Personal Security ─ A Guide for International Travelers

Maintain peace of mind while you are working or living abroad—wherever and however you travel.

As an international traveler, you know there are risks. But are you doing everything you can to protect yourself and your belongings? Whether you are traveling for work or pleasure, Personal Security: A Guide for International Travelers enables you to prevent security incidents and react in life-saving ways during a crisis. This comprehensive manual answers questions such as: Which criteria should you use for selecting the safest hotel or airline? How to deal with corrupt officials? What are special considerations for women, families, elderly, or travelers with disabilities? What support can you expect from your organization and what are your responsibilities?

• Benefit from lessons learned from leading experts and seasoned travelers
• Learn how criminals select their targets and manipulate situations, whether for street crime or serious attack such as kidnapping or terrorism
• See yourself from the local perspective
• Deal with common travel inconveniences and stress factors proactively
• Improve your situational awareness
• Increase your effectiveness by realistically assessing threats
• Make the most out of the opportunities that traveling brings

Tanya Spencer has traveled extensively to high-risk destinations and has trained 1000s of people how to safely navigate the complexities of international travel. Emphasizing prevention, the book covers medical, cultural, and political considerations, so you understand exactly what you must do before and while you are abroad. It provides flexible frameworks, models, and tools that allow you to easily apply the wealth of tips and advice to any travel situation you might face. Before your next trip, benefit from these time-tested strategies for proactively managing travel risks.

When Tanya Spencer was 18 years old, Rigoberta Menchu, a Guatemalan human rights activist, personally thanked her for helping save countless lives because Tanya ran an alert network that involved writing to U.S. politicians about urgent cases. Rigoberta Menchu, many years later, was the first indigenous woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Tanya’s professional career, spanning over 25 years, has focused on supporting people’s ability to work and live with a "peace of mind."

She owns TrainingSolutions, a provider of travel security and crisis management courses, consultations, and coaching for global organizations. Tanya has trained thousands of people (the United Nations, governments, business people, engineers, journalists, refugees, aid workers, rural people, amongst others) for an A–Z range of destinations, literally Albania to Zimbabwe and most countries in between. She has traveled to more than 40 countries, most of them "hot spots." Tanya’s approach to travel security is based on insights gained from her intercultural, interreligious, and international experiences.

Internationally published, Tanya has written about travel security, peace education and confl ict resolution, security management, international policy, and leadership skills for security professionals. She is active in ASIS International, the world’s largest security network, as an Assistant Regional Vice President, the European representative for Women in Security, and a member of the Crisis Management and Business Continuity Council. She served four years as a board member of the ASIS Denmark chapter and was named the Danish chapter’s Member of the Year, 2009.

Her educational credentials include an MSc in social policy and planning in developing countries from the London School of Economics, a BA in peace and conflict studies and a diploma in conservation and resource studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and management certificates from Wharton/ASIS International and the University of London.