Round The World Tips (Scams)

RTW Tips (Scams)

Think you can survive the whole year without getting scammed? Good Luck! Believe it or not getting scammed is a big part of world travel, especially in India, the far east and other economically challenged countries. So i'm going to compile a selection of things to be on the look out for during your trip. Eyes open people!

Government Gift Shop visits

This will get very irritating very quickly as it happens almost EVERY day. Whenever you book a guided tour through any means, it is almost 100% guarnteed that en route back to the hotel the driver or tour guide will take you, against your will to an over priced air conditioned government building stacked to the brim with stuff you really wont want to buy.

You'd think it would be easy enough to just say no to this, but prepare yourself for a guilt trip that will overshadow any trip you've ever experienced! I've heard lines like, ' Don't worry you don't have to buy anything, just spend 10 minutes inside the building and I will get food tokens for my children. Can you do this for me?... Please!' and all kinds of similar groveling. Now i am not an argumentative person, but after 4 weeks of these mind games i just couldn't handle it any longer: It was time to devise a escape tactic.

My Round the world tip for escaping this kind of situation is to ask a local rickshaw/taxi driver to follow the same landmark route that the tour would've taken. Agree on a decent price or move on to the next driver. (See Round The World Haggling Tips) Once you've settled on an acceptable figure which will most likely be cheaper than the tour, crack on with the days events safe in the knowledge that you won't be bundled off into the nearest money trap.

However this method isn't always 100% effective and even local drivers will try to take you to government gift shops without your consent. The easiest way to get out of this is to confirm with the driver after the haggling process that he will not take you to one of these places. In return tell him you will be extremely happy with his services and perhaps he will even get a tip! Just make sure you give them a tip after this promise and you end the day satisfied that everyone got what they wanted.

Friendly Strangers

There will be days when you wish to tackle the sights of the world on foot, braving the scorching temperatures to acquire that true sense of cultural blending. As much as i love walking my way around town, it comes with its own set of irritations. Local shop keepers will jump at the chance of having a foreigner in their store, or more accurately put, a foreigners cash. Therefore prepare to be mobbed by over friendly strangers asking where you are from. (under the pretense of practicing their English) This harmless banter will soon evolve into an invitation to visit their friends/brothers/cousins workshop, which will in turn lead to you being laid under another heavy guilt trip.

If you have a strong personality this kind of scam is easily turned down. But those of you looking to find inner strength on your journey will find this a true test of your patience, and bank balance. Be aware, most friendly strangers will want something from you.

Shoe Polishers/Cleaners

One of the more amusing scams. Some ingenious little children in some parts of the world have devised a form of trickery you'd almost never expect. Imagine you are walking the streets and all of a sudden, whoops you've stepped in some cow poo. It's just bad luck right? how about if that little child thats been secretly following you had thrown it in your path? only to notice your dilema and guide you to his shoe cleaning emporium! How convenient!...

Medicine men

Of all the scams this has to be the worst i have heard of on my travels. In some rare cases travelers dining at certain restaurants became extremely ill with painful stomach difficulties. Restaurant staff would then come to aid the traveler and offer to call a doctor. These doctors provided the patient with medicine which they claimed would cure the illness. Instead these very doctors were keeping the travelers ill with the medication they were prescribing, and the restaurant they had eaten at had purposefully made them ill. The doctors would then claim medical expenses off of the travelers insurance policy for as long as they could keep them ill. The scam artists behind this operation have since been arrested, but never the less one should be wary of such trickery.

Travel Agencies

This applies to the travel agencies in hotels as well as independent establishments. Whenever you allow someone other than yourself to book bus,train or air tickets, always check the value of the tickets that you have been charged for. Agencies will often give you an inflated rate and say that the extra charge is for booking fees. This just means you are paying for them to stand in a queue for a few minutes that you could have stood in yourself. So don't let them over charge you for this. The actual value of the ticket is stated on the ticket itself usually at the bottom on the right.

On one occasion my girlfriend and I were desperate to leave a certain town as soon as possible. We visited a travel agent and asked for a ticket leaving the following day. We were charged close to £100 for a third class carriage. The travel agent was extremely convincing and made us think that we had to travel an emergency line so we paid the money. It was only after noticing the actual price of the ticket, which was about £4 each that we went back to the agency and demanded how they justified spending £92 on booking fees. The agent looked embarrassed and tried to explain that he was planning to give us back the overpayment when we returned. Even though he knew full well that we had booked single outbound tickets and were not returning.

This round the world tip will come in extremely handy as you are almost certainly likely to fall victim to this scam at least once.

Street Children

Not so much a scam but an attempt at taking your money none the less, street children will often follow you for MILES asking for you to buy them a chocolate bar or something of equal value. Once you give in and purchase that chocolate, hoards of children will mob you expecting the same treatment. Remember these children are never alone, they are always part of a group of more children governed by a smaller group of adults. You won't see the adults until they suspect that you may cause the children harm, but they are there.

Removing your shoes at temples

Almost all temples are considered holy ground, therefore you must remove footwear before entering them. Many temples will have facilities to leave your shoes under guard until you return. Locals will choose not to use this service and leave them elsewhere, DON'T copy them or your shoes will get stolen. This actually happened to me, on the fourth day of my round the world trip! And if you've read my 'what to bring with you' checklist you'll already know I only had one pair of shoes! Nightmare...