Travel Safety Lessons We Learned the Hard Way

Sep 30, 2025

Travel Safety Lessons We Learned the Hard Way

by Chris and Michael from ChartingOurCourse.com


What Happens When Travel Goes Wrong?

As full-time residential cruisers, we often share the beautiful and exciting sides of our adventures. But the reality is that not every travel day is perfect. A trip to Santiago, Chile, served as a powerful—and frankly, scary—reminder that being prepared for the unexpected is one of the most important parts of travel. We made some mistakes, but we're sharing them so you can learn from our experiences and travel smarter and safer.


What’s Your Plan for a Medical Emergency?

Imagine this: It's 3 AM in a hotel in a foreign country, and your travel partner is shaking uncontrollably, chilled to the bone, and barely responsive. That was our reality when Michael came down with a severe case of food poisoning. In that moment of panic, our first thought was our travel insurance. We had a policy with a telehealth service, which seemed like the perfect solution.

The problem? We weren't truly prepared to use it.

According to us, Chris and Michael, just having insurance isn't enough. In our stressful moment, we hit several roadblocks:

  • Forgotten Passwords: We couldn't remember the password to the insurance app, and resetting it while stressed and abroad was a struggle.
  • Unactivated Services: Once we got in, we discovered a crucial feature—the Teledoc service—hadn't been activated beforehand. We couldn't set it up in real-time to get access to a doctor.
  • No Local Knowledge: We hadn't taken the simple step of looking up the address of a nearby hospital or clinic "just in case."

This experience taught us a critical lesson. As the U.S. Department of State advises, your domestic health insurance may not cover you abroad, making travel insurance essential. But you must take the next step.

Our Actionable Safety Tip: Before you even leave for your trip, create an "Emergency Plan."

  1. Activate Everything: Log into your insurance apps and activate every feature.
  2. Save Your Info: Store your policy number, passwords, and the 24/7 assistance phone number somewhere easily accessible, like a secure password manager and a physical copy.
  3. Do a Quick Search: Pin the location of the nearest embassy, hospital, and police station on your digital map for every place you stay.
A traveler uses a map on their smartphone in a busy city square, emphasizing situational awareness.

Are You Letting Your Guard Down?

After recovering from the food poisoning, we were eager to explore Santiago's historic Plaza de Armas. It’s a beautiful, bustling square, and we got caught up in the moment, filming a segment for our DC Hidden Gems YouTube channel. We felt comfortable and, honestly, we let our guard down.

That's when a local woman urgently approached us. She warned us that we were being targeted by people who were about to snatch our camera and run. We looked around and realized with a jolt that she was right; we were being followed.

It was a stark reminder that no matter how many years you've been traveling, you can never become complacent. We pride ourselves on being situationally aware, but in that moment, we were distracted and made ourselves an easy target.

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Our Actionable Safety Tip: Practice active vigilance.

  1. Limit Distractions: When in crowded public spaces, be mindful of displaying expensive electronics like cameras and phones. Put them away when you're not actively using them.
  2. Trust Your Gut (and Locals): If a situation feels off, it probably is. If a local gives you a friendly warning, listen to them. They know the area better than you do.
  3. Stay Present: It's easy to get lost in the beauty of a new place, but make a habit of regularly scanning your surroundings.

While these experiences were unsettling, they didn't ruin our love for Santiago or for travel. Instead, they reinforced the importance of being prepared and vigilant. We returned to our home on the Villa Vie Odyssey with a renewed commitment to these safety principles, and we hope our story helps you do the same. For more stories about our life at sea, check out our other posts on our blog.

What's one travel safety tip you swear by? Share it in the comments below!


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