5 Travel Safety Tips for Women Business Travelers (Guest Post)

Women business travelers comprise over 50% of of all business travelers in the air these days, according to the 2018 study by Upside Business Travel. Female business travelers – especially those traveling solo – may feel the need to take extra safety and security precautions during their travels. Here are 5 Travel Safety Tips for Women Business Travelers from a female business traveler, Michelle Maraj. 

Note: This is a Guest Post By Michelle Maraj of Travel After Five. Michelle Maraj is a traveling risk consultant to loves to explore the new cities that she visits for work. Michelle runs Travel After Five, a blog for business professionals who are looking for city guides and tips while traveling.

Travel Safety Tips for Women Business Travelers

When traveling as a woman, there are never too many safety precautions to take. You may feel the need to be most cautious when you are traveling solo, but even if you are traveling with a group it still makes sense to employ your regular safety procedures.

Here are the 5 Travel Safety Tips for Women Business Travelers. By the way…there are many general travel safety tips suggested for travelers of all types. Keep following those in addition to the travel safety tips for women who travel for work noted herein.

Travel Safety Tips for Women #1: Avoid Wandering Around Alone

As younger women, we were taught to always travel in pairs. While it may be tempting to walk around your destination by yourself after work, you should avoid walking around alone if you can prevent it. Bring a trusted coworker. 

If you are walking to your car or getting back to your hotel, it is safest if you are with at least a trusted coworker or two. Individuals walking by themselves, especially women, can be seen as easier targets. 

Especially if it is late at night.

Avoid leaving your hotel unnecessarily. Depending on the city or country you are in, it is best if you can be around others while you are out. If you must leave your hotel without a coworker, make sure that someone knows where you are going. Let your coworkers know that you are heading out, or tell a friend or significant other where you are headed.

If possible, consider turning on a tracking app like Find My Friends with your significant other, so they can know your location if you do not respond for a while.

Travel Safety Tips for Women #2: Keep Your Laptop Bag In Sight

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Many company policies will state that you cannot check your work laptop in your luggage, and that you should not leave your work laptop in the car.

This is for a good reason. 

Often, laptops are stolen directly from rental cars or other vehicles - even in cities that are not historically dangerous.

Getting your work laptop stolen can cause many issues for both you and your clients: all of your most recent data is lost (which is bad enough), but your client’s data is also compromised and your company can be at fault for it.

Evermore, it may also take time for your company to get a replacement laptop out to you which may cause a decrease in productivity or cause deadlines to be missed.

While it may be a hassle, you should not leave your laptop bag at the client overnight or in the car while you are out.

Ideally, you will travel straight from the client site to your hotel, where you can leave your laptop bag hidden in your room.

You can then explore your new city without worrying about your bag. If you make stops before your hotel, you should bring your laptop bag with you. Even though it may be bulky, your laptop bag is safer with you at the dinner table than in the car. 

Travel Safety Tips for Women #3: Avoid Standing Out

If you are traveling with a group of business professionals, if it is a smaller town you are likely to stand out in the crowd. A group of individuals in suits together tend to attract attention.

Photo by Malcolm Garret on Pexels.com

Even if you are in a business city center, your professional attire may tell onlookers that you have money. If you are wearing an expensive watch or jewelry or nice clothes, you can become a target for pick pocketing.

This is why one of the most basic travel safety tips for women (and frankly all travelers) is to try to avoid standing out.

For example, if you are in another country and are speaking in another language to your coworkers, you may stand out as people who are not familiar with the area.

This means you are likely a tourist, and further makes you a target. Do not act too loudly in public and draw unnecessary attention to you or your group. 

Travel Safety Tips for Women #4: Use Your Hotel Deadbolt at Night

When you are staying in hotels get in the habit of using your hotel door locks. Even though hotel room doors lock automatically, there is a chance the hotel mixes rooms up and give someone else a key to your room. 

Many hotel room doors will have two locks that you can flip: one on the door handle, and another deadbolt. When you are in your room for the night, be sure to flip both locks.

If you hear a knock on your door, use the peep hole. Do not open your door unless you are expecting someone.

Travel Safety Tips for Women #5: Bring an External Battery Charger

While on the road for work, the last thing you will want is for your phone to die in a critical situation. If you need to call someone in an emergency or even just need a ride at night, you don’t want to be left with a dead phone in a strange place.

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It is a good habit to keep a charged external battery charger in your laptop bag, so that you can quickly charge your phone in an emergency.

Final Thoughts on Travel Safety Tips for Women Business Travelers

Thanks for reading this guest post from the Travel After Five team! Do you agree/disagree with the travel safety tips for women covered here? What was missed? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below or hit us up on social media.

And, stay tuned for additional travel safety related post from this blog and make sure to follow Michelle over at TravelAfterFive.com.

PS…don’t forget to follow us on social media including Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Lastly, if you are interested in more travel tips and travel advice, you might be like these great articles:

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Author Bio

Michelle Maraj is a traveling risk consultant to loves to explore the new cities that she visits for work. Michelle runs Travel After Five, a blog for business professionals who are looking for city guides and tips while traveling.