I have searched the forums and there are some other topics that parallel my question, but not with the nuance I’m looking for.
I am traveling on a mission trip to a developing country that straddles the equator. Our trip is instructional in nature not medical or humanitarian. (That narrows down the risk factors.) I have been on this trip twice before, but it’s been a long time. I am putting together my packing list and asking myself, “What am I missing?” I am primarily asking in terms of health and personal safety items.
Without going into every detail, here’s roughly what I’ve done and have.
Been to a travel clinic, have all the shots that make sense, and have anti-malaria drugs and antibiotic to take with me.
Will be carrying way too much technology, unfortunately. I will have to do some work remotely so the laptop is coming.
Have checked with my cell provider to ensure my phone works there and will get local sims for iPhone and my cellular enabled iPad. Will ensure they work as a Wi-Fi hotspot. My remote work involves a good bit of data that needs to be more secure than public Wi-Fi.
Have power adapters and cords for everything.
Registered with STEP, read enough travel warnings to about convince me to change my mind, and have the contact for the US embassy in country. Will leave with my wife a copy of my itinerary with as much detail as possible.
Will carry one (maybe two) full IFAKs with me at all times.
Will have a robust first aid kit in my suitcase and a smaller version in my carryon that will go with me everywhere.
Door wedge alarm for the motel.
Grayl water purifier will go with me 24/7.
All the insect repellant stuff for my clothing and person.
Will carry a flashlight at all times and have spare cells for the light. Will have a light or two that does not run off of CR123a’s in the unlikely event I need more batteries.
Bringing food (protein bars and nuts) in the event I decide to skip meals (you can only eat so much goat in the bush and chicken at the restaurants).
Enough cash to get us out of a jam (been there, done that).
This is a trip in which we will be at the mercy of the locals. The locals are very familiar to us and completely trustworthy. They are different levels of savvy when it comes to having American’s around. There’s no blending in where we are going. There is a lot of stuff out of our control. But this is a familiar routine. Half of the trip will be pretty rural (even the locals call it the bush, 2-3 hours drive outside of any major city). The other half will be in a city of 100,000+. That portion of the trip will have some Europeans involved.
What am I missing? Any other travel tips for this kind of scenario?
If there is a possibility customs coming or going will insist on looking into your computer content, take a ChromeBook instead of a Windows or Mac. Get all your work set up on the Chromebook at home, then reset it to factory conditions before passing through customs. It will have nothing on it.
When you arrive at destination, log into your Google account for the Chromebook and it will have all your work available.
For the truly paranoid, or those traveling to truly shaky destinations, have TWO google accounts, one with a Chromebook content of only a few nondescript items , like touristy searches for your destination country and a minimal content gmail account, and the other with your real work. That way if you open the chromebook at customs and they insist you log in, they will see only the lightweight tourist content.
For this to work, it is essential to reset the computer to factory settings before crossing the border.
Wow. After 8 days in “pending review” status, my post actually went live. I had given up on it. Glad it went live before I left for the trip. I’ll read the responses now.
Yeah. I haven’t been hanging out on the USCCA site much lately. One of the reasons for that is the insane length of time to post original stuff. I’ve initiated posts before and it took a day, maybe two. This length of time to get a post up is a pretty strong de-motivator. No offense to any of you. This is USCCA’s site. They can run it however they want. No criticism from me.
I appreciate all the tips. The trip went well and was successful for the mission we set out to accomplish.
Most used items were as follows.
Flashlights. The first place we stayed was very rustic. Electricity was hysterically unreliable.
Grayl water purifier. The first place we went was very hot at least compared to the temperature back home. I sweated profusely and purified the “hotel” water supply with the Grayl to stay hydrated. I could have bought more bottled water and could have been fine without this.
Electrolyte packets to replace what I sweated out. See above.
External battery for cell phone. Again, unreliable power at our “luxury” accommodations. This kept me charged up and in touch with family 7,500 miles away.
The cell phone was important to keep connected. It’s a long and complicated story, but there were circumstances that occurred a few days before we left that increased my level of concern regarding this trip (some of you might think we were stupid for going if I was at liberty to share those circumstances. And you’d have a valid point). For my wife’s peace of mind, I needed to be constantly in contact with back home. Those fears were thankfully unfounded.
Overall it was an amazing trip and I trust our service to the Lord will bear fruit.
Where are you, or, if you don’t want to give that out, at least what continent? I’ve never seen police or military (in some cases one and the same) riding around in “technicals”, but I’ve never traveled in the parts of the world where those are the vehicle of choice for the controlling warlords and dictators. Here’s wishing safe travels, it doesn’t sound like you’re in a very friendly country.
I’ve never traveled in countries with truly unstable or no functuonal governments, but I have traveled enough in some staggeringly poor areas, and in countries that heavily repress their people, to have some insight into how fortunate we are to be Americans.
For anyone who doubts it, we are some of the luckiest people in human history, to live in the place and time we do. It’s our job to protect that and pass it along to future Americans.
