[00:00:08] Speaker A: Welcome to this episode of your Window Seat, where we at Travel Incorporated, discuss the topics you care about most in this ever changing business travel industry. I'm Tracie Carillo, your host for today's topic, traveling a Healthy Dose of Paranoia.
Okay, so that is a bit of a loaded title, but contrary to the old saying, what you don't know won't hurt you, that couldn't be farther from the case for today's business travelers.
With us today is Dennis Letts, former Secret Service special Agent whose background stems from directing security operations for the 40th anniversary of the United nations hosted by President Ronald Reagan, through to serving and protecting seven US Presidents.
But that is only the beginning of Dennis credentials as being assigned at the Secret Service field office in New York City. He was one of the Heroes on September 11, 2001.
As many of us remember that day, he was exiting the north tower of the World Trade center just as the hijacked aircraft struck the tower directly above him. His quick actions and heroism to save so many that day are legendary, and we couldn't be more grateful today to have him join us. Dennis, welcome to your window seat.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Thank you, Tracy. And good morning to you as well.
[00:01:30] Speaker A: So, traveling safely, we all think we know what to do and what not to do. But as I heard you speak at a recent Business Travel association meeting, I was amazed at the considerations that we should all be taking when traveling both here in the States as well as internationally.
With all of this background, I would love to start by hearing your perspective on what you refer to as a healthy dose of paranoia.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: We all know the meaning of the word and the negative connotation of paranoia. And it's not my intention to make a light of it, but pairing it with the word healthy is my way of saying that staying vigilant when you find yourself in situations where you could be targeted is more necessary now than ever before.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Excellent. Well, I can't wait to hear more because we all know that safety, duty of care and traveler well being is not limited to international travel.
So let's start by taking a domestic point of view. What are some of the precautions we can take as it relates to being aware of our surroundings?
[00:02:32] Speaker B: Well, again, as I mentioned a moment ago, there's so much. But we'll break it down to some. Some basics. Number one, whether it's domestic or international, share your itinerary. Now, when you're traveling on business, obviously your colleagues are going to know where you're you're traveling to.
But if you're traveling on personal business, on vacation, perhaps they won't. So make sure that someone knows your itinerary. I've said this before. It's critical. Make copies of important documents. Again, whether it's domestic or international.
Make copies of what you're carrying, including your driver's license, your credit cards, your passport, if you're traveling internationally. What I typically have done, whether it's advisable or not for most, is I take photographs on my iPhone and I keep them in a. In a.
In a special place where if I were to lose my documents, at least I've got a photograph of them. If I lost my credit cards, I had a photograph of the back of the credit card with a phone number to call so I could report it missing. So make copies. Stay connected.
Again, particularly when you're traveling overseas, carry a battery pack with you. I can't tell you how many times that people have lost power on their phone with no ability to connect, and how important it was for me to have that power source. One of the things I often tell people is trust your instincts.
If something doesn't look right, don't ignore those instinctive warnings. Go with it. Don't flaunt your valuables. You know, this is something that I see so often.
Maybe it's because of who I am. I don't typically flaunt my valuables because I don't really have a lot of valuables. But people who do should not flaunt them because you're just making yourself a target.
Another one is, you know, carry a small first aid kit.
It sounds very simple, but you'd be surprised how important that could be when you're traveling. And, and I would also say, and I know I mentioned this as a critical suggestion during my time with the gbta, is carry a small flashlight. You can walk into Home Depot today, and for 10 bucks, you can buy a packet of two or three flashlights. Always carry them. I keep them on my bedside in a hotel, even if it's for something as simple as not knowing the layout of the furniture in your room. And it's dark and you need to get up and walk around and you don't even know where the light is. So have a flashlight with you and it will really come in handy when there is some kind of an emergency. Here's one that, that just. And it comes to mind, Tracy, when you.
You mentioned the title of the podcast, your Window Seat, it reminds me of something that drives me crazy. As a. As a personal practice, I always listen to the flight attendants during their safety briefings. Now, there's an old adage in the Secret Service where you, you, you tend to revert to your training when you're under stress.
So it applies here. You know, we have seen time and time again, emergencies happen on aircraft. We're seeing them almost on a daily basis. So what I would tell people is pay attention because. And do it every single time. And where you're sitting, from your perspective, where is the exit? Know that it could be behind you. You know, you probably have it memorized, but take the time to put the magazine down, take the headphones off and look behind you, look in front of you. Even if it's just to respect the flight attendants, but at very least it'll give you a sense of where those exit doors are and if something were to go wrong. It almost comes down to muscle memory. At least it does for me because I take the time every time to look for those exits. So those are some of the things that I would recommend domestically. There are some things that I would add, and that is make sure that when you get to your hotel room, that before you go into your room that you look right and left and you know where the doors are, you know where the emergency stairwells are, because these things do happen, and you don't want to come out into a smoky stairwell or a smoky hallway and have to look for the. The exit. So, so many things to. To do that I would recommend.
Again, if you're going to a restaurant, if you're going to a place that you want to see, talk to the concierge, make sure that you're not going into or through a high crime area.
Don't. Again, you don't need to be paranoid to the point where you don't do things, but at least take the time to do some research to understand the risks involved with what you're doing.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: I don't think I would have ever thought about the hotel example that you just shared with us.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:07:08] Speaker A: So, so many times. I know, well, I'm getting out of the elevator. Am I turning right or am I turning left? But, but do I ever think of my turning right and I go down six doors? That is just, first of all, a jewel. So, Dennis, thank you for that. I think sometimes about our surroundings also, that sometimes there's just too many of us that have our heads in our phone and we're not really looking around or being aware of our surroundings as much as we should. What are your thoughts on today's digital everything and how maybe that can get in the way of Our safety.
[00:07:40] Speaker B: Well, you may remember during my, my talk at the gbta, I specifically mentioned how I often take trains into New York City. And when I do, I am blown away by the fact that I am the only person in a crowded train car that is not focused like a laser beam on my phone. Everyone is doing that now. It's a great way to waste time. It's a great way to kill time. It's a great way to stay effective and to stay in touch.
But at the same time, you're on a crowded train where things happen.
And again, I don't want people to think that, you know, I, I am unhealthy, paranoid. But it's so critically important that at least from time to time, take your eyes off the phone and look at your surroundings, understand what's going on. Who is there? Did someone leave an unattended package? You know, there are so many things that you could do to make yourself more safe by just paying attention to your surroundings.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: But let's back up in the fact of we need to prepare before the trip. Okay, so there are a number of actions a business traveler can take in preparation for the trip. You had mentioned earlier about copying the passport and all of your other documentation and letting your friends or colleagues know where you're going.
But what else can you do or should you be doing in order to make sure you have the information that you need and that there's precautions in case anything God forbid, would happen to you while traveling?
[00:09:12] Speaker C: Well, the first thing I would do is I would go to the State Department website and register with step, which is the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. Very simple to do. In essence, you're telling the State Department where you're going, where you expect to be, how long you're going for, and should something happen, they at least know that you are there and could take steps to find you and track you down.
Secondly, State Department is a good source of information about the country that you're looking to travel to.
If you're going to the uk, it might be a little bit different than going to, let's say, Turkey. At this point, what you want to do is do as much research about the location you're going to understand local customs, issues that may be of concern to you, safety issues, health issues, are there any diseases that are spreading around? The bottom line is do your research, do your due diligence, know exactly what you're getting into before you go. Another thing I would do, speaking of diseases, is you'd be surprised how many situations arise where Americans traveling overseas don't have the medical coverage that they have when they're here at home.
So what I typically do and make sure that my coverage extends to the country where I'm going. Secondly, or conversely is check the country that you're going to to see if they accept your medical insurance. There is one nation that's close to us where they would not accept insurance. They demanded cash before they would treat someone who was in an er.
So again, understand the rules as they apply to you when you're traveling because you don't want to get caught up in an emergency room where you don't have the ability to pay. So it's just critically important.
And so many other minor things like make sure your passport has at least a six month return date beyond the date that you're returning to the us That's a simple one, but it can get you in trouble at some point. That's a simple fix. And do it well in advance because it could take some time to get passport issues ironed out. Here's another one, very simple. 911 is not universal, right? So when you're traveling overseas and something happens and you dial 91 1, you're probably not going to get someone on the other end. So understand from the very beginning what those emergency numbers are. And if you can, what I always typically do is identify all of those critical numbers that you need. Whether it's 911 in the UK for example, it's I believe in, it's 999. Have those in your phone, have the number of the embassy or the consulate, have the number of your hotel on your phone. All of those things should be done well in advance. So that should something happen, being able to contact the appropriate people is a lot easier.
I always tell people again, don't use free WI fi. You shouldn't use free WI fi here in the US and you certainly shouldn't use free WI fi. If you can help it over over there, you use a VPN if you can, and you could reduce some of the risk.
I tell people again, have a backup credit card. Don't just carry one credit card with you, have at least two, if not more. One of the things also, and this is not a safety issue, but it could be a concern, is advise your credit card companies or your banks that you'll be traveling to a foreign country. I've had it happen to me where I forgot to do it. I tried to use my American Express card in the UK and it didn't work. And next thing I know, I'm getting a flurry of emails from American Express suggesting that maybe there's some fraud going on and it just messed things up. So make sure that you let your credit card companies and banks know ahead of time that you will be traveling in a particular place.
Maybe the last tip I could throw out is learn some of the basic language of the country you're, you're going to.
Some of the key phrases showing respect, but also helping you out of, out of a tricky situation. If you can do that before you go, it's always very helpful. It does show respect to the people that, that you'll be dealing with, but it's also very helpful in terms of getting yourself out of a jam.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: That's, there's a lot of preparation here, but those are, you know, really excellent checklists to make sure that everybody has just as a regular course of business before they go on an international trip. And you mentioned duty of care. And I'm thinking risk management. I've worked for companies in the past where I did a significant amount of international travel and I knew that we had a third party risk management company. But did I know exactly how to contact them if I ran into problem?
I can honestly say no, I didn't. And that's on me, not on our company.
And so one of the just ideas that just comes back to me is that the travelers need to make sure they know if their company provides a third party risk management to help them with medical or any other area of concern, that they know how to contact them and they have that in their list. But also you mentioned everything on their phones.
There's theft, there's a lot of theft internationally. And so that phone gets stolen, you need to have a backup for that as well, wouldn't you?
[00:14:31] Speaker C: Absolutely, yeah. And I didn't mean to suggest that the phone is the only resource. I am old fashioned. And yes, I like to make photocopies of my passport and my other important documents and keep them separate, but also keep those phone numbers written down should something happen to your phone. That's a great point, Traci.
[00:14:51] Speaker A: So now we've done all of the preparation, I want to think about avoidance.
Okay. What are some of the physical things we can do and mindfulness approaches when we're out and about, whether it's domestic or international. But let's stay with international for a moment. What are some of those street smarts that we just maybe need to be reminded of?
[00:15:14] Speaker C: Well, it all begins with what I mentioned before, and I'll repeat it in maybe Perhaps a different way is take your eyes and your focus off of your devices. I've literally seen people watch walking streets, crossing streets while they're staring at their phone.
Take your eyes off your phone, your devices, and focus on your surroundings. Very simple. If you see something, say something, or if you see something that doesn't look right, go in a different direction.
It's that simple. No matter where you go, there's always something going on. New York City is a great example. I love New York City, but when I go there, I'm hyper vigilant. And that applies to almost every large city. No matter where you go, it's just a matter of staying vigilant, not being paranoid to the point where you hunker down in your hotel room, get out, enjoy the places that you're going, but just open your eyes and remain vigilant. That is probably the most important thing. And again, as I mentioned before, what you don't want to do is you don't want to make yourself a target. And frankly, they will find the bad guys, will find a victim, a target. It doesn't have to be you. And that's really it. You just want to make sure you're not the victim. And there are any number of steps you can take. You know, in New York in the old days, we used to laugh when a new agent would come into the New York field office. You know, we would tell them, when you're walking down the street, one of the tendencies is to look up at the tall buildings. And that's one of the first things that, that someone will look for when they're trying to identify a tourist. You know, don't look like a tourist, because anyone that looks up at the tall buildings are going to be identified as a potential victim. So you could be a tourist, just don't act like one. Do the very best you can. You know, carrying a camera is also a sign. So now we can carry our phones. It's a little easier. You're not carrying a large camera, but do anything you can to blend in with your surroundings and not look like, like a tourist. That's really all I can say. We could be here all day with specific tips, but I think those are the general tips that I would give.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: I want to touch on one other element.
Italy, for example. It seems like every other day there's a different strike, or recently, as we all know, there's a lot of demonstrations. And when we're traveling on business, sometimes you're, you know, wearing a suit, but sometimes you're wearing a logoed hat or a logo shirt or, you know, some kind of representation of your company.
Talk to me a little bit about the challenges with that and other areas that we may need to be conscious of in this kind of volatile international environment that we're living in today.
[00:17:52] Speaker C: Well, I would say that it's probably not a good idea to roam around a foreign location with your corporate logos, but I think it's more important as Americans not to roam around in foreign locations with any kind of clothing articles that may identify you as an American. And frankly, that applies to all of our friends in our allied nations. You don't want to go around, let's.
[00:18:20] Speaker B: Say.
[00:18:22] Speaker C: Well, you pick the country wearing clothing that identifies you as being British. So it's not just American. But for our American audience, I would suggest strongly that that they wear nothing that would identify them as an American because again, it just gives you or gives them the opportunity to identify you as a potential target, particularly with when you consider what's going on in the world right now, it is we're living in some very challenging, dangerous times when being an American is not necessarily a good thing when you're traveling in certain places. So my general rule of thumb is to say don't wear anything that identifies you as by your nationality, period.
[00:19:03] Speaker A: Having a healthy dose of paranoia. It's definitely something that I'll be taking with me on my next trip. If you wanted to leave our listeners with one last piece of advice, what would that be?
[00:19:15] Speaker C: Well, at the risk of repeating myself, I think there are just two things. Number one, once again, stop focusing on your devices and remain vigilant. Always remain vigilant with respect to your surroundings.
It'll keep you out of trouble. And if you see something, either say something or react appropriately. It's that simple. Don't ignore your instincts.
Trust them. And I think if people could develop that healthy dose of paranoia, they will be a lot safer in the long run. It's worked for me and I think it could work for anyone as long as they understand the risks involved and they understand what they can do to make themselves safe.
[00:19:55] Speaker A: Dennis, we're so fortunate to have you with us today. Thank you so much for all of your words of wisdom and your incredible insight that some of us would never have even thought of.
And thanks to all of you for listening to this episode of your Window Seat, hosted by Travel Incorporated. To learn more about Travel Incorporated, you can find us on our
[email protected] or follow us on LinkedIn.
We look forward to the next episode. And as always, at Travel Incorporated, safe travels.
