1. Keep your luggage in view. On the plane, don’t put your carry-on bags in the bin directly over your head. Stash them in the bin opposite and forward of you.
2. Sort out your valuables air-side. The security on the air-side of the airport, before you clear customs, is much higher. Use the extra cover to shift items from your suitcase to your briefcase. If you need to change money into local currency, do it here.
3. Find a decoy. Just before you make the transition to land-side in the airport, identify one of your fellow passengers who looks like an obvious target for crime. Let that person walk a few minutes ahead of you into the arrivals lounge. He or she will attract any unwanted attention and you can make your way unnoticed. It’s cynical, but self-preservation is your main priority.
4. Let them know you see them. If you are confident of local customs concerning eye contact, momentarily scan any suspicious individuals. It lets them know that you are aware of their presence. They are more likely to choose another victim who is not as self-confident.
5. Go out through the entrance. Marriott stresses the importance of disrupting the accepted pattern of behaviour whenever possible. Instead of leaving the airport through the arrivals lounge, exit from the departures area and jump into an arriving cab as the previous occupant leaves it.
6. Know where to pick up your cab. Criminals will be looking out for people wandering around and checking the signs. Study a map of the airport on the plane so that you can exit the airport confidently.
7. Pick the right cab. Depending on the destination, many cities will have official and unofficial cab companies. Avoid the latter. Make sure you know how to distinguish between the two before you are besieged by drivers in the arrivals lounge.
8. Disrupt the rank. At the taxi rank, wait until you are at the head of the queue. At the last minute, let the person behind you go first. Pretend you have just taken a call and need to wait for friends. This removes the chance that you were about to be directed into a marked cab, or one driven by someone about to deliver you into danger further down the road.
9. Do the shuttle shuffle. Marriott warns against using a hotel shuttle bus, because anyone following you will know where you are going. If you must, wait at a stop for a 2-star hotel and hop onto the bus to your luxury hotel just before it is about to move off.
10. Choose your hotel strategically. Take some time to make sure your hotel is in a location that’s safe at all hours. Some areas in your destination city may be perfectly safe in daylight hours, turning into no-go zones for foreign nationals at night. Look at the geography of the city, noting bottleneck points, such as bridges, which are a likely spot for police road-blocks. Make sure there are as few of them as possible between the hotel and your route back to the airport.
(The opening paragraph of this story was re-edited to reflect new input from sources.)
