Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Once you arrive at your destination, you will need transportation to
your hotel or new place of residence. Whenever possible, try to arrange
transportation before you go. Many hotels have their own transportation
vans, which make regular runs between the hotel and the airport. If you
cannot make prior arrangements, use only properly marked and identifi-
able livery vehicles. Do not accept the services of local residents using per-
sonal vehicles to take fares from the airport.
BEHAVIOR ON ARRIVAL
While you are out and about in a foreign country, or anywhere for that
matter, the way you walk will allow a potential assailant to classify you as
a victim or someone to pass by. We all present a certain body language
while we walk. If we have a strong, purposeful stride, we present the image
of being a direct person with a place to go. Such people walk with confi-
dence, with a stride that tells the world that they know what they're about.
Not exactly the type of person to invite an attempt at mugging or other
street crime. However, those of us who may walk with a bit of uncertainty
or trepidation send a different message: Take me! I would be an easy mark!
C'mon, do it, you know I won't resist.
If you think we are exaggerating, consider a study undertaken several
years ago to research how rapists select their targets. Several convicted
rapists were asked to watch a series of videos showing women walking
about town and evaluate them as to whether they would have selected them
for rape. Some of the women depicted in the videos had, in fact, been rape
victims. Others had not. The group that had no prior experience as the
victims of sexual assault was split between those women that were selected
as potential targets of sexual abuse and those that were not. The felons
were then asked to explain why they would have targeted one woman over
the next. Their responses largely concerned the way the women walked.
Rapists were likely to ignore women with a strong confident stride while
focusing on victims with a less assertive manner of walking.
The most interesting result of this study related to the group of women
who had been prior victims of sexual assault. All of these women were
chosen as targets by the convicted rapists. The incarcerated rapists were
able to see something in the way each former victim walked that made her
more attractive as victims to them as well. Do not walk like a victim. Walk
with purpose and confidence, and look as if you have somewhere very
