How to Travel safe by Bus & Train

What are the things you  need to take into account when you want to Travel Safe by bus or train? I have some examples for you to start thinking about when you start your first backpack adventure!! When you leave on that great journey for the first time you need to figure out what is good and what’s not. Where do you leave the important things safely and where do you leave the things you don’t need all the time. How do you pack your backpack?

Be aware of where you put something so you need to go into your bag or get things out in order to find what you are looking for. At a certain point you’ll get your routine. This is a classic example of how to travel more safe and so how you can enjoy the outside world more. This way you can enjoy safe travel to the max!

How to Travel safe by Bus & Train. Have you thought about that before traveling? Did you come up with a system on how to pack your things and why? Read my tips and get smarter with it!!

It is important to stack things always at the same spot.

So I’ve got places for everything. That way I don’t have to search like crazy when I’m looking for a specific item. I know where it is and can get it whenever I need it. This works easily and is calming for me. Especially when I see another backpacker rummaging in his backpack for the second time to look for something.

How to Travel safe by Bus & Train

Luggage on travel days

• Checked luggage

You can not always keep your bags within sight on travel days. That’s why I carry more then one bag. My big backpack will go in the trunk of the bus or a luggage rack in a train. I’ll see it again at my destination. You just need to trust that no one else is going to take your big bag. There is hardly any ticket system at all on buses or trains. On arrival, you just point your finger to you bag and say: ‘That’s mine.” And you’ll get it. So far I have never seen somebody lose his or her  bag.

I don’t know of situations of people that lost their bag like this. There probably are.. I also haven’t suspected anyone of taken anyone else’s bag either.

I do know the story of my friend Babette who lost her big suitcase in a hotellobby. She did see the one carrying it out thinking that it couldn’t be hers…but it was!! Another guest just took it from the saferoom where you leave your luggage sometimes on checkout days. I haven’t had that once, luckily!!

Train in Thailand, you see the luggage lying everywhere.

• Hand luggage

All items that are important to keep I take with me in the bus in a smaller bag. I never give this one to anyone else and always keep it in sight and in touch. Even when we have small breaks to use the toilet, I take my bag with me. My passport is in there and I it needs be on me all the time. My wallet, telephone and tablet is also in there. All items I really don’t want to lose! If I did,  I’d have to buy new ones immediatly.

• Locks

There are, of course, locks you can use to close your bag. I have those with me just in case it is good to use them. But I have to be honoust, I hardly use them.

On most trips, I find them where I put them when I left home.

Maybe it is because I use a protection cover for my big backpack, so the zippers aren’t visible. I don’t use athe lock for my small bag either because it is always close to me, in my eyesight. I do have a zippered pocket on top where I keep my valuables like my telephone and passport. But they are under yet another zipper that is inside there.

Travel Safe by Bus & Train

• Sleeping in Bus or Train
  

When I feel the need to sleep on a bus, I always make sure that my bag is on my lap. I keep in contact with the bag, not just a leg against it or a foot on it. If you fall asleep you might shift your foot without noticing it and loose the contact with your bag. If you have the bag on your lap, you really need to grasp it. If you fall asleep and loosen your grip, it will fall. You’ll be awake before that happens.

In a nightbus, I will make sure I use my bag as a pillow. If someone moves the bag, I’ll notice!

On a sleeperbus, I love those!!

Have you ever travelled by sleeperbus? You’ll see them in Vietnam!

(Train in India)

 Handluggage underneath my pillow

• Who is sitting next to you?

If there is a neighbour, make sure to talk to him/her. Make eye contact and most of the time you will get some response. Most of the time it will happen naturally but if it doesn’t, it might be good to force it. If you get to know each other a bit, you get a little bit of a sense of responsibility  for each other. If something happens, that person might help you. If you forget something, that personmight bring it after you and / or help you remember. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Travel Safe by Bus or Train

Travel Safe by Bus or Train? I  traveled a lot in the busses or trains of Asia. They have problems, yes. They stop sometimes because the bus doesn’t work anymore. But they’ll fix it! Everybody stays calm and they help fix the problem. If something like this happen in the Western world, it would be drama, everybody missing deadlines and the world is about to perish!! In Asia this just happen… It is great to experience and see!

Just go and share your cookies with the local kids on the street and you’ll have a great break 🙂

How to Travel safe by Bus & Train

So take a local bus and not just the luxurious tourist busses. For the long haul, it’s good and nice to have your space, but a local bus where you see everything being shipped in the bus...and which will stop because the lady wants to get her vegetables at that particular shop! How great is that!! And I can assure you that the stops you will get to eat are a lot better then the touristic stops at restaurants for the tourists… If you want a good meal? The locals knows best!

Read my blog about traveling by local bus in Myanmar

I hope you can use my tips for the better! We need to Travel the World and Keep Safe. Feeling safe is as important as being safe. Most of the time the feeling is more prominent then the actual not being safe… That is how our community works… Be aware of that!

Be Confident and be Alert!!

Would you read some more of my tips?

Safe Travel – Anti-Theft Tips for you Day Bag

How to Increase your Safety during Dark Hours – Delhi

What to do When you Get Robbed?

Safe Cycling in Sweden – Kattegattleden

Almost a Victim of a Changing Scam

 

Or can I inspire you by showing some positivity!!

My World is still Positive and Great!