I thought this new TV program might interest those of you who are planning for some autumn sun around the equator or in the southern hemisphere – just to cheer you up as you get all excited about the forthcoming trip.

The program looks at a large number of common scams being perpetrated against tourists in many of the popular tourist cities around the world and so should prove an interesting watch. Follow this link: for more information: http://natgeotv.com/uk/scam-city

I’ve just started putting a whole new section together for this website looking at security abroad and I would highly recommend the Government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office website for advice on travelling and living abroad. The site provides detailed and up-to-date information for all the known crime risks and threats in each country. Follow this link: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/

A Tip

Being a person who’s travelled to some of the scam cities featured in the program I’ll give you a tip.  Whenever you can do try and pre-book your airport to hotel transfer through the hotel. It’ll cost you more than the honest taxi driver (but not always) but it’ll reduce the chances of being scammed enormously!  I did this for my trip to Delhi and the driver was so good that my friends and I ended up employing him for the entire five day stay.  In Manila, the transfer driver was employed by the hotel and whilst we spent 25% more using the hotel car we went on to use the same driver for a couple of day trips at 50% lower than the published cost of the trips.

Bon voyage

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