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Greg Ellifritz

Earthquake Survival
Earthquake Survival 693 494 Greg Ellifritz

I have an entire chapter in my book titled: SURVIVING EARTHQUAKES, TSUNAMIS, AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS.

 

You should know in advance if you are traveling in an earthquake-prone country.  If you are, it is prudent to identify nearby earthquake emergency shelters in advance.  These shelters are often pre-identified in tourist areas and hotels.  Pay attention to the signs so that you know where to go should the ground start moving.

The international symbol for a safe area in the event of an earthquake is a sign with a green cross-hatched design.

 

If you are caught outside a shelter area, cover your head/neck with your arms to protect yourself from falling objects.  It goes without saying that you should avoid areas that have heavy objects overhead.  Remove anything hanging on the wall near your bed so that you aren’t crushed in your sleep.  If you are inside a building, take cover under a very heavy table against an inside wall or in a sturdy (load bearing) doorway.   Move away from windows.   If you are in a mall or larger department store, stay away from the tall display cases and larger panes of glass. Crowded venues like sporting arenas should be avoided.  The panicked crowd will likely cause more injuries than the earthquake itself.

 

As soon as you recognize that an earthquake may be happening or is immanent, find adequate shelter and gather both your first aid kit and a bright flashlight/headlamp.  Those items will likely be the first things that you need should your sheltering structure be damaged by the quake.

 

If the electricity goes out, don’t use open flames for cooking or for light.  There is a good chance that natural gas lines have ruptured in the quake.  You really don’t want to blow yourself up.

 

Expect aftershocks.  Some of these will be as bad as the initial earthquake.  Be alert for the possibility of flooding or tsunamis after an earthquake.  If you are in a low-laying area or coastal region, move to higher ground.

 

Want some more information?  Read my friend Daisy’s article:

How to Survive an Earthquake (and Its Aftermath)

 

 

 

Ex-Pat Tax Issues
Ex-Pat Tax Issues 739 416 Greg Ellifritz

My favorite Mexican expat travel bloggers at Two Expats Mexico recently published a couple of great articles about tax issues for those of you who live in another country.

 

The first covers tax reporting requirements for US citizens who have foreign bank accounts.

What Americans With Foreign Bank Accounts Should Know About Annual Reporting Requirements

 

The second covers the extremely valuable foreign earned income exclusion.  So long as you are an American citizen living full time in another country (defined by being outside the USA 330 days or more in a calandar year) you are exempt from US income tax on the first $107K of your income.

 

What Americans Working Abroad Should Know About Foreign Earned Income Exclusion

Watching Cops
Watching Cops 350 285 Greg Ellifritz

I get a lot of questions about how to assess relative safety in a foreign country.  I wrote a significant portion of a chapter in my book discussing the topic.  Here is some more information.

 

James LaFond writes a lot of material from a very unique viewpoint. It’s not stuff that you see every day.  This article is about how to watch police patrol patterns to get a better idea of your neighborhood’s safety.  It is equally as useful here at home as it is in the developing world.

 

Watching Cops: Using Observable Police Activity to Assess the Risk Level of an Urban Locale

 

 

 

 

Some of the above links (from Amazon.com and others) are affiliate links.   As an Amazon associate I earn a small percentage of the sale price from qualifying purchases.

If you would like to further support my work, head over to my Patreon page.

Condoms for Travelers
Condoms for Travelers 636 848 Greg Ellifritz
I’ve had some questions from readers about the strong recommendations in my book to bring condoms from home when traveling.

 

Condoms are notoriously difficult to find in developing countries.  The locally-made rubbers that you can find will have a much higher breakage rate than condoms manufactured in the USA, Europe, and Japan.

 

Condom sizes are also different from what you might find in the USA.   Condoms in Asia and South America are sized several millimeters smaller in both length and diameter than their counterparts in the United States.  Asian “large” size condoms are sized smaller than the “regular” sized condoms found in the USA.

 

Additionally, if you are latex sensitive, you are unlikely to find any non-latex alternative condoms in the developing world.  You will stay much safer from sexually transmitted infections if you bring condoms from your home country.

Then you have issues like this:

Police seize 324,000 used condoms being washed ready to be resold

Thousands of used condoms recycled for illegal sale

 

Bring condoms from home if there is even the slightest chance you might need one.

 

Condoms (the unlubricated ones) also work well as emergency water carriers in a survival situation.  It’s useful to carry a few on your travels, even if you don’t plan on using them for their intended purpose.  You can fill a condom with a tremendous amount of water.  If you use this water transportation method in a survival situation, place the condom full of water inside a sock for protection during transport.

 

Don’t tie the neck like a balloon.   It will be difficult to untie when you need to get to the water.  Use a piece of string or cloth to tie off your emergency water carrier instead.

“Painful urination? You may have a sexually transmitted disease.”
Sign on Brazilian restroom wall. Wear a condom.

 

 

 

 

Night Hiking
Night Hiking 677 683 Greg Ellifritz

One of my favorite activities to do in foreign countries is to go hiking.  I can’t think of many international trips I’ve taken that didn’t have at least some component of hiking involved.

I really like hiking at night as well, but not many people do it.  In fact, the article below is the first article I’ve ever seen on the topic.

 

Hiking at Night? Read This First

 

I will echo the author’s advice about having a good headlamp.  I’ve found it to be essential for traversing wooded areas and when there is little starlight/moonlight in the sky.

 

Enjoy the article.  I’d encourage you to plan a night hike soon.

Ex-Pat Voting Advice
Ex-Pat Voting Advice 768 529 Greg Ellifritz

The presidential election campaign is heating up in the United States.  As a continuing feature for my American readers living abroad, I’ll share some tips and tricks for expats.

 

How do you vote in the US election if you are living full or part time in a different country?  The article linked below explains all the options.  I found it quite educational.

 

How to Vote from Abroad: 3 EASY Steps!

 

 

Begpacking?
Begpacking? 470 301 Greg Ellifritz

Have you heard of the latest “begpacking” trend?  It’s when a Western tourist runs out of money in a foreign country and sets up as a beggar asking locals for money.  What a strange phenomenon!

 

I can’t say that I’ve seen this more than a couple times in my travels.

 

For more information, take a look at this article that describes the practice in Thailand.

 

Begpacking is shameless behaviour that is outlawed in Thailand and poisons goodwill between cultures

 

“Ignorant, ‘cool’ trend continues

Despite this, this ignorance is now a ‘cool’ trend among hip young millennials some of whom continue to come to Thailand. The activities are insulting to the occupations of Thai men and women as well as their right to a livelihood in their own country, something many of these young people have no understanding of apparently. It also, inherently, deeply disrespectful to the laws of the kingdom.”

 

I haven’t been to Thailand since 2013.  With their crazy Covid-19 restrictions, it doesn’t look like I’ll be going back anytime soon.  I’ll give you a “begpacking” update the next time I make it to Asia.

 

 

Finding “Mistake” Airfares
Finding “Mistake” Airfares 900 600 Greg Ellifritz

Sometimes the airlines screw up.  When that happens, the budget traveler is often able to capitalize on the error.

 

How do you find mistake fares?  Read the article below for some good tips.

 

How To Save Money On Flights With Mistake Fares

The Best Countries for Preppers?
The Best Countries for Preppers? 597 614 Greg Ellifritz

If you are looking at permanently relocating to another country, this article does a deep dive on 12 factors that you may want to consider.

The Best Countries for Preppers: 12 Factors to Consider

 

According to the article, these are the 12 most important factors to consider before your move.

  1. Culture and language
  2. Cost of living
  3. Political stability
  4. Economic stability
  5. Real estate cost
  6. Crime
  7. Laws
  8. Climate and weather extremes
  9. Cost and Quality of Medical Care
  10. Taxation
  11. Pollution and environmental factors
  12. Endemic disease

 

The article discusses each factor individually.

 

I’m betting my readers would be most interested in moving to another country to reduce their cost of living.  Here are the 50 cheapest countries in which to live.  I’ve visited 10 of the 50.  I could live in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, or Vietnam.  I don’t think I’d like to live in many of the others.

 

 

The other issue driving many of my readers’ decisions is that of gun ownership.  Very few countries have gun laws like the USA.

 

 

The article is a good one.  Check it out if you are considering living in another country.

 

 

ATM Skimmers
ATM Skimmers 955 164 Greg Ellifritz

ATM skimmers used to be pretty rare.  They were large contraptions that fit over the outside of the card reader on the ATM.  They were most commonly seen in tourist areas on “stand alone” ATMs that weren’t regularly serviced.  Now it seems that the ATM technicians are installing small bluetooth compatible skimmers to steal your data inside the machines themselves, at least in Mexico.

 

My best advice is to avoid ATMs in obvious tourist areas and to use the ATMs that are inside a bank.  Although not a foolproof strategy, doing this will at least limit your chances of having your card data stolen.

 

One other thing…for foreign travel, you want a traditional ATM card, NOT an ATM debit card.  The traditional cards have daily withdrawal limits so the crooks can’t clean you out.  With the debit card, they can take out more money and charge things to your account.  The traditional ATM card will help limit the damages if your data is stolen.

For more information about skimmers in Mexico, read:

Tracking Bluetooth Skimmers in Mexico