The Safest Places On Earth Based On The Global Peace Index

I recently found another good way to judge the safety of a region or country based a new index called The Global Peace Index. This index ranks countries on how peaceful they are with a color rating system. Based on the 2009 GPI index, most of Latin America is about as safe and peaceful as The United States. Based on the GPI the safest and most peaceful countries in all of the Americas are Canada, Costa Rica, Chile and Uruguay.

The methodology for creating the global peace index is as follows: Twenty-three indicators of the existence or absence of peace were chosen by the panel of experts, which are divided into three broad categories: measures of ongoing domestic and international conflict, measures of safety and security in society and measures of militarization.

I think Ecuador should have been upgraded to Blue, but perhaps it was not due to the small conflict they had in 2009 with Colombia. I also think Colombia get’s a red rating because of the FARC presence, which is no longer a threat, unless you venture out into the jungles and mountains, and outside of the large cities.

I have to tend to agree with Venezuela’s red rating because of the deteriorating economic situation and escalating crime in Venezuela. Apart from that Venezuela is heavily militarized, and president Chavez is not afraid to stir up conflicts with Colombia. Also, Venezuela is undergoing and energy, and possibly water crisis, which will most likely increase the chances of political instability in the country.

Europe tops the list for peace and safety as a region. Eastern Europe gradually gets less peaceful and Russia gets a red rating according to the GPI index. South East Asia gets an average rating overall.

Overall I think the peace index is right on the spot. I do feel that things are getting more dangerous in the U.S. because of the economic decline. As unemployment starts to run out within the next year or two, I do feel crime will increase in the U.S as more and more people get desperate. Certain countries like Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Uruguay certainly top the list in terms of cost, safety, weather, and of course women.

How To Renew Your Tourist Visa In Colombia

I’ve been in Colombia for almost two months now. When I arrived, immigration gave me a 60 day stamp on my passport. This means that I can stay legally for 60 days within the country. Since my 60 days are almost up, I have to renew my Visa.

What happens If I don’t renew my visa? What happens is that I end up staying in the country Illegally, and I’ll have to do a whole bunch of paperwork, get stuff notarized, and pay fines in order to get my proper paperwork to be able to leave the country. It’s too much of a hassle, not to mention more expensive, so I recommend just renewing your visa the proper way which I outline below.

Most likely you’ll also get a 60 day stamp, which means that if you get close to your 60 days in Colombia, you’ll have to go to the D.A.S. which stands for “Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad” which translates to “The Administrative Department of Security.” Most large cities in Colombia have a D.A.S. agency within the city, but if you’re in a smaller city you might have to go to one of the larger ones to get your paperwork done.

If you have a local agency in your city all you need to do is hop in a taxi and tell them to take you to the D.A.S, pronounced “das”. Once you’re at the agency you’ll have to go past security and let them know you want to extend your tourist visa or “extender mi visa de turista”.

The agents in the office will ask you to photocopy a your passport as well as the original entry stamp. You’ll also have to fill out a form which should only take about 5 minutes. You’re going to have to sign the form and also take a few photocopies of it. Finally, you’ll have to go to a bank and pay a fee, based on the details they give you in the D.A.S. agency. Usually this involves going directly to a bank and paying with a certain code that you’ll be assigned.

Once you pay the fee at the bank, you bring the receipt back to the D.A.S. agency and they will process the final paperwork. All in all it took me about an hour and half to complete everything including taxi rides. Unfortunately, after your first initial stamp is up, you’ll have to repeat this process every month.

How To Build A Basic Travel Budget

When you’re thinking about traveling it’s always a good idea to build a budget. First you have to figure out how much you can spend and how much time you want to be away. This is a very simply guide to building a basic budget, and this is what I use most of the time when I plan on traveling to a new location.

You can build a budget in two ways. The first is go build a cost estimate based on where you want to go, then you know how much you need to save up for a certain trip. The second is to build a spending estimate based on how much money you plan to spend, if you already have the money.

Lets start with what I call a spending estimate:

First figure out how much you want to spend or can afford to spend. This will be your “Available Funds”. Divide this by the total time you plan on traveling (in days):

Available Funds / Total Time = Daily Budget

For example, if you currently had $2,000 for a 15 day trip, this would look something like:

$2,000 / 15 days = $133 per day

Once you have your daily budget you can get a better idea of how much you can afford to pay for a hotel every day, as well as how much you’ll have in your pocket for other expenses. The most common things you’ll have to pay for on a daily basis are food, transportation, and lodging. Anything extra like beers, cover charges for bars and clubs will be extra expenses that will vary throughout each week and each day. I like to break down expenses into three different areas:

#1: Lodging.
#2: Food and transportation
#3: Extras (Beers, cover charges, tourism excursions, souvenirs etc.)

Generally speaking I allocated one third of my daily budget to each of these categories. So if we go by the above $133 daily budget, I’d probably be looking for a hotel or hostel that costs $44 or less. If I cut back on the lodging costs then I have more to spend on food, transportation and extras. At the same time, I allocate about $44 per day for food and transportation and another $44 per day for extras.

Once you have a basic budget you have a better idea of how much you can afford to spend each day. Once you get to where your going make sure you at least keep a mental note of sticking to your budget. A budget isn’t any good if you don’t stick to it, and the whole point of making one is to make sure you don’t overspend.

I’ll be making a more detailed budget creation tutorial in the near future but this should give you a better idea of how to budget and estimate costs before you travel.

Travelers: How And Why To Protect Your Assets Against Inflation

You might be wondering why I’m writing a blog post on how to protect your assets against inflation? A couple of months ago I wrote a blog post about Why American Men Should Be Worried About Inflation And The Dollar. This is the follow up post and I think it’s a very important one for certain guys who want to keep traveling in the future.

This particular blog post is directed towards American and English men. Both currencies and economies are in trouble and both the Pound Sterling and the Dollar will experience massive inflation in the short, medium, and long term.

For all of you who live in these two countries, inflation means a loss of your purchasing power which means many things get more expensive, including travel costs. As your purchasing power decreases against other currencies you’re once might dollar or pound will no longer go such a long way in foreign countries.

So the bad news is that your currencies are going down the toilet, but you don’t have to let your assets and savings be eroded away through inflation. One of the best investment options available to you right now is to invest abroad in countries which have better fundamental economies. You want to base your current investment strategy on owning real assets such as commodities, utilities, real estate (in certain places), precious metals, etc. You also want to own these stocks, bonds, and assets in countries that own a lot of commodities, as well as countries that have sounder economic policies then the United States and UK. Some of these countries include Canada, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China to name a few.

If you listen to economists that predicted this current recession: Guys like Peter Schiff, and Jim Rogers, you know that the world is heading for inflationary times. Some countries like the United States are headed there in much worse shape and will get hit much harder. However, by investing in commodities and real assets abroad you guard yourself against inflation and you position yourself to prosper from inflation.

If you have your money safely stashed away in foreign currencies, stocks and bonds. You will at least preserve the current purchasing power of your savings and assets, and you may very well increase it. This means that you’ll be in a very good position to keep the same standard of living, and keep traveling, while many of your other country men will unfortunately be wiped out through inflation.

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How To Dress When Traveling Through Latin America

Throughout my book The Global Dating Revolution, I give a lot of tips and advice for those of you that will take the leap into International Dating and actually travel abroad to see what the women are like in other countries.

On Page 250 of The Global Dating Revolution I give the following tips on dressing while your traveling through Latin America. I feel most of these will be applicable to Eastern Europe and South East Asia as well:

Don’t dress like a tourist, with shorts, loud Hawaiian shirt and camera around your neck. Dress casual or business casual with a nice pair of khakis, jeans and either a nice button down shirt or nice t-shirt. Dress for your body type. If you’re very thin, you might want to wear more then one layer, and don’t wear clothes that are too loose fitting. By the same token if you’re a husky guy, no horizontal stripped shirts and nothing that’s too tight:

In my book The Global Dating Revolution, I give advice on where to go to meet foreign women, and how to go about doing so. I outline all the obstacles and challenges, and give you step by step instructions so you can meet amazing foreign women through international dating. You can find out more about my book, plus all the bonuses by clicking here

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Why Time Can Be Your Biggest Allie With Foreign Women

When your traveling abroad and you get to a new country or city it takes a little while to adapt to your surroundings. Some people adapt in a week, but others take longer. It also takes time to build up a social circle, make new friends and learn your way around. For all of these reasons I always recommend at least three weeks in one location.

One perfect example is getting to know the night life. Usually when you get to a new city you won’t know what the best hang outs, bars, and clubs are. Most cities have places that are THE places to go on certain nights. Even if you ask the locals, taxis, or people you meet on the streets, the reality is that this information is usually hit or miss. Some people will send you the places THEY like, but they may not necessarily be the best places to meet single foreign women.

This is where persistence and time comes in. Make a note of where you go on what night, and how good the environment is. Ask the people that work there what the best nights are, ask the people inside the bar the same thing, and make a note. As time goes on you’ll be able to find the best spots on each night, and you’ll be able to find the best weekend hang outs. If you’re lucky you’ll find these spots in the first week, but sometimes it takes up to three or four weeks on constantly going out to start to find the really good places to meet single women.

Don’t move around too much. Stay in one place, get to know it, make friends, and be persistent. Sometimes things don’t start getting REALLY good until the last week. Although I recommend at least a three week stay in one place, if you can swing more then three weeks, then by all means do so.

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13 Steps To A Safe Trip

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been getting all sorts of questions by guys who are about to travel, or thinking about setting up a trip. One of the most common questions, involves safety. Everyone has heard stories about Pablo Escobar and the “guerillas” in Colombia, or the “favelas” in Brazil.

Part of the problem, is that the media only tends to cover the negatives, never giving credit to the positives. I am not sure why the negative stories always seem to reach the international news.

I’ve lived many years close to New York City and Newark NJ, and there was plenty of crime around this area. What city, does not have crime?

My father was robbed at gun point in Bergen County New Jersey. I’ve been assaulted in the streets of Bergen County as well. People get shot almost weekly in the Newark NJ. My point… Anywhere you go, even the city near where you live, has places where you are more likely to be involved in a violent crime.

Having said this, you should always prepare as much as possible for a safe trip. My rule of thumb is to keep everything low key, and try to fly under the radar, especially if you’re very new to traveling abroad. Once you get your stripes, visit a few different countries, get fluent in the customs, the currency and language, then you can start to dress a bit more flashy, but personally I never overdue it…

I’ve been traveling for years now and I’ve never had a problem. I think I can attribute this to the fact that I always like to play it safe.

So, I’ve made a short list of the top thirteen things you can do to have the safest trip possible. Some of these steps may seem a little paranoid, but I think you’ll be better off playing it safe, especially if you’re not a veteran traveler. I’d also like to say that the degree to which you need the 13 steps below really depends on where you’re headed. I haven’t made this list for any particular city, but more as an overall checklist for your safety. Some places are more dangerous then others, so the degree to which you follow these safety tips really depends on where your going. It may even vary depending on which section of a city (or country) you may be going to. Just keep in mind that I always try to error on the side of being extra safe. So here we go, and have a safe trip…

#1 – Do your research and ask questions. There are many sites you can visit that can help you learn more about the place you’re headed to. Some of these sites include, wikipedia.com, poorbuthappy.com, bootsnall.com and lonelyplanet.com. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have concerns.

#2 – Try to go with a group. I know many of you are headed out on your own. I’ve gone on many trips on my own, but there’s always safety in numbers. Try to go with one or two other people.

#3 – Try to learn the language before you go. Nothing makes you stand out more in a foreign land, then not knowing the local language. Even a little conversational knowledge will go a long way. Knowing the language makes you seem like a seasoned traveler.

#4 – Feel out your new surroundings. Remember that you are going to someplace you’ve never been before, and there may be areas that are safe, and areas that are not so safe. So always be alert and cautious while you get to know your new surroundings.

#5 – Don’t be flashy. Lave the IPODs, earrings, jewelry, fancy watches, and Iphones at home, or in the hotel room. Be cautions about where you pull these things out and what you carry on you. I try to be as low key as possible, especially when I’m in a place I’m not familiar with. I generally don’t like to be too flashy, even if I’m in a safe place.

#6 – Travel with the locals. If you’ve already made friends on the Internet, they will look out for you. No one knows the local city better then the people who live there. Try to make some friends online before you go, or meet some locals once you get there. Let the locals guide you safely through your trip.

#7 – Be cautions at night. I generally don’t like to walk around at night. For the most part I stick to taking taxis to and from wherever I’m headed if it’s already late.

#8 – Hail a taxi off the street as your last resort. Have your hotel, club, bar, or friend call you a taxi. Although the taxi’s on the street are generally
safe, you never know, so I always try to get my establishment to call me the taxi. They know who to call and who the good guys are.

#9 – Don’t cary around too much cash, and stash it in different places. In the event you do get robbed, don’t try to fight. Just give them the stash in your back pocket. Thieves will almost never hurt you if you cooperate. So, although I’ve never been robbed, if I found myself in that situation I would give them everything they wanted right away. I usually keep a little stash in my shoe or sock, or some other pocket.

#10 – Cary around a photocopy of your passport and license. Leave the real thing in the lock box at your hotel, or in a safe place along with the rest of your valuables. But always try to remember to carry the copies, in case you run into trouble with the local law enforcement.

#11 – Don’t leave drinks unattended. I’ve had instances in local bars around here in New York where my dates drinks have been roofied. Make sure you keep a close eye on your drinks, especially if your on your own. I try not to drink too much in general, especially when I’m in a place I’ve never been before.

#12 – Don’t bring too much attention to yourself. I personally like to fly under the radar as much as possible. I try not to bee to loud or make a scene.

#13 – MOST, IMPORTANTLY HAVE FUN. Remember guys, It’s better to be overly cautious until you get use to your new surroundings. But most importantly, remember that you are in an environment that favors men. These foreign women love guys like you, and they will show you a great time.

Have A Safe Trip,