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“Never stay in one place for too long just staring at your phone. You can easily become a target that way.”
If you’re a solo traveler or have ever been interested in traveling alone, meet Alexa Renee. She’s a 26-year-old travel blogger and content creator who’s been sharing her experiences online for about three years — and lately, her content about travel safety has been getting extra attention.
BuzzFeed spoke to Alexa, who began sharing her travels on TikTok earlier this year. “I think a lot of people want to travel the world but may not have people to do it with,” she said. “Solo travel can be a bit nerve-racking for many, including myself sometimes. So, I figured I would make some videos about how I personally like to keep safe and try to blend in when traveling abroad.”
In this TikTok on keeping safe while traveling, Alexa shares how to keep your real-time location private, even while sharing your travels online.
“First, I never post in the moment. If I’m posting a location, it’s because I’ve already left. All of my posts are delayed by several days, or I don’t even post until I’ve come back from the trip,” she said in the video.
“With my [Instagram] stories, I try to delay [them], even when I’m home, at minimum one to two hours. I never share Airbnb, hotel information, or my itinerary during my trips, but I’m more than happy to share them when I get home. So, who does have my location? I always share my itinerary and live location with my family — that way, they can check on me.”
Alexa recently shared another TikTok on how to not stick out as a tourist, and it went viral with over 2.4 million views. “Here’s how I attempt to not stick out and stay safe while I’m traveling, keeping in mind that I’m a Black American woman who always sticks out when I travel,” she begins the video.
“I never tell people I’m traveling alone; I always say I’m on my way to meet friends or family. When I was single, I used to always say I was traveling with my husband, and I would keep a fake ring and put it on my ring finger.”
“The biggest way to become a target is if you are walking and looking down at your phone or looking at directions. Never stay in one place for too long just staring at your phone. You can easily become a target that way.”
“Before you leave your hotel, already have your directions out and mapped in preview — that way, you know exactly where you’re going. If you get lost, you can ask for directions. Just make sure you let that person know someone’s expecting you somewhere,” she continued. “I ask Ubers and taxis to pick me up or drop me off across the street from my hotel, and I always let them know I’m going to go meet a friend.”
“Never count your money in public, and always keep in mind the culture and customs when you’re packing. Like, if you’re traveling somewhere modest, you’re gonna wanna wear modest clothes so you don’t stick out too much.”
As a fellow Black woman who loves to travel, I also appreciate Alexa’s candidness about her experiences traveling abroad. For example, when one TikTok user asked if she’s ever experienced racism abroad and if there are any places they should avoid because of it, Alexa expressed, “As a Black woman, I’ve experienced racism everywhere, including here at home, in the United States, and multiple places abroad.” She concluded video saying, “Yes, I’ve experienced racism abroad, but no, I don’t think you should avoid any specific places unless there’s a safety aspect involved.”
@lilmsawkward / Via tiktok.com
With a history of racism, fetishization, and discrimination — as well as other safety concerns — that Black women have faced, the mere thought of traveling solo can be overwhelming. Many Black women have shared their hesitations about traveling alone — but many have also shared why they started embracing solo travel. In fact, the number of Black solo travelers has been increasing, especially as more stories are highlighted and more online communities have formed for support. According to this 2018 study, “Tweeting the Black Travel Experience,” Black tourist communities are one of the fast-growing travel groups.
For some, Alexa’s videos have also helped highlight the reality that many women in general have to take extra precautions in order to stay safe:
Overall, her content has created an engaging community where many comment with their own insights and tourist safety tips:
“It’s been so exciting to see the comments [and] a community of people contributing tips on traveling and sharing how they keep themselves safe. Lots of important conversations have started as well!” Alexa said.
Ultimately, Alexa wants to encourage people to stay safe so they can enjoy their travels even more. “Some people felt that I was contributing to some paranoia or making people not want to travel, which is the complete opposite of what I was trying to do. There’s absolutely a way to have fun and be free, but also travel safely. I wanted to just relay my perspective and tips as a Black American woman who travels often,” she said. “My end goal in anything that I do is to encourage people to see this incredibly beautiful planet we have.”
“I want people to [know] that solo travel can be safe and incredible! It’s truly an eye-opening experience that everyone should have at least once in their lifetime. I’ve never felt more confident and sure in myself after a solo trip. I hope people are encouraged to travel and take with them some of these safety tips along the way.”
To keep up with Alexa’s adventures abroad and get more content on solo travel, be sure to follow her on Instagram @lilmsawkward and TikTok @lilmsawkward, and check out her website lilmsawkward.com.
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(CNN) — “He has pulled a hand-grenade pin and he is completely ready to blow up the aircraft if he has to. We should, I repeat, we will have to land at Beirut.”
The hijacking of TWA Flight 847 on June 14, 1985 sent the entire world reeling.
Like tens of millions of other individuals, Donna Walker, a previous travel agent from Houston, Texas, watched as the scenes performed out on rolling information protection. As she did, Walker realized it was ultimately time to act on an plan she’d experienced a handful of a long time back again.
A counterfeit passport falsely claims the bearer is from a particular place, in order to get them by way of borders illegally.
The camouflage passport, however, used the title of a previous place, considering the fact that adjusted for political factors. It was not for crossing borders, possibly.
Walker surmised that if another person identified on their own in a existence-threatening predicament, they could current their aggressors with a authentic-hunting doc proclaiming they have been from, say, Rhodesia, somewhat than the US.
The aggressors would be persuaded this captive was of minor political heft, and perhaps afford to pay for them kinder treatment.
The hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985 is mentioned to have impressed a former journey agent to manufacture lawful, ‘camouflage’ passports.
Alain Nogues/Sygma/Getty Photographs
Walker began selling the passports through her corporation, Intercontinental Paperwork Expert services, for $135 a pop (featuring a 30{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} price cut for armed forces associates). The documents them selves, said Time, seemed impressively reliable: “Its burgundy, textured-vinyl address is stamped with gold lettering that reads, PASSPORT, REPUBLIC OF CEYLON.”
“It truly is not counterfeit it is really camouflage,” Walker insisted. And evidently the Condition Division had no beef with US citizens carrying the passports, both.
Similar to the principle of camouflage passports, the “Schutz-Go” utilised the guise of an additional nationality to help the bearer swerve immediate hazard. Which begs the dilemma: did any of Walker’s camouflage passports at any time do what they were supposed to — preserve someone’s existence?
We know the thought took off, at least to some extent.
Obtaining nearly anything watertight, while, isn’t quick. A US Condition Division formal tells CNN Journey: “We do not observe any studies on the attempted utilization of camouflage and fantasy passports.” HM Passport Office is likewise guarded: “We really don’t challenge camouflage passports so would not be in a position to give comment.”
Just one rationale evidence is so thin on the ground, suggests Topol, is that wherever camouflage passports have labored, it hasn’t been documented for the security and safety of the person in concern.
So what grew to become of the camouflage passport — are they however in circulation now?
There’s no Global Paperwork Providers anymore, no bona fide-looking web-site brazenly selling camouflage passports.
The point is, these documents may possibly not be as convincing as they had been 30 yrs ago. “With the introduction of biometric paperwork and innovations in doc safety actions these types of as watermarks and advanced holograms embedded in ID paperwork, it has come to be extra difficult to portray a camouflage passport as a valid doc,” suggests the Own Basic safety London spokesperson.
The European Commission’s list of 180 ‘fictional’ passports incorporates Dutch Guiana, Jap Samoa and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
leah abucayan/cnn illustration
You are going to have a lot more luck getting a single of the camouflage passport’s close cousins. Go again to that record of fictional passports from the European Fee and you will find another area titled: “Fantasy passports.”
In this article, you will find out the likes of “Hare Krishna Sect”, “Dukedom of New Sealand” and “Conch Republic Passport.”
Irrespective of fantasy passports’ usually sensible visual appearance — gold embossed crests, headshots, individual info, room for immigration stamps –you should not assume to be waved by way of by border safety. Which is not their meant use. But there is a twist in the tale.
Other tales advise instances when fantasy passports could have been employed to nefarious finishes — the antithesis of why camouflage passports themselves ended up produced in the very first spot.