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Comment by padiyar83 | Hacker News Reader

"People in other places are not saints. You might get cheated, swindled, or taken advantage of. Paradoxically, the best way to avoid that is to give strangers your trust and treat them well. Being good to them brings out their good. If you are on your best behavior, they will be on their best behavior. And vice versa. To stay safe, smile. Be humble and minimize your ego. I don’t know why that works everywhere in the world—even places with “bad” reputations—but it does."

This just got me! Its so true. That's been my experience too.

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I have a feeling that male and female travel experiences may differ in this regard. "To stay safe, smile." seems pretty naive to me. Clearly, the author is male. I would proffer "always have an exit", "do not walk into something you cannot walk out of" and "do not stray too far from the crowd".

Yeah, the author seems to be writing for a white male audience in some regards.

My wife and I host bicycle tourers when they pass through our town. One was Thomas Meixner, an East German who started travelling the world on bike when the wall fell. He's visited something like 120 countries and biked 250,000 km.

My wife asked him if he thought a solo woman could do what he did in the places he did it. He tactfully changed the subject.

Even for white males, whilst it might help convince people you're one of the nice backpackers and not the rude backpackers or defuse situations caused by your faux pas, being trusting absolutely doesn't get you any sympathy from who make a living out of scamming or robbing tourists. Sure, escalating probably isn't the best way out either and the minor annoyances that cost you a dollar might be best overlooked, but switching your guard off is a terrible idea in a lot of parts of the world

My rule of thumb while travelling: Most people are good and will help you if go up to them and ask, and most of the people who initiate contact with you want your money.

While travelling I've never had a problem walking up to someone pretty much at random and asking for directions or recommendations, etc. Sometimes this turns into more than just a quick conversation, and that's great, meeting locals can be the best part of a trip. Hotel and restaurant staff are a great resource, too - ask questions.

However, most of the people who approach you as a tourist, particularly in places with lots of tourists, want your money. The swindlers and cheats aggregate in these places. They don't wait for tourists they want to rip off to approach them, they actively go after their prey, being practiced at taking advantage of their openness, confusing them, etc.

There are exceptions. Common sense goes a long way. Be way more careful when partying.

+1 Reminds me of something I heard from (I think) Penn Jillette:

In public spaces, if you pick someone out of a crowd for support, or you are randomly/unexpectedly put in a situation where you depend on a stranger, you're probably safe.

If someone else picks you without solicitation, or appoints themselves to support you, be careful.

>There are exceptions. Common sense goes a long way.

On a visit to London last year, walking down a street with some kiosks displaying pictures of aquatic life in the waters around the British isles, I was approached by a women who asked if I would mind taking a brief survey about the organization sponsoring the kiosks (Royal something or other). In the end she gave me £5 note for my time.

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