Prior to going abroad, the wise traveler checks on current conditions in the
country/countries on the itinerary. Governments put out useful travel information, and newspapers
or other media in the area provide a good day-by-day view of crime and other problems. While
abroad, it is particularly important to keep current on world events that may impact Americans.
The Internet can help in that regard as well. Check on issues such as the level of corruption you
are likely to face, holidays that may affect your travel, exchange rates, and learn a few words of
the language, at the least. Cyber-cafes offer a good, if expensive, way to keep up with events
and communicate home.
Sources of Travel Information
The State Department's Travel
Advisory Pages can be valuable. Travel safety consultants suggest that you consider the State
Department pages as being, at the very least, "diplomatic" when it comes to U.S. allies.
The
British Foreign Office advisories are worth comparing
against the State Department's versions.
The State Department's OSAC site is designed
for business people with special security needs. Parts are restricted to members and constituents
of the Overseas Security Advisory Council. However many sections of the site
are open to the general public. The news section is one of those areas that are open.
Other sites, for
those who have facility in foreign languages, include Belgium (English, French, Dutch),
France (French
only), and Italy (Italian only). Additional
detailed data on countries are available from the CIA.
Much good information on business and social conditions in many locations overseas is also
available from the Commerce Department. You may
also find useful local information at embassy sites for various countries. Key sidetes include: www.embassyweb.com and www.embassyworld.com.
Be Alert, a government guide to overseas security in PDF
format.
Corrupt officials are a problem where ever they are found. The International Center for
Corruption Research has the Transparency organization's information on
relative perceived corruption of government officials around the world. This is one of the most
comprehensive sites available on the subject.
The Currency Converter performs
interactive foreign exchange rate conversion on the Internet. The measurements converter works with different units
of weight, capacity, length, area, speed, pressure, temperature, circular measure, and time. For
time there is probably no more accurate place than the U.S. Naval Observatory master clock
site. However Time and Date has an easily-used
world clock and a variety of items relating to timekeeping and calendars.
The Cybercafe Database Search Engine is
an adjunct to establishing a good backup web-based communications link when traveling
anywhere in the world. Updated daily, it includes names, addresses, phone numbers and weblinks
to currently operating cybercafes and kiosks around the world. The Netcafe Guide is another site to find locations where
you can get on the net while traveling.
A listing of holidays and festivals is available via the web.
This is useful while traveling, and should be consulted in advance of any trip. Another similar
site is Anyday. Other links get you to
another potentially useful world
holidays site.
The State Department's Annual Terrorism Report as well as reports on significant
terrorist incidents against Americans can be found, along with terrorist group profiles at the Dudley
Knox Library. The Department of State's
Counterterrorism Page has useful information of many sorts. Another page/portal worth
looking at is devoted to the explosive terrorist situation in South
Asia. Many insurgent, rebel and protest groups can be reached and researched directly
through one of the more amazing jump stations on the web, Terrorists, Freedom Fighters,
Crusaders, etc.
This is the "Third Broadcast
Medium" of the BBC, adding the Web to their Radio and Television journalism. There is an
excellent World News page at
the BBC.
Kidon Media-Link. This is a
comprehensive site of media pages around the world.News Central lists about 3,500 newspapers
and similar services around the world. Not all the links work at any given time, but the overall
the site is quite useful. The Bourque site boasts that
every on-line newspaper in the world is linked here. Other sites list many newspapers and magazines from outside the
United States. The Guide To
Online Newspapers has one of the better indices to online newspapers on the Web. The
database is divided into regional and national sections and there are databases for newspapers in
major world languages.