Safe Word

We just say "no thanks have a nice day" and leave sometimes in the local language. It is that simple; we've been to Egypt where there were a lot of touts.

We have a short phrase in Italian (which we don't speak) that we use home and abroad that is intended as an alert. That is, a suspicious person, strange thing going on, be wary of a person, or whatever. If one of us says it, the other knows we should look up, around, or otherwise check your surroundings.

Another good idea from this forum. Going to use this for our trip to Sicily in April.

My Husband and I have learned to 100% trust each other while traveling. If my husband says "let's go" I do not question it, I get up and leave. If he says cross the street now, I do it. We do not care are about hurting peoples feelings, looking weird or odd. We would rather look odd and be safe. We do not have a safe word we just say what we mean and act. Now when we go to yard sales, we always have a good cop/bad cop strategy.

We just say "no thanks have a nice day" and leave sometimes in the local language. It is that simple; we've been to Egypt where there were a lot of touts.

Jazz, how I wish it were that simple. (It is for me)

We have a short phrase in Italian (which we don't speak) that we use home and abroad that is intended as an alert. That is, a suspicious person, strange thing going on, be wary of a person, or whatever. If one of us says it, the other knows we should look up, around, or otherwise check your surroundings.

Stan, we had the same thought but figured we would forget the word. I work best on the k.i.s.s. system.

My Husband and I have learned to 100% trust each other while traveling. If my husband says "let's go" I do not question it, I get up and leave. If he says cross the street now, I do it. We do not care are about hurting peoples feelings, looking weird or odd. We would rather look odd and be safe. We do not have a safe word we just say what we mean and act. Now when we go to yard sales, we always have a good cop/bad cop strategy.

Letizia, that is a good practice. We operate much the same most of the time when it comes to safety issues. Just times when I'm not sure about her level of interest in street vendors the safe word comes in handy.

Another thought. How about plans for other events. Back in 2019 in Rome the subway was so busy there was a real chance of being separated, so I came up with the idea that one of us got on or off and the other did not, we would meet at the next station. Have not had to use that one, and hope we never need to. It is now considered standard operating procedure.

We use "Tippy Toe, Tippy Toe" as our code word. It is a line from a Seinfeld episode so it is more for fun. But it means, "Someone's coming,, heads up!! get aware of your surroundings!!!"...

Very good plans for people traveling together.
I'm always losing my friend that I sometimes travel with.

So for us sometimes-solo travelers; we will keep wearing our masks in public buildings, and mutter to ourselves beneath our masks when something is not feeling right.
I caught myself doing that today in a bookshop when I couldn't find a specific thing.....must stop muttering...scaring other customers.

Never thought of having a safe word, will look into that for the next trip ... I'm thinking Serenity Now ... or maybe just Newman :-)

We usually decide on a meeting place if we get separated, fortunately that has never happened.