Is the world too dangerous? Sailing to countries outside your comfort zone

followtheboat

Does sailing in foreign countries worry you? Followtheboat busts some of the common myths around sailing in exotic locations

“Here in the US there is a lot of talk about people going missing, getting robbed, raped, or murdered, i.e. the world is not a safe place outside the United States. Have you guys ever felt this in foreign countries?” – Robbert, US

For the last fourteen years we’ve been living and travelling in some seldom-cruised places – Sudan, Eritrea, Yemen, Oman, southern India, Sumatra. For us, this is exciting and challenging, and only occasionally puts us outside our comfort zone. We hear often from would-be world cruisers who have a fear of stepping ashore into a completely foreign culture. But is the fear justified?

In this week’s episode we land the dinghy on a remote island off west coast Sumatra. We bust some of the common myths about travelling in “dangerous” countries. And we offer some tips to help make the experience of engaging with local inhabitants a happy one.