19 What You Need to Know

Tonsillitis In Austere Settings
Tonsillitis In Austere Settings 300 168 Greg Ellifritz

 

The basics of diagnosing and treating tonsillitis when definitive medical care is unavailable.  If you travel with children, this is critical information.

 

The Ubiquitous RPG-7
The Ubiquitous RPG-7 768 1024 Greg Ellifritz

If you spend any time in third world conflict zones, you will likely see people carrying (and maybe using) the RPG-7.

 

I actually got the chance to shoot one of these in Cambodia.  Read my article titled Adventures with RPGs and Hand Grenades for more details of that unique experience.

 

If you are traveling in areas where these things are prevalent, you should probably know how they work.  Ian from Forgotten Weapons provides you with the basic information in the video below.

 

RPG-7: How it Works and a Demo Shot