Traveling abroad, for the first time or the 100th time, can be an exciting and terrifying experience - especially with everything going on in the world today. But true growth and perspective come from stepping out of your comfort zone and into a space of learning and fun. And this can be done safely if you are willing to take steps to proactively prevent and minimize the effects of undesirable events.
Before beginning your travel abroad journey, it is important to identify what items and information coming along with you are expensive, beneficial, relevant, etc, and can hold tangible or intangible value for your life. Then you can prioritize these valuables and significant information based on the magnitude of their loss or damage during your travel experience.
So what is considered a valuable item or significant information?
Well valuables are basically items of monetary cost or importance that provide advantages to an individual. The items can benefit an individual financially, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, or physically. Generally speaking, they are identified as one or more of the following:
Items or property that you own or have a right to possess. Examples: passports, ID cards, mobile phone
Items with financial worth that could provide a future benefit. Examples: house, car, patents, collectibles, investments
Items that could be useful in helping you meet debts, liabilities, or responsibilities. Examples: bank cards, credit cards, currency
While the monetary cost drives the worth, valuables can also exhibit their worth through the type of information they hold and how that information can be used to benefit or damage a traveler.
Significant information is data, facts, or knowledge specific to an individual that could be manipulated and used to cause harm. There are multiple categories that significant information could fall into:
Information based on ideas, concepts, theories, etc that might be used in the future. Example: religious beliefs
Information acquired through human senses, observation, experimentation, or testing of a theory by establishing documentation of patterns or behaviors. Examples: physical traits, academic or professional designation, financial data
Information or knowledge that is the method of how someone knows to do something and is used to perform certain tasks. Examples: athletic or job abilities & skills
Information that creates a response or stimulation amongst a person or group of people and encourages the cause of activity. Examples: ethnic customs, body language
Information consisting of laws, guidelines, regulations, rules and oversight for an organization, group of people, or place. Examples: employee handbook, website terms & conditions
Information that provides direction to a person or group of people to achieve a particular result. Examples: travel itinerary, prescriptions, company orders
Valuables and significant information are subjective, but not random. Your valuables and significant information give others a peek into your desires, potential, and activities. Undesirable events such as being robbed or injured in a hiking accident, can directly affect your valuables and significant information, and lead to an outcome that ranges from a short term disruption with little to no impact on your life, to a long term disruption with severe permanent loss or damages to your life.
For students who want to study abroad but are intimidated by the unknowns of global travel, identifying their valuables and significant information is a great first step in learning how to prevent and minimize the effects of undesirable events so they can expand their perspective through global travel experiences.
For organizations with security and well-being concerns during business travel, helping personnel learn how to identify their valuables and significant information is an important step in preventing and minimizing the effects of undesirable events leading to a culture of safety and preparedness, and personnel making safer travel choices.
Discovering what items and information are important to your life and your ability to carry out your desires and pursuits, is a crucial part of preparing to travel abroad safely. It will help you gauge your overall personal travel risk and gain awareness of how the events and circumstances in a country may affect you. This knowledge is useful in preparing for safer travel, and helps you create plans to address and protect your life and what you deem to be valuable and significant, thereby helping you to enjoy traveling while fulfilling your travel purpose.
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