0:11

You

0:12

are listening to The Privacy Security and Ocean Show episode

0:14

285 East on December second

0:16

of twenty twenty two. This week, Jason joins

0:18

me again to revisit travel

0:20

security protocols. If you have

0:22

travel plans at this holiday season, consider

0:25

our privacy and security travel tips.

0:27

Direct Support for this podcast comes from our

0:29

services train and books more details can

0:31

be found at inteltechniques dot com.

0:34

Welcome back everyone and welcome

0:36

Jason back to the show. Hey,

0:38

how's it going? For those

0:40

that don't know, j, I'm sure

0:42

most people do. Jason runs the Osen side of

0:44

the house. He does all the live trainings and the online video

0:46

training. He's been on the show numerous times. And

0:49

he now quite possibly might

0:52

travel more than me. Is that fair

0:54

to say? I think so.

0:56

I'm I'm traveling at least a couple times a month.

0:59

Yeah. So I thought Let's do a show

1:01

and revisit some travel security

1:03

topics. Not Let's not try to do a show which

1:06

covers everything. We've talked about this a lot. We've

1:08

done shows on it. talked about it in the book. There's

1:10

been a lot of discussion about it, but it's good to

1:12

revisit some things, and I have some updates I want

1:14

to offer about my travel security protocols,

1:16

and I'm sure you do too. So The idea of

1:18

today's show is to revisit travel

1:20

security and maybe offer an update of what

1:22

we're doing, maybe that'll impact what you

1:24

do or least get some people some

1:26

ideas of what they can do to help with.

1:29

Since you're on the show, let's get

1:31

through some updates and maintenance first.

1:35

Specifically, what is the latest,

1:37

which is new with the online OSAT training?

1:40

Alright. Yeah. Training's going great,

1:42

still growing. definitely moving

1:44

in it's still moving in a positive direction.

1:47

Lately, we've done new lessons on,

1:49

Mastodon, dealing with

1:51

pitfalls and dead ends. That

1:53

was something I saw coming up again and again

1:56

is especially folks that are newer

1:58

to doing open source intelligence

1:59

investigations. Like,

2:02

how do you deal with a scenario where

2:04

you've spent six hours where working

2:06

on a target and you're just

2:09

not getting anywhere. So we went

2:11

ahead and talked through some different scenarios

2:13

and how you push past those

2:15

roadblocks and move on

2:17

without getting too frustrated. And

2:19

then things like, you know, how I

2:21

deal with a fifteen minute email

2:23

investigation, threat assessments, unclaimed

2:26

property, so we have a lot of new stuff that's come

2:28

out this fall. That's great. And I think

2:31

of course, I'm biased, but that's one of the

2:33

values of the training is it's not just

2:36

here's a bunch of videos on how to find

2:38

stuff on the web. Here here's some tips

2:41

for TikTok. While we do that

2:43

and another reason I was excited that you took

2:45

over the training is you're doing this stuff every

2:47

day for a living, so you're able to offer

2:49

a lot of input on those

2:52

things, like the the how and the why and the

2:54

what do we do when, which

2:56

I think a lot of the online trainings don't

2:58

cover is all the pitfalls because let's

3:01

face it. Doing those network, it fails

3:03

a lot. Sometimes it fails

3:05

more than it works and you have to work through that

3:07

in order to complete whatever you're doing.

3:09

So I think those videos might provide

3:11

more value than say, here's a new YouTube

3:14

tip or here's something like that. So I'm pretty excited

3:16

to see that you're doing that. And as a reminder,

3:18

you update the videos pretty much every month

3:21

still. Right?

3:22

Yeah. We have at least two lessons

3:24

that come out every month from me,

3:26

plus we have member contribution. So

3:29

one of the great things is we built a pretty

3:31

strong community, and we have people

3:33

who are subject matter experts in areas

3:35

that I am not. And so we get

3:37

a fair number of members who

3:40

do write ups on different areas

3:42

of OSEN that they specialize in.

3:44

So when we have people who are

3:46

part of the training from, say, the IT

3:48

side of the house, it's rate because they come

3:50

in with this very high level technical knowledge,

3:53

or people who work in an area

3:55

who don't do criminal investigations. Right?

3:58

And so I feel very strong looking

4:01

at things from someone who runs a team that

4:03

does criminal investigations. But people

4:05

who do private investigations, people who

4:07

do backgrounding, people who do

4:09

infrastructure protection, it's really nice

4:11

to have those folks in our community bring that

4:13

different perspective.

4:14

That's great. Anytime, any of us thinks

4:17

we do know it all or maybe we are

4:19

the expert and all this stuff. We're in trouble because

4:21

we're not. There's always going to be someone who knows

4:23

something about something that we don't. So I really

4:25

like that the members want to do that. and I appreciate

4:27

their input on that. As a gentle

4:29

reminder, the price of the online

4:31

training is set to go up

4:33

on January first, twenty twenty three. There will

4:35

be another price increase, and then we will

4:37

have one more price increase after that, probably

4:39

halfway through the year. And then that's when we will

4:41

be at our retail price, which we want to be

4:43

at. So if you do want to get it at the

4:45

current rate, just make sure you get in before the

4:47

end of the year. That way, you're locked

4:49

into that rate as long as you want it if you want

4:51

to renew. Speaking of Ozent,

4:54

the Ozent Book, my tenth

4:56

edition of the Ozent Book, we have

4:58

a very very rough draft done

5:00

It is now going through all of the paces

5:02

that goes through, and we do expect

5:04

the tenth edition of the Osen technique's

5:06

book to be released in January

5:08

of next year. So that is coming.

5:11

I'm very excited about it. Very proud of

5:13

it. Six new chapters, a hundred

5:15

new pages, all kinds of updates quite

5:17

a bit going on there. Also, we are

5:19

all set for unredacted issue

5:21

five to also be released in early

5:23

January. It's going to come out to probably

5:25

six d ish pages, lots of good

5:27

content, lots of great

5:29

user submissions, so I'm very excited about that

5:31

too. And of course, that will be completely free.

5:33

I think the first show

5:36

of the New Year will be we

5:38

will be releasing unredacted issue five

5:40

for free, so there'll be more details coming

5:42

up on that. Also talking

5:44

about OSINT, I think we should talk about Google

5:46

Lens. This is something I noticed

5:48

within the past couple of weeks. we've

5:51

always had the option to do a reverse image

5:53

search on Google. You go to Google images, you hit the

5:55

camera or the whatever the icon is gonna be

5:57

that week, and you can do a reverse image

5:59

search on an online image or an image

6:01

you upload. What I'm seeing

6:03

now is every time you try to submit

6:05

an online reverse image search

6:07

through Google, you have to do it through

6:09

what they call Google lens.

6:12

And I hate it. I

6:14

I know you've played with a two Have

6:16

you seen anything yet that's

6:18

better than the way we had it?

6:20

No. And, you know,

6:22

for a while, you could block

6:24

it in your settings and force it

6:26

force your browser to go back over and

6:28

just use the traditional search when you

6:30

were doing a like a search from the context

6:32

menu, you know, like from a right click. And

6:35

it looks like they fussed with that on

6:37

the back end. So the fix that

6:39

I had placed in my Chrome settings is

6:41

not working on that anymore. or to defeat

6:43

it because you can go in and disable

6:45

Google lens. But when I did

6:47

that again recently, because I saw Google

6:49

lens was taking back over

6:51

my reverse image searches. I

6:53

went ahead and disabled it and it was still

6:55

forcing me into Google Lens. So

6:58

the only way I have found to get past

7:00

that is when you do get the Google lens

7:02

results, there is a button you can click

7:04

on to look at the source and

7:06

that kicks you back over to

7:08

the traditional Google Images view,

7:10

which is by far my

7:12

preference. I feel like the results are

7:14

better. It's easier to look at

7:16

and analyze and process. I like

7:18

everything about it. I kind of

7:20

hate Google lens, to be honest. Yeah.

7:22

I

7:22

think we're going to lose the reverse

7:24

image search native original

7:26

option completely because

7:29

now that Google Lens will let you look at the

7:31

source and let you go look at that

7:33

old way of doing it, I'm noticing the results

7:35

are much different there as well.

7:38

So my prediction is we're going to lose

7:40

that too. And also the URL

7:42

manipulation does not work. So we've always had

7:44

this static URL we could use,

7:46

which we could use to submit an online picture

7:48

to Google reverse images. That's

7:50

broken now. That just sends you back

7:52

to Google lens and asks you to download

7:54

the app So I think we're in trouble.

7:56

But to

7:56

be fair,

7:58

I really haven't had great success with Google

8:00

reverse image search for the past year.

8:02

I think Yandex is much better,

8:05

being not so much Baidu has been awful.

8:07

But if I'm going to do just a standard

8:09

reverse image search, yeah, I'm gonna use Google.

8:11

I'll I'll use their lens product, but really

8:13

Yandex. Yandex, I think it's where the

8:15

money's at for that.

8:16

Yeah. And their facial recognition really

8:19

is fantastic. on Yandex. So

8:21

that probably is the best long term

8:23

solution is to really

8:25

make Yandex number one on your reverse

8:27

image search list.

8:29

Yep. Okay. Well, let's

8:31

get into the show talking about

8:33

travel security again. Holidays are

8:35

coming up. People are traveling

8:37

and Let's face it.

8:39

Crime happens, especially if you

8:41

are in touristy areas or if you just

8:44

you look like an outsider. You are

8:46

going to pick up some attention from people who might

8:48

want to do bad things to you or take your

8:50

stuff. So I wanted to talk about just

8:52

a few areas of travel security,

8:54

which may apply to people coming

8:56

up and I thought we would talk maybe

8:58

start with start with backpacks, which

9:00

is something that most of us when we are going

9:02

to travel somewhere we might have a backpack or maybe

9:04

you're just you're traveling

9:06

domestically for work, you're probably going to

9:08

have a backpack. And this is something

9:10

that I know you

9:12

are strongly have some opinions

9:14

on because I do believe you own

9:17

more backpacks than I do. Is that

9:19

correct? Yeah. I probably have

9:21

a good two

9:21

dozen backpacks. It's a little bit of

9:23

an addiction problem. So

9:25

what I wanted to talk about first

9:27

was some of the gimmicks, which I scene,

9:30

and I don't really like. One

9:32

example is there's a company called PacSafe,

9:35

PACSAFEI probably shouldn't spell

9:37

it because I don't recommend it. But there's

9:39

all these companies that are saying, we're

9:41

making these new backpacks which are ultra

9:43

secure and I I

9:44

find it to be mostly a gimmick.

9:47

with a lot of these, they're usually

9:49

threefold. They usually would have some

9:51

type of metal or

9:53

wiring within the straps, which

9:55

might resist someone

9:57

cutting your bag and cutting

9:59

your strap off of you to steal your

10:01

bag. They have some slash proofing

10:03

on the front, which might resist some razor

10:05

blades trying to cut your bag open, and

10:07

then they have some type of flimsy

10:09

mechanical lock system. What I

10:11

wanna address is Most of

10:13

these high security backpacks are

10:15

advertising that they're slash resistant.

10:17

Now, I have not been in law enforcement for

10:19

a long time and you still are Is

10:22

there a big epidemic of people going

10:24

up slashing people's backpacks like a

10:26

pinata to steal this stuff and run? Is that

10:28

something you're actually seeing?

10:29

That is something that I've always heard

10:32

about like when you're doing overseas

10:34

travel, but I have never witnessed

10:36

happening here in my city. I

10:38

can't think of a single case. I I hear

10:40

lots of reports and see lots of

10:42

reports and investigate a lot of

10:44

cases of people being stabbed and

10:46

slashed. And I certainly could

10:48

see, like, if you had a bag that

10:50

was kind of bulging in the bottom, so you get something

10:52

heavy in it, you know, that it's possible,

10:54

but I don't think that is one

10:56

of our top threat models because I just

10:58

don't see instances of it in the

11:00

real world. Yeah. Seems like the

11:02

bigger threat is either they're opening the

11:04

device behind your back and you don't realize that it's still

11:06

something or today

11:08

just deal it with violence. That's probably

11:10

going to be much more common is just

11:12

pure theft of a bag versus slash in

11:14

it. So all these all these gimmicky

11:16

things of these high security

11:18

backpacks. I don't really like that, but the main

11:20

reason I don't like that is to

11:22

me it paints you as a better target.

11:24

From my experience, criminals that

11:26

specialize, let's say, in stealing

11:28

stuff from tourists of their backpacks.

11:31

They know what high security backpacks

11:33

look like. If I see three people walk

11:35

by me

11:36

with a nineteen ninety two JanSport,

11:38

junkie bag that's all dirty, and then a

11:40

fourth person has his four hundred

11:42

dollar high security backpack. I

11:44

want that backpack because it probably has

11:46

better stuff in it. Is that naive

11:48

on my part? No. I think that's accurate. And I

11:50

will tell you, you know, what I do see

11:53

day to day on the street are are

11:55

really two categories. one alluded

11:57

to, which is essentially a strong armed

11:59

robbery. Right? Like where basically, I'm just

12:01

gonna push you down, punch you, or hit you in the

12:03

head with something and take your stuff. The

12:06

other one really is crime of opportunity.

12:08

So that's when you are leaving your

12:10

things unattended, you know,

12:12

you're at the airport leave it on one of the

12:14

seats because you're just gonna go use the

12:16

drinking fountain or, you

12:18

know, you're out in public you've

12:20

got your bag on the back of your chair and you get

12:22

up to get some creamer or something like that

12:24

at the coffee shop. So those are

12:26

really the two high categories are the strong arms,

12:28

crimes of opportunity both of

12:30

which we have pretty good

12:32

control over as far as prevention.

12:34

Yeah. I don't leave my bag anywhere at any time. I

12:36

was with a client. long ago. And every time I went to the bathroom, I

12:39

took my backpack with me, and he finally just

12:41

asked, do you not trust me? And I said,

12:43

it's not you, man. It's me. I don't trust

12:45

anyone, especially with the stuff I have in this

12:47

thing. So it's always with me. So

12:49

that that opportunity is a big thing

12:51

there. Oh, yeah.

12:51

I am, like, exactly the same.

12:54

So when I'm traveling or really

12:56

even day to day just around town,

12:58

I put just enough stuff

13:00

in my pack that I am comfortable

13:02

carrying it all day.

13:04

So unless I'm in my office or my

13:06

home never gets left in my

13:08

car, that's a, you know, still a big

13:10

mistake. I even see colleagues

13:12

make. Right? Like, we always about every

13:14

two weeks, there's a report of someone getting

13:16

some of their police gear stolen out of their

13:18

cars, something like that. I

13:20

do not leave anything in my vehicle.

13:22

I don't care how good your locks are or

13:24

what your situation is. Every

13:27

single thing of value, everything that

13:29

either could be used to hurt me if

13:31

they steal it or that I can't live

13:33

without is on my person at

13:35

all times. Yeah. I'm the same way,

13:37

especially with the vehicle. I don't leave thing it to the

13:39

point that some places I won't even

13:41

lock my car at night because I know

13:43

that someone's probably going to either break a

13:45

window or try to get in there's

13:47

nothing in there to steal. And most burglars

13:50

in certain areas, they're just trying to look

13:52

for stuff that they can take and sell. So

13:54

sometimes, I won't even lock my car

13:56

at night. be if I'm in certain areas because

13:58

I know nothing's in there which could be stolen and

13:59

it might save me a window. Again,

14:02

maybe that's a stretch too, but I'm sure

14:04

you see some of that in your area as well.

14:06

Yeah. And I do exactly the same thing. I do a

14:08

lot of Alpine hiking

14:10

and things like that. And then

14:12

if you park your vehicle up on

14:14

a trail head, up in a national

14:16

park or something. Chances of getting

14:18

your car broken into is about,

14:20

you know, it's probably an exaggeration, but it

14:22

feels like it's about one in ten.

14:24

Right? It's pretty high. And

14:26

up there, and I had that happen a couple

14:28

times, and then I finally realized

14:31

just leave nothing in the car, leave everything

14:33

unlocked, and then I'm not having to drive

14:35

home with shattered glass all over my

14:37

seat in a broken window. Sure.

14:39

And back to the backpacks too,

14:41

I do have a few things I do like to do with

14:43

my backpack. So for

14:45

example, all of my backpacks

14:47

are has some kind of dual zipper

14:49

action, a zipper on each side that can meet in the

14:51

middle. I do like to

14:53

keep very small zip ties

14:55

with me, which are not very noticeable.

14:57

And I'm talking about those tiny zip ties

14:59

that are maybe two inches long tops and

15:01

very thin. and

15:02

I will zip tie the two zippers together

15:04

just so that they can't be separated. That way,

15:06

if someone is behind me, you

15:09

know, picking through backpacks and you don't know what

15:11

you're you're in a crowded area, the

15:13

chance of getting those two zipper spread

15:15

apart in order to open an area is a

15:17

bit less because I have those zip ties on it.

15:19

It's holding them together. Of course,

15:21

there's other ways to get in. What I'm looking for

15:23

is that that hurdle, that little piece

15:25

that basically makes a person say, hey, I'll go

15:27

on to someone else. And then I

15:30

typically have a front pouch of a backpack which

15:32

only has one zipper. And the only thing

15:34

I keep in that is a pair of fingernail

15:36

clippers which works to basically

15:38

break open that zip tie and get back in. And

15:40

then I just keep a bunch of those zip ties in the

15:42

front. Is that a

15:44

bad idea? Is that Again,

15:46

am I being naive thinking that's going

15:48

to help? I I will say before you answer

15:51

though, I do also tuck the zipper

15:53

tabs the pull tabs in so that

15:55

you cannot see the zip tie if I if

15:57

someone's just looking at my bag. I

15:59

think that all sounds great. I think anything

16:02

you can do. It seems like

16:04

a lot to me having to deal with all

16:06

that. That is definitely not not

16:08

something I do. My strategy is a

16:10

little different everything that goes into my

16:12

backpack has its own

16:14

larger container that fits in

16:16

like the cargo area. And

16:18

so you would have to get my backpack all

16:20

the way open to be able to get

16:22

these other containers

16:24

out, and then you would have to either take the whole

16:26

container or get them. I feel

16:28

like your scenario is more secure, but maybe

16:30

a little more trouble.

16:32

Yeah. It's not fun. I guess I'm also

16:34

thinking a lot about foreign travel too. When

16:37

every I'm at

16:38

a point that everything I need for the next two or

16:40

three weeks is on my back. And if I don't have

16:42

those things, I'm in trouble, so I'm a little more sensitive

16:44

with them. Yeah. Yeah. The other thing is

16:46

I really focus on backpacks, which

16:48

have internal ziplock pockets as well.

16:50

So it's not just if you get through

16:53

that external zipper, you augment

16:55

automatically have access to everything. Now when you get

16:57

in, everything's also zipped up in its own pouch

16:59

inside and you've got to get through that without

17:01

me noticing as well. I think, again, those

17:03

are just they're hurdles. They don't stop anyone

17:05

from stealing your stuff. They just slow

17:07

them down. Yeah.

17:08

And I think, I mean, your

17:11

methodology definitely suits your personality

17:13

and lifestyle because across

17:15

the board, we are not at the

17:17

same security privacy level.

17:20

But think all of that, if if you can

17:23

live with that, right, and and we

17:25

all know security and

17:27

convenience are opposing. Right?

17:29

So anything you do that's actually

17:31

gonna be effective is going to be an

17:33

inconvenience. Right? Anytime we do

17:35

a measure and it doesn't means

17:37

us, we should ask ourselves is this actually

17:39

benefiting us from a security perspective.

17:41

So what you're doing is I seems

17:44

absolutely effective I think it's

17:46

probably on the extreme end, but

17:48

I I think that's great. I think for

17:50

me,

17:50

it's also partially

17:52

comfort and confidence. If I have the comfort knowing I've

17:54

done those things, I can be a little bit more relieved. That

17:56

gives me the confidence to know that I I have

17:58

a bit more protection and I

18:01

don't have to be paranoid watching my

18:03

back at all times because I've done these things.

18:05

So I I think for me a lot of it's mental,

18:07

probably more than physically helpful, but

18:09

it it does help me. What else

18:11

should we consider with with bags? Will

18:13

that be backpacks, suitcases,

18:15

stuff you're bringing on to

18:17

the airline? Are you are

18:19

you carrying it on? Are you checking it? What are

18:21

some other considerations about just the

18:24

luggage that we need to take when

18:26

we travel?

18:26

Okay. So for me and

18:28

again, my background's a little different than yours.

18:31

I went from doing almost

18:33

no travel to doing

18:35

a huge amount of travel a few years

18:37

ago when I started doing work for you.

18:39

So that was a big adjustment

18:42

for me. So I'm definitely much newer to this

18:44

game than you are, but

18:46

I've had a few years down to figure out

18:48

what works for me. And

18:50

just like everything else, you know, and

18:52

safety and security and privacy, a lot

18:54

of it for me is mindset. So

18:57

the whole thing where

18:59

my carry on backpack doesn't never leaves

19:02

me. Right? If I leave my hotel

19:04

room, it goes with me. If I

19:06

were to get up to have to use the restroom on the

19:08

plane, it would it would go with me.

19:10

It always is with me. If I take it off of

19:12

my shoulders, like even on the plane,

19:14

one of the shoulder straps is

19:16

wrapped around my foot. Right? I am

19:18

in contact that bag at all

19:20

times because that's got two

19:22

laptops, three phones, you know. It has

19:24

whatever drives I bought brought with

19:26

me. So my

19:28

main strategy is

19:30

that creating good habits.

19:32

Right? That is key. Most of the

19:34

time when we lose stuff. Right?

19:37

And that's one of my big threat models. It's not

19:39

just theft. It's losing things.

19:41

And so we really have to reinforce those

19:43

good habits. So what I did is I

19:45

finally made I said, you're These are the

19:47

things you're always going to do, and these are the

19:49

things you're never going to do. So my

19:52

a number one is that bag is

19:54

every single important valuable

19:56

thing that comes with me. Now, I

19:58

am a over packer,

20:00

and so I also check a

20:02

bag because often for our vents, I need a suit, I

20:04

need all sorts of different things. So just

20:07

like in the rest of our lives, I

20:09

can't protect everything I'm usually taking at

20:11

the same high level. So for me

20:14

compartmentalization, everything that goes in my

20:16

carry on is something that

20:18

I afford to lose

20:20

forever with minimal pain.

20:22

And so it's just clothes and toiletries

20:24

and things like that. Anything

20:26

that's valuable that I don't you

20:28

know, that I need next day when I need that client to do

20:30

that training event and anything that could

20:33

be used to harm me that, like, that has my

20:35

data on it or clients

20:37

that are any of those things. Those

20:39

stay on my person at all times in that bag.

20:41

And then it's little things like,

20:44

I never ever use one of those pockets in

20:46

the back of the seat on the

20:48

airplane. Like, that is a number one

20:50

rule because people leave

20:52

things in those all the time. Like,

20:54

I had a kid one of my kids, you

20:56

know, lost a kindle in there years ago.

20:58

I lost my kindle that way. I was going to

21:00

Hawaii and I got in there. Yeah. That's a

21:02

guaranteed way to lose some of your things.

21:04

And people the most common thing

21:06

because, you know, I

21:07

I've all these the

21:10

flight time to just watch other people. And

21:12

because of what we do for a living, we do a lot

21:14

of people watching, that has

21:16

become the default use for that

21:18

pocket is to put your iPad, your phone,

21:20

and all of those devices in

21:22

because most other people

21:24

do all of their entertainment

21:26

digitally. The other thing I

21:28

do is I've gone back to reading paper

21:30

books. So the one exception to

21:32

the previous rule, if I have a book

21:34

or a magazine or anything like that,

21:36

that is the one item. I really

21:39

I can afford to lose that. Right?

21:41

So anything that I have to have out of

21:43

my bag and that I am using

21:46

casually I like it to be something

21:48

disposable. And honestly, going

21:50

back to reading paper books

21:52

versus, like, reading on a Kindle is one

21:54

of the best decisions I ever made. I feel

21:56

like it's easier on my eyes. I feel like, again, I like

21:58

that disposable nature. I like that I can

21:59

share it with a friend when I'm

22:02

done. So in

22:04

essence, I'm sort of going back

22:06

in time. Right? Like using old. Same thing.

22:08

I tend not to do work on my laptop

22:10

on the plane because we do such sensitive

22:12

work even with the privacy screen.

22:15

If I unless I absolutely need to do that work,

22:17

I've gone back to just if anything, bring

22:19

a paper notebook, write notes for

22:21

the training, or, you know,

22:24

whatever the case may be. But really going

22:26

back to paper has been a

22:28

big, I think, improvement in

22:30

my travel security because when you're

22:32

traveling and you're on the move, there's just so many

22:35

different places where you could leave

22:37

something behind or drop something or

22:39

ruin something. And

22:41

so these seem like they're not

22:43

really technological solutions. They're

22:45

more habitual. Right? It's developing

22:48

those good habits that won't cause you

22:50

pain points down the road. And

22:51

what about checking? Do

22:53

you ever check any bags? If so, how do

22:55

you decide what what makes that cut?

22:57

Yeah. So in my check bag, that

22:59

is usually going to be some

23:02

adapters except the exception

23:04

being the ones that I need to

23:06

run my laptop, you know, because I do a lot of training

23:08

events. So everything in my carry

23:10

on, if my check bag disappears, I

23:12

can get through my entire

23:15

training event or keynote or whatever

23:17

work I'm doing even

23:19

if I never see my bag for the

23:21

rest that week. and it's really

23:24

closed toiletries. Often,

23:26

I'll have my suit in there,

23:28

but if I'm doing a keynote

23:30

or something like that, I have my suit sizes

23:32

with me in my notebook.

23:34

So that way, if I had to

23:36

run and get like a men's

23:39

warehouse cheap suit just to

23:41

be appropriately dressed if my bag

23:43

disappears forever, I could do that. So that's my

23:45

solution there. Because I don't really wanna

23:47

have to cart my suit onto the plane and all that, that's

23:49

just personal preference. But

23:51

everything in that baggage disposal and

23:53

in fact, my last training

23:55

event bag didn't make it

23:57

back to my hometown for several

23:59

days because

23:59

there was a huge huge

24:02

storm down south and there was also,

24:04

you know, it took me twenty hours, you

24:06

know, to get just halfway across the

24:08

country and and they did lose my

24:11

bag. And it is a huge

24:13

relief. I mean, that's a hassle but

24:15

all of the stuff in that bag I

24:17

can replace. None none of it has sentimental

24:19

value. None of it is sensitive. None

24:22

of it is required to accomplish my mission

24:24

when I'm on these business trips?

24:26

I haven't checked a bag and

24:28

I would say five years. I refuse because

24:30

of those issues, bags get

24:32

lost, anyone could go through them. So I think it's my

24:34

personality. I don't want to check it back.

24:37

One thing I learned many years ago

24:39

when I was on the road doing keynotes

24:41

and trainings, is how to properly

24:43

tight roll a suit, which can

24:45

then allow me to put it in my backpack. So

24:47

I've actually always carried my suit in

24:49

my backpack. tight rolled to the point that it's

24:51

really not that big. And if you do

24:53

it right when you unroll it, there's

24:55

almost no wrinkles, at least nothing that

24:57

a hot shower won't get out if you hang

24:59

it in shower near you. So if if if

25:00

you're ever interested in that, I

25:03

spent probably two years perfecting

25:05

my tight roll suit technique and that has, I

25:07

think, saved me many times. Yes.

25:09

I

25:09

could definitely use that because there have been a

25:11

couple trips. And you know, because

25:14

you've all the work I I

25:16

do for you now, you I've done

25:18

before. I mean, some of my

25:20

engagements, you know, were flying across the country

25:22

and meeting with a client for fifty minutes and

25:24

then flying back. Right? So I

25:26

wanna look sharp for that, but it

25:28

doesn't really justify checking

25:30

a bag for, you know, flying to and

25:32

from in one day.

25:33

Sure. Well, let's talk about

25:37

maybe some smaller items, and I wanna talk about one

25:39

thing that I've changed a bit in my travel

25:41

protocols, and that is

25:44

the wallet. and this may sound like

25:46

this is so minuscule, so

25:48

minimal. Why are we talking about this? But

25:50

I've went to

25:51

a larger zippered wallet

25:55

and that has made a huge difference

25:57

in a lot of things I do because I

25:59

have a rule when

25:59

I travel, like especially when I'm traveling

26:02

through public transportation, airports, etcetera. I

26:04

don't want anything in

26:06

my pants pockets. I

26:08

don't know

26:09

when as a society at

26:12

least for most men, we started saying,

26:14

let's take all of our most

26:16

valuable possessions, your money, your credit

26:18

card, your ID, etcetera. Let's put it in

26:20

one place and let's put it in our back

26:22

pocket to where we can't see it

26:24

and it sticks out and everyone else

26:26

can see it without us noticing.

26:28

and I'll

26:29

just ask you, where

26:30

do you carry your wallet right

26:33

now?

26:33

So my wallet lives in my bag.

26:35

So and I'm a little bit,

26:37

I think, probably of an oddity. So when

26:39

I'm traveling, it's in my bag the whole time because my

26:42

bag's with me the whole time. Also,

26:44

it's an over share, but

26:46

I typically I'm wearing

26:48

shorts almost all the time when I'm

26:50

not when I'm not in a professional environment. So

26:52

I'm usually wearing shorts when I

26:55

am traveling and typically

26:57

those shorts don't, like, might have a small coin

26:59

pocket, but that that's it. And I

27:01

guess, we're on the same page because I don't

27:03

even really have the option, because I

27:06

don't wear jeans or anything like that work that have

27:08

pockets to put wallets in.

27:10

So my wallet is

27:13

on an interior pocket deep in my

27:15

bag. And that's also where

27:17

my passport would go, you

27:19

know, my insurance card if I'm gonna be

27:21

renting a car, any of those

27:23

different things. So that's

27:24

very similar. I've got two options I do.

27:26

Sometimes I do put it in a bag. But for

27:29

me, the reason I don't want stuff in my

27:31

pockets is I like you

27:33

had alluded to earlier, I think you're more

27:35

likely to lease stuff back. Like, I see all kinds

27:37

of people going through TSA Security at

27:39

an airport, emptying their pockets, putting all their

27:41

stuff in all these different bins, and a lot

27:43

of times they don't end up with all their stuff

27:45

back or it's in a different location, I

27:47

don't like that because I think there's a bigger

27:49

chance of leaving something. So

27:51

what I've transitioned to is

27:53

it's called the output and it's made

27:55

by Simon Pocket. I don't know if they make it or if

27:57

they license it or whatever, but it's

27:59

a wallet which

28:01

has RFID on the entire wallet.

28:03

It has a faraday bag inside

28:05

which will hold my graphene OS phone.

28:08

And it completely zippers.

28:10

So I'll warn

28:12

people, it's big. This isn't a wallet you

28:14

put in your back pocket, your front

28:16

pocket. It's not like that. It's I

28:18

think the term might be a it's more like a clutch.

28:20

I could be wrong on that. But I'm

28:22

looking at mine now and it zippers

28:24

and the whole thing is RFID

28:26

protected. So all my cards are RFID protected, but

28:28

the entire content is not a

28:30

fair day bag. Instead, it

28:32

has a separate a faraday bag, a small faraday

28:35

bag, which is another warning because if

28:37

you have a an iPhone twelve

28:40

pro, whatever, it probably not going

28:42

to fit. The pouch will be too

28:45

small. I was able to fit a

28:47

pixel 4A5A and six

28:49

a in it just fine, which is what

28:51

most people who using graphene OS

28:53

would have. But basically,

28:55

it has its own faraday bag

28:57

inside the wallet. So

28:59

when I'm traveling especially internationally,

29:01

I can have my phone, all of my

29:03

IDs, and all of my money in

29:05

one zippered pouch, which is RFID protected,

29:07

and the phone is faraday bag

29:10

protected and then I will either

29:12

place that in my backpack

29:14

like you had talked about or if

29:16

it's winter and I have a

29:18

coat and that coat has an interior

29:20

zippered pocket. That's a great place too. And that way,

29:22

I can feel it the whole time. I know it's on

29:24

me. I specifically

29:26

will only buy jackets and coats, which

29:28

have an interior zippered pocket or I'll have one tailored

29:30

to have one of my interior pockets zippered.

29:33

So that way, I have all of my

29:35

most important stuff, which is

29:37

my phone, my money, my credit

29:39

cards, my ID, my passport, all of

29:41

that is in one

29:44

zippered pouch which is fairly small

29:46

and it's protected and that will

29:48

either be in my interior coat pocket

29:50

in a zippered pouch or like you said in a

29:52

backpack in a zippered pouch in side

29:54

with some type of protection on

29:56

it, but that allows me to

29:58

know as long as I have

30:00

this thing in my hand or that I know

30:02

it's on me. I know that everything's in

30:04

that. So when you see people with

30:06

their wallets or their credit to their

30:08

money or their phone and they're pulling it all out of all these different

30:11

pockets. I want that all in one place and I

30:13

keep that on me at all

30:15

times. That way, I know that as long as I can get

30:17

to that, I can get to whatever I need.

30:19

Yeah. And my pouch is

30:22

actually similar. except for

30:24

it's transparent. So I think it's

30:26

like night eyes brand and

30:28

it's it's one of these waterproof pouches

30:30

that I actually got for hiking and you're

30:32

put, like, maps and then in them and things like that. And I

30:34

transitioned to that when COVID

30:37

started, and we started to need

30:39

vaccines because I

30:41

could put my passport

30:43

card, which I always take as my

30:45

backup identification addition to

30:47

my driver's license. my insurance

30:50

card and then my Vax

30:52

card, I would have it, so it's showing out

30:54

through the transparent pouch.

30:56

That way, if I got to a place where

30:58

I needed to show proof proof of vaccination,

31:00

I could pull out the

31:02

entire pouch, not have to unload anything.

31:05

So again, less chance of losing

31:07

something plus the way it's set

31:09

in the pouch, the little

31:12

logo on the pouch obfuscated some

31:14

of the Vax card. and you know how the facts

31:16

verifications work like, they just wanna see something.

31:18

Right? So it was kind of a nice

31:20

little privacy bonus, and I never once

31:22

got asked to actually take

31:24

a fax card out of that pouch, but I

31:26

really like that everything was self contained.

31:29

And then it's also a bigger object

31:31

then, so the less chance of leaving that

31:33

fax card or insurance card or any of

31:35

those things, like AAA cards, things like

31:38

that anywhere. Yeah. That's smart.

31:39

The other thing I forgot to mention about the output

31:41

is it has two sections

31:43

for currency, which is important to me, especially

31:45

if I'm traveling internationally, to

31:47

wear the back section, which is harder to get to. I can

31:49

put on my USD for when I get back or if

31:51

I needed this emergency. And that front

31:54

section could be all my foreign currency. That

31:56

way, as soon as I open this thing up, all I

31:58

have is foreign currency on me. I think we're gonna get

32:00

into more more into that in a minute too. But

32:02

I'll put a link in the show notes. You

32:04

know, everyone I'm silent pocket fan and

32:06

I'm a silent pocket affiliate. They do get a

32:08

discount for listeners here. That's not why I

32:10

mentioned this. I mentioned it because it's the

32:12

only pouch or whatever you wanna call it I

32:14

could find. which had the

32:16

smallest Faraday bag, which would fit my

32:18

specific phone, which also had RFID

32:20

protection for all my content within it

32:22

and zipped up just kinda checked all the boxes

32:24

for me. I think it was like seventy

32:26

bucks. It's not too bad, but, you know,

32:28

anything of niche

32:30

content is going to be more money than

32:32

maybe that you might think it will be. But I'll put a link

32:34

to it if people wanna check it out. It's called the output.

32:36

It's just something I

32:38

liked. Really, it's the zipper. It's

32:41

it's the minimal part of it. It's the

32:43

the fact that I can put everything in it and have

32:45

it encased. I

32:47

had encapsulated into this thing to

32:49

where a credit it's not going to fall out. And ID is

32:51

not going to fall out. My money is not going to fall out.

32:53

My phone's not going to fall out. And I just like

32:55

having that all together. Talk to

32:57

me a bit about you know, we're talking

32:59

about traveling and going through all this transportation.

33:01

What about when you get to

33:04

your destination and maybe you've got some

33:06

ground travel or something or hotel stay

33:08

ahead of you, any new tips

33:10

or things you've discovered that work well for

33:12

you in that thing?

33:13

Nothing

33:16

huge. Again, I'm probably bit unique in

33:18

that whenever I can, I try

33:20

to take free shuttles and things like that

33:22

just because it means one less

33:24

transaction you can usually have all of

33:26

your stuff right with you instead of even

33:28

having to throw it in a trunk or something like

33:30

that. If I do have to take a

33:32

lift or anything where they want me

33:34

to put my larger bag in the back, I

33:37

still always keep that backpack

33:39

on my lap ready to go. If I

33:41

do have to use any the rideshare. Again,

33:43

my privacy is not at your

33:45

level. But, like, if I have to

33:47

take a Lyft to my house, my

33:49

Lyft address is actually

33:51

about four houses away from where I actually

33:53

live. My the display name that

33:55

comes up is a different name than my name because

33:57

the driver doesn't need to So

33:59

I just do a lot of those real little

34:02

things that sort of obfuscate what

34:04

my destinations are. And

34:06

I I like to get quite a bit of exercise during

34:09

a day anyway. So I always

34:11

get dropped off short of my

34:13

destination and then just hoof

34:15

it. Right? And I again,

34:17

that may seem a bit paranoid, but it actually works out really

34:19

well because I get all my steps in. They're not

34:22

as it's not as easy

34:24

for those ride shares to

34:26

track exactly all

34:28

of my movements, but I'm still able to use the convenience of

34:31

those things. And then same

34:33

thing, when I am staying

34:36

at hotels, as much as possible using all of, you know, privacy

34:38

techniques that you have been over again

34:40

and and again and again. But then

34:42

when I get in my room,

34:45

And I know you did an entire episode on

34:48

hotel rooms and, you know, you and I

34:50

worked on a little bit of a case involving

34:52

cameras and hotel rooms. And so we're definitely a little

34:54

paranoid in that regard. The

34:56

other thing I do in hotel rooms

34:58

aside from looking

35:00

for cameras, putting tape over things. I have

35:02

a little 33D printed door

35:05

wedge. So if we have

35:07

one of those adjoining doors in

35:09

the hotel room. I can slide that under. The other thing I haven't

35:11

tried this yet, but I I've seen

35:13

other people do is rolling a towel. If

35:15

you have one

35:18

of those door handles that is a latch handle.

35:20

Right? Like, you push down on

35:22

it, you don't turn it. Well,

35:26

trained to do covert

35:28

entries knows that there is a tool

35:30

you can slide under the door that is like a

35:32

long rod with a wire

35:34

on it. and then you basically

35:36

can twist that rod and pop the wire over one of those

35:38

latch door handles and basically just

35:42

pull pull on the rod that the handle gets pulled down and the hotel room

35:44

door gets popped right open. And I

35:47

saw a pretty clever way

35:49

of rolling up one of the towels out of

35:51

the bathroom and just popping it up

35:54

in kind of the little recessed

35:56

u shaped area on inside of that

35:58

handle so they can't fit that

35:59

rod in there to pull the handle down. So that

36:02

was kind of a clever technique. But I

36:04

think whatever you can

36:06

do to sort of lock down

36:08

your physical space. The other nice thing I've noticed, I mean, COVID

36:10

was horrible, but there's some benefits.

36:14

Now we can all wear masks everywhere. Right?

36:16

Now people don't want direct contact. We have a

36:18

lot of excuse not to talk to

36:22

people. But one of the other benefits is I've noticed a lot of the hotels have

36:24

switched. It used to be they would hassle

36:26

you about doing housekeeping on

36:30

room and I never want housekeeping. I don't want anyone in

36:32

my space. Well now a lot of them

36:34

have moved to a policy of

36:36

not doing housekeeping unless it's

36:39

requested because of COVID protocols, which

36:41

actually was a really nice bonus

36:43

for me so that I don't

36:45

have as much evasive activity in

36:47

that space. I still don't trust. because if

36:49

they wanna get in your room, they can get in

36:51

your room. But your your same

36:54

little wedge your single

36:56

towel trick can also be a good

36:58

sign that housekeeping or someone else has entered your room with

37:00

a card after you've left because if any

37:02

of those things are

37:04

dislodged, that can be a

37:06

real simple old school sign

37:08

that someone has been there. In

37:09

the past, I had talked about how I carried a placard

37:11

that said recording in progress, do not

37:14

enter even more in my room. I don't do that

37:16

anymore. My new sign says

37:18

sick person quarantined inside

37:20

do not enter. That seems

37:22

to work wonders for

37:24

keeping house keeping out if they think there's a sick person possibly with COVID inside,

37:26

they're not they don't even knock. Now I don't get

37:28

anything. I might get a call

37:30

once a night saying do you need anything, but they

37:32

don't bother me at all

37:34

now about shrinking in because I guess they assume a COVID person's in there,

37:36

but that's that's brilliant. Maybe that's

37:38

mean, but man, it

37:40

works.

37:41

Well, and you know, and

37:43

I've had COVID, and I was sick. And also know you can never

37:45

really be sure that you

37:47

don't have it. because

37:49

the tests aren't that accurate. So I think it's fair to say

37:52

you could have it. That's

37:54

fair to

37:54

say anything in my world. So

37:57

let's talk about dress, which I think is something important that we

37:59

don't look at enough, is how you dress when you're

38:02

going somewhere. And for me,

38:04

I put a

38:05

lot of attention into where

38:07

I'm going, what do the locals wear? And it can

38:09

be very different. Like, a lot of the tips I

38:11

see online are just to wear very

38:14

drab gray clothing. which

38:16

might work for a lot of places,

38:18

but if you're going to to

38:20

some island and you're the only

38:22

person wearing dark drab clothing,

38:24

now you stick out more. So I always do a bit of

38:26

research into what do people wear, and

38:28

that changes a lot from me. So if I'm

38:30

if I'm going to London, that might be some

38:32

drab clothing it's not fancy.

38:34

It's just kind of gray

38:36

and hopefully I blend in. If I'm

38:38

going to a Caribbean island, I'm probably going

38:40

to wear a bright colored polo with

38:42

khaki doctors because that's what all the

38:44

hotel employees and all the finance people are wearing. I

38:46

want to fit in with them. So for me,

38:49

it's more about what Do most people wear there?

38:51

And how can I fit in the best with

38:53

that? Anything to add

38:55

on that part? No. And

38:57

I don't think that is probably an area

38:59

that I'm the best example of good

39:02

practices because, really, I wear

39:04

kind of athletic wear all the time when I'm

39:06

traveling just because that's what I'm comfortable

39:08

with. And I haven't really put too much

39:10

thought into that. For me, it's about

39:12

I don't wanna look like tourist. I don't wanna look like I

39:14

don't belong. I don't wanna look like I don't

39:16

have confidence there. I went I I

39:18

go to a specific place a lot.

39:20

It's a very small place. And there's

39:23

one employer who's like the big

39:25

employer and most most local

39:28

people work for that

39:30

employer in all those people wear a specific polo shirt with that employer's logo

39:32

on it. And I went to a thrift shop on

39:34

the island once and they had a bunch of those

39:36

shirts, so you could buy for

39:38

three dollars. and that's what I wear

39:40

most of the time. I look like another one of

39:42

the majority employees

39:45

for that place and I just walk around with my polo, with

39:47

that logo on it, with my khakis on. And everyone just assumes I'm a

39:50

local. They say hi to me, you know,

39:52

they open doors for me and they just think I'm

39:54

one of

39:56

them. and I don't look like the one percent, which

39:58

are the tourists there, which have all the money,

40:00

and which are highly targeted. So that's just

40:02

another tip if you

40:04

find that company, which a lot of people work for,

40:06

that's very well known there, getting

40:08

in a logo could like on

40:10

your shirt, could help with that, it could also hurt, it

40:12

could make people quest so use that

40:14

carefully, but I found it to work well for me.

40:16

Otherwise, I don't like any logos on

40:18

anything. Yeah. And

40:20

I

40:20

think the problem I've run into is sort of the So

40:22

I haven't had issues with being

40:24

targeted by criminals because I probably look

40:26

a little bit more like a criminal

40:29

than tourists, but I have had issues

40:31

with businesses being suspicious of

40:34

me because they think I'm

40:36

sketchy. Right? I've got the big

40:38

full backpack on. I'm wearing, you know,

40:40

maybe a little bit of raggedy shorts

40:42

that I've had for a couple years

40:44

too many. and, you know, earrings,

40:46

tattoos, those sorts of things. So I

40:49

think that just on my

40:51

most recent trip, you know, I went into

40:53

a business and there's all sorts of people in there with bags

40:55

and handbags and stuff, and the guy's like, yeah, you can't come

40:57

in unless you give me your bag. And yeah.

41:00

So it doesn't happen often.

41:03

but when I have had issues about my

41:05

attire, it's usually being

41:08

too casual or, I guess, looking like

41:10

a Hobo maybe. you kind

41:11

of are a shady looking dude. So I I get it.

41:13

III don't know if I want you carrying the bag

41:15

in my business. Yeah. I can't blame them.

41:17

I guess that's again where

41:20

the the nice satin

41:22

finish polo tucked into the dockers

41:24

with the, you know, whatever crap shoes

41:26

I want to wear. It it helps because no

41:28

one looks twice at me because I look like

41:30

half of the other people on that street or in that business.

41:33

It's also helped quite a bit

41:35

with restaurants, just they a lot of restaurants,

41:37

especially in touristy areas, take care

41:39

of the locals. And when they see

41:41

or think you're the local, all of a sudden, that table's ready quicker or you

41:44

get that discount because you're they think you're

41:46

local, whatever.

41:48

So I won't go any further than that because people get mad saying taking a

41:50

manager people, hey, I'm not asking for it.

41:52

It just sometimes good things happen.

41:56

Talk

41:56

to me just about the overall confidence we want

41:58

to have. When we

41:59

go to a place

42:02

that we are not familiar with, we don't

42:04

want to

42:06

appear that we're not familiar with that place. So how important

42:08

or how vital is it that we have

42:10

the confidence so that we don't

42:12

stick out more as someone confused?

42:15

Yeah. And this is even

42:18

beyond travel. Like, I'm a firm

42:20

believer in this across the board. Right?

42:22

And and everyone who works in

42:24

law enforcement knows about exuding, you know, what we would

42:26

call in the the field a

42:28

command presence or a

42:30

situational one

42:32

awareness. And it's that idea that when you're out in

42:34

public, I I essentially think of

42:36

it as, like, when you watch those national

42:39

geographic shows and they have the lions and

42:42

the zebras and the gazels and all of

42:44

that. Like, do you want to

42:46

be predator

42:48

or prey And even if you and again, we're all people

42:50

watchers, right, in our industry. If you

42:52

go out and start watching people, you can

42:54

really quickly

42:56

pick out the people who have

42:58

their eyes down, heads in their phones,

43:00

just screwing along, but not

43:02

really aware of what's going around them.

43:04

And then you can see some shady dudes sitting on the standing

43:06

on the corner of the gas and sip,

43:08

watching all of those people. He's

43:12

the predator. Right? Or he's a cop,

43:14

undercover. And what everyone

43:16

needs to think about

43:18

is criminals

43:20

all have a little bit of a sixth sense on

43:22

who is easy to victimize. And so

43:24

when they see your head down in your

43:27

phone or you look out place,

43:29

like you said, the clothing, all of that tourists

43:31

are a big target. But a lot of

43:33

that is walking, not being afraid to

43:36

make very brief eye contact. But if nothing

43:38

else head on a swivel, aware

43:40

of what's going on around you, your

43:42

chances of being targeted are going

43:44

to go way,

43:46

way, down. Because if you're a bad guy,

43:48

I think about it, would would you

43:50

rather attack the gazelle

43:52

who's got his head down drinking in

43:55

the watering hole or the gazelle that is

43:57

alert and looking around and aware

43:59

of its surroundings. Right? It's just

44:01

common sense. So I think exuding that

44:03

is very important. I

44:05

was in Europe not

44:06

too long ago and I was at a train station

44:08

watching a person doing that. They're basically

44:10

just analyzing everyone that walks by

44:13

And as soon as they saw the person

44:15

with their head down in the phone

44:17

or worse with a map, they

44:19

would just start following them very closely. They're

44:21

probably going through their pockets or through

44:23

their bag. And what I found

44:25

and this maybe could introduce more

44:28

problems is I like to make eye

44:30

contact with those people

44:32

because most people who see that shady person looking around. They, you know, they

44:34

don't wanna look at them. Don't look at them. Look

44:36

away. I like to just not

44:38

stare them

44:40

down, not challenge them, but make basically, let them know that I

44:42

see you. And

44:44

I I should say, I'm not afraid to use,

44:46

not the right word to use, but

44:50

basically, I'm I'm I'm

44:52

addressing that you're there and

44:54

I'm not just the tourist looking down at my phone. I

44:56

found that to be helpful. because

44:58

like you were saying that they're gonna find someone.

45:00

They're gonna go to the easiest pray they can

45:02

find that that injured animal, whatever.

45:04

I just don't wanna be

45:06

that person. Yeah.

45:06

And I will add a little twist, and

45:08

that is you do so that is

45:10

generally good advice, the whole thing about

45:12

making just brief eye contact. but

45:15

I hate I've kinda changed my stance on being universal because

45:18

my wife actually made a very good point

45:20

because I

45:22

make my girls sit through all these, you know, we

45:24

do ground fighting and training on all of this.

45:26

Again, I'm either the worst or best at

45:28

ever. I'm not sure. And I'm the

45:30

weirdo. Okay. but

45:33

my wife pointed made a good point when I was talking

45:35

to the girls about eye contact

45:37

and situational awareness and

45:40

exuding that, like, hey, I'm checking off on you. I see that

45:42

you're there just so you're aware that I'm aware.

45:44

And she made a good point that

45:46

when you are a woman in our

45:50

culture, least, that can backfire because that can come across

45:52

as, hey, I'm interested. Right?

45:54

So I I think there

45:57

is a consideration ratio there,

46:00

depending on culture,

46:02

gender, those different things. It's it's a

46:04

different scenario for me to do that

46:06

than maybe one my daughters to do

46:08

that. But again, you don't even have to

46:10

you're not staring at the person. You're just

46:12

making it clear that you are aware

46:14

and watching and seeing what's going on around

46:17

you. You're prepared. Yeah. For me, it's mostly I try

46:18

to stare until they look at another victim,

46:21

which usually happens pretty quick. Yeah.

46:23

Because they know they're criminals. They know they're doing something. They don't

46:26

want to be seen either. In my experience,

46:28

when I do see the pickpocket at the train station,

46:30

I make that eye contact, they are pretty quick to

46:32

look away before I am. But

46:34

again, like you said, that's

46:36

different for everyone. That's different for genders. That's

46:38

different for age. That's different for a lot

46:40

of things. just something that's worked well

46:42

for me, which might not work well for me when I'm

46:44

eighty, might get me beat up. I don't

46:46

know. So let's talk about some things that

46:48

would be universe for everyone. And two of

46:50

the big ones for me are no maps and no phones. When I am in

46:52

public, there's no way I would ever

46:54

be looking at a map that screams

46:58

I don't know where I'm at and I'm a good target. The other thing

47:00

is I just don't look at my phone. A

47:02

lot of that is, I don't

47:05

ever really use my phone when I'm in motion anyway. I I'm

47:08

not that type of person, but you see all these people who

47:10

will talk on their phone

47:12

while they're walking down the street in a

47:14

foreign place. completely oblivious. They don't know they're being pickpocketed. They

47:16

don't know someone's going to their bag. They don't know

47:18

someone's following them. So for me, those

47:20

two things I

47:22

don't want you to ever see them. Now, if I do need to look at a map, okay,

47:24

I'm going to go somewhere to do that. I might dip

47:26

into the library and sit down and look at my

47:28

map and figure out what I need to do.

47:30

If I need to use my phone, I'm going to dip into

47:32

somewhere, sit down, buy a tea, buy a coffee, whatever, and

47:34

sit down and do that. what

47:37

else is there to add to that? Yeah.

47:40

I

47:40

would say probably less important,

47:42

but similar would be headphones.

47:45

So obviously, if you have your

47:47

headphones on and, you know, they're

47:49

gonna see that that may be a sign that

47:51

you are distracted. you might be

47:53

another victim. Now I will I

47:56

wear, like, earbuds from time to time when

47:58

I'm traveling because I do a lot

48:00

of long like hiking around and things like that. But if I

48:02

enter enter a sketchy area or

48:04

an area where I'm like in close

48:06

proximity to people, I at

48:08

least turn off whatever I'm listening to.

48:10

So even though they can

48:12

see I have

48:14

earbuds in, like, I'm not actually distracted. I'm paying

48:16

attention. And I could hear if someone's coming up

48:18

behind me. Or wear

48:20

earbuds, which are amplifiers, which is something I've

48:22

been guilty job as well You

48:24

can start stopping much. Because it is

48:26

I mean, getting the strong armed robberies are

48:29

a thing. On one of my recent

48:31

trips, I had a

48:33

young kid and there was almost no one in this

48:35

kind of remote area. And I saw

48:37

the same kid pass me on a little

48:39

dirt bike, and I say

48:42

kid teenager. about five different times. And there was really

48:44

no reason for him to be

48:46

circling that area. And to me,

48:48

again, probably

48:50

paranoid, that feels like a lookout.

48:52

And there's enough situations I

48:54

see at work where then that

48:57

person with the headphones in someone

48:59

comes up behind him, smacks him in the back of the head with a brick, and then takes

49:01

whatever's easy to grab and runs.

49:03

Right? So I just, in that scenario,

49:05

made sure, again,

49:08

about the second time that kid passed me, made direct

49:10

eye contact. And then finally, the

49:12

third time I stopped and

49:15

then started following him a little bit.

49:17

And then eventually, like, he made a couple passes and then moved

49:19

on, but it was clear that I was not an

49:22

easy target. This

49:24

may

49:24

be the most depressing holiday show I've ever done. But this isn't

49:26

a holiday show, but you know what I

49:29

mean? Yeah. Let's talk about cash,

49:31

which we talk about as

49:33

a privacy tactic, paying with cash is, of course,

49:36

better than paying with a credit card just for tracking

49:38

purposes, but there's a lot of other

49:40

benefits to cash.

49:42

For me, It's not

49:43

just about paying for cash in order to not have a digital record

49:45

of a transaction. It's also very important

49:47

for me when I'm not in

49:49

the US. When

49:52

I land in any country I'm going to,

49:54

I make sure that I have that country's

49:56

currency on me. And I I try to

49:58

have as much as I'm going to need for the entire trip.

50:00

I don't like

50:02

to hit tams. I don't like to hit banks. I want to all that on

50:04

me. And I think that does a couple of

50:06

things. First, it

50:08

might pass a bit of a smell

50:10

test of is the sky tourist. Because

50:12

most tourists arrive and hit

50:14

the ATM at the airport or the hotel to

50:16

start getting money for that

50:18

local currency, Whereas if I land and I go straight to the cabin,

50:20

I've already got a wallet full of that currency. I

50:22

think it just it

50:24

displays a bit different than

50:27

the typical tourist who comes in and says, do you

50:29

take US cash? Which I never try to

50:32

say if I'm not in the US because I

50:34

think some are insulted by it. Some people take advantage of it. Some people double

50:36

the price on you. I always have

50:38

that foreign currency. And I also

50:42

have foreign gift cards, which I think are important

50:44

too. You know, I know you

50:46

are more of a domestic traveler than an

50:48

international traveler, but do

50:50

you ever sit or foreign

50:52

currency as part of your

50:54

protocol? Yeah.

50:54

The little bit that I

50:56

have done foreign travel recently really has

50:59

all been on your behalf. So the nice thing

51:01

is I've had someone to consult with,

51:03

you know. In that, I guess, that's my

51:05

piece of advice. If you are doing any sort of travel

51:07

that is outside of your

51:09

experience, find someone who is

51:12

experienced and tap that

51:14

experience for your own benefit. So I

51:16

was able for those trips to get a lot of tips like this

51:18

going in. So the times I've done

51:20

that, I've taken currency. I am also kind

51:22

of a cash

51:24

diet and enroll. Like, I just like having cash even if

51:26

I have cards with me as well. So it's

51:28

kind of universeable across the

51:30

board for

51:32

me. and usually

51:34

that's going to be a couple wads

51:36

of twenties and tens, but wadded

51:38

deep. And so I have two

51:40

main travel carry ons. One,

51:42

is like more of a a really heavy tactical bag that

51:44

I just like. The other one I actually

51:46

made myself, so I was able to make

51:48

it out of like a thousand weight

51:51

ordera, so it's very, very rugged. Like so

51:54

if there there were a slashing risk

51:56

or something like that, it's very unlikely to

51:58

be successful. but what I did

52:00

is I sewed a pocket

52:02

into the bottom of the cargo

52:04

area that is hidden

52:06

and that's where my cash goes, that's where

52:08

I can put that that clear pouch

52:10

that has my passport card and all

52:12

of those things in it. So even if you

52:14

were to grab my bag, run around a corner,

52:17

get my laptop out of it, you know, while I'm

52:20

bleeding on the ground. But

52:22

as you know, you typically we find

52:24

the bag and all of that stuff dumped in

52:26

a ditch to block away. Right.

52:28

because they don't they don't wanna be seen

52:30

on cameras carrying the bag they just stole

52:32

or caught with it. Or

52:34

caught with it. So that

52:37

that's my little cash tip is I

52:39

just literally sewed in a little special pouch

52:41

in the bottom of my bag. And then

52:43

on my person, in my

52:45

shorts, I have, like, a little, like, plain pouch, and that

52:48

usually has, like, thirty

52:50

bucks. Right? And and if they wanna rob

52:52

me and ask me all my cash. That's

52:54

enough to give them that they may see

52:56

feel satisfied and go away. Typically,

52:58

you don't want that be in a situation where

53:00

you can't give them anything because you

53:02

wanna just yourself out of the prom. So I do

53:04

like to have a little bit of extra cash

53:06

that's separate from that main storage of

53:09

cash. If I'm in an area where I

53:11

think that's a true possibility, I will carry like very

53:14

small slim wallet which just has

53:16

that thirty dollars of foreign cash wallet. Yes. And

53:18

I'm more than happy to give that up. I call it my

53:20

bait wallet. Yeah. I'm more than happy to say, look, my hands are up. I'm

53:22

no problem. I see nothing. I might even close my eyes

53:24

and just hand them that little wallet and they run

53:26

away. And

53:28

they don't know that I have, you know, the four hundred and fifty

53:30

euro in the other clutch

53:32

inside my coat, inside the zipper. They

53:34

just wanted that quick score. But

53:37

I like what you said about hiding sewing and

53:38

things because I often will

53:41

split my cash. If I if

53:44

I

53:44

know I need x amount of dollars for a foreign trip, the

53:46

bulk of that might be in

53:48

my zippered pouch I talked

53:50

about, which I keep very secure,

53:53

but also there's going to be a reserve. I'm going to have a section of money which will

53:55

at least get me out of whatever mess

53:57

I'm in and that might be

53:59

hidden. I don't have

54:02

a pocket sold into a bag, but that's a

54:04

good idea. But I do have places

54:06

where I can keep like SIM cards, like, I'm sorry, not

54:08

SIM cards, micro SD cards where I can

54:10

tuck them

54:12

under And even if you went through my entire bag and stole everything out of it, you would never get to

54:14

that micro SD card, which might have a backup of

54:16

my data. That can also maybe if

54:18

I had a laptop that's been cleaned

54:22

and it and I don't wanna look I don't wanna have my personal

54:24

data on the laptop, maybe through a checkpoint,

54:26

then I might have that hidden as well too. So

54:28

lots of good ideas

54:30

there for just the

54:32

overall, let's hide what we

54:34

can

54:34

and let's remember the mindset of

54:36

your adversary. You know, if your adversary

54:38

is the border agent at the crossing that you're

54:41

going to do, then none of this is probably

54:43

going to work. If your adversary is the stranger

54:45

who's looking for a quick score, I think all

54:47

of these are good tasks. Yeah.

54:48

I agree. Yeah. The guy who does the strong-arm robbery, he's looking

54:51

for cash electronics prescriptions. Right?

54:54

And so he's probably not gonna

54:56

dig through for that

54:58

SD card or wherever you're storing

55:00

that. Typically go to

55:02

most of the

55:02

same places over and over. I I'm not typically

55:04

going to new places lately, So

55:08

I can already have that cash ahead of time

55:10

for that foreign currency, which is something

55:12

I do. I I keep foreign currency for

55:14

the countries I visit at my home in

55:16

a safe place to where I have it in case

55:18

I need to go quickly. If

55:20

you don't have cash, most

55:22

international airports have a kiosk where

55:25

as soon as you depart or land, you can

55:27

exchange cash. But those can

55:30

typically be a rip off. They take a a

55:32

fee, typically a percentage.

55:34

So you

55:34

might get hit and it might cost you a

55:36

lot more than it should. What I like to do

55:38

is my local bank will

55:40

allow me to order foreign currency

55:42

at a flat rate. So I can say

55:45

give me a hundred euro or give me ten thousand euro and my

55:47

fee is eight ninety five for that.

55:49

They order it. It gets ship

55:51

to them. They give it in a few days. I go pick it

55:53

up. That's a, I guess, a perk for

55:56

being a member of that specific bank.

55:58

But most major

55:59

banks will offer that to where they can get you foreign currency in a few

56:02

days, and you just have to pay a flat

56:04

fee. And then, of course,

56:06

whatever the

56:08

the current conversion fee is for that cash. But for

56:10

me, it's so important that the

56:12

moment I land at that foreign

56:14

place that I have

56:16

that cash I can jet right

56:18

to the taxi cab. And I've

56:20

seen where I've gotten

56:21

in a taxi in

56:23

certain places and you know, I'm I'm watching the meter and I pull out local cash

56:25

and there's almost a look of discipline and I'm like, 0II

56:28

can't rip this guy off and I can't explain him

56:30

that it's four hundred dollar

56:32

USD cab ride. So I think that there's a lot

56:34

of benefits there. I mentioned the gift

56:36

cards I like to

56:38

have a foreign gift card because my

56:40

vanilla visa from the US probably

56:42

isn't going to work in all the countries I

56:44

visit. So when I do get to certain

56:46

countries, I might stock up on their

56:48

own gift cards or their prepaid

56:50

cards. That way, if I'm at a

56:52

place that doesn't accept cash or cash

56:54

is problematic for whatever

56:56

reason, I can swipe that card and get out of

56:58

there. And I never put too much

57:00

money on them to where if it gets lost or stolen.

57:02

It's not a big deal. Also,

57:04

I'm always sure to have offline maps.

57:06

So on my device, my mobile

57:08

device, I'm going to make sure that I

57:10

already have my

57:12

mapping program installed and I

57:14

downloaded offline maps because I might not have

57:16

reliable data where I'm at. I might not

57:18

even have a SIM card where I'm at,

57:20

but I use OSM and which

57:22

if you download F droid

57:24

on an Android device. Specifically, I use a

57:26

graphene OS device, you can

57:28

actually download the entire world's

57:30

maps for free and have them stored on the phone to where you don't need signal

57:32

in order to get to where

57:34

you're going. I think that's important. Talk

57:36

to me a bit about do

57:40

you preprint your maps? What do you decide? Mix

57:42

the cut for what you need as far as paperwork

57:45

when you get to your location? So

57:48

I preprint everything. And

57:50

and again, I love paper,

57:52

paper books, paper notes, all of

57:54

those things because I'm super old. And

57:58

so when I'm planning out my trips,

57:59

I also I don't wanna feel

58:02

anxious about being late

58:04

like, I refuse to be late for anything.

58:06

Right? So I'm the guy who's gonna show up forty five minutes early just so

58:08

I don't risk being five minutes late. So

58:10

it's likewise when I am going

58:14

to a trip. It's almost always for business. I do a bunch of homework ahead

58:16

of time. I preprint the maps. I

58:18

figure out how long it takes me to walk

58:22

from my hotel to my venue because a lot of times I

58:24

will stay relatively close and then

58:26

walk and then I don't have to do lifts

58:28

and taxis and those sorts of

58:30

things. So I've actually

58:32

planned out my routes for

58:34

almost every place I'm going to go on my

58:36

trip even for things like wears a

58:38

grocery store. Right? Is there

58:40

at least like a gas station where I

58:42

can go up and get some bottled water and things

58:44

like that? Is all planned out

58:46

ahead of time? And then

58:48

I have large envelope that goes in my carry on bag with my

58:50

laptops that has to those.

58:52

And if I were to lose those

58:54

or get them stolen.

58:56

They don't have any client data on. They

58:58

don't have anything on them that is

59:00

specific enough to come back and bite me,

59:02

but it is enough to get

59:04

me to the general areas of every place I need to

59:06

be. All great tips. I'll

59:08

throw one last consideration out there, and I think

59:10

we need to wrap it up. We're about at the

59:12

hour mark. I

59:14

insist on any country I visit

59:16

to know at least something in the

59:18

language of that country. There are so

59:20

many places I go where Americans show

59:23

up attitude of, I know that you don't

59:25

speak English here, but I speak English. So you

59:27

should speak English. And why can't you help me in

59:29

English? And that's really that

59:31

can be a very bad day.

59:34

So I I know how to say

59:36

one sentence in multiple languages, which

59:38

is basically

59:40

my insert whatever language is spoken there. Is poor?

59:42

May I ask you a question in English?

59:44

And by, you know, if I'm somewhere

59:46

that predominantly speaks Spanish and I can

59:49

say in Spanish, hey, my Spanish is poor. May

59:51

I ask you a question in English? It tends to change

59:54

the complete vibe

59:55

of the situation. Now I'm

59:57

not an entitled American

1:00:00

asking or demanding that you help me in my

1:00:02

language. I'm showing some

1:00:04

effort. I'm telling you that

1:00:06

my language is poor.

1:00:08

I don't speaker language well, but I'm trying and I don't

1:00:10

wanna disrespect you. So I'm going to I'm going

1:00:12

to ask you in your language, may I ask

1:00:14

you something in English? And what I

1:00:16

found is that

1:00:18

tends to make people want to help you.

1:00:20

They they they tend to look at you a little bit

1:00:22

differently like, oh, you're you're not the typical

1:00:24

here. How can we help you? What do

1:00:26

you need? And

1:00:27

if I just know that one

1:00:30

sentence and say twenty different languages,

1:00:32

in my experience that can really help

1:00:34

get your foot in the door when you need a hand

1:00:36

from someone local. Jason, anything

1:00:38

else to add before we wrap it up?

1:00:40

No.

1:00:40

I think probably my

1:00:44

final kinda hot tip is in a similar

1:00:46

vein of just being gracious, you know,

1:00:48

when you're traveling. One thing I started

1:00:50

to do during COVID because we're all

1:00:52

wearing masks is I

1:00:54

have on in one of my notebooks written out, know,

1:00:56

may I

1:00:57

please have

1:00:58

diet coke? I really appreciate

1:01:00

it. Have a fantastic day smiley face

1:01:04

big easy to read letters. And what I found is the flight staff

1:01:06

on the plane really appreciate

1:01:08

that extra courtesy. It makes

1:01:10

their job easier for getting you the

1:01:13

drink or whatever you're you're having. And just little extra, hey, I

1:01:15

really appreciate you. I really appreciate what you're

1:01:17

doing. Being a little bit

1:01:19

gracious goes along way

1:01:22

and, you know, can come back

1:01:23

and really benefit you if you do an up

1:01:25

needing something and it just is the right thing to

1:01:28

do also. I'm gonna try that, but

1:01:30

with may I sit in first

1:01:32

class? Do you think that'll work?

1:01:34

Hey, it's worth a shot. Mhmm. Alright. We'll give

1:01:36

a shot. Alright. Well, thank you,

1:01:38

Jason, for joining. I hope

1:01:40

that out of all of our

1:01:42

nonsense, maybe you have picked up

1:01:44

on something that maybe didn't know already or

1:01:46

maybe that you want to try not to

1:01:48

apply. Again, I want to

1:01:50

really reiterate that this is not meant to be a

1:01:52

complete privacy and

1:01:54

security travel safety show. It's more of here are some things that

1:01:56

we think about when we are doing all the travel

1:01:58

that we're doing it. And it really

1:02:00

is meant a supplement. We

1:02:02

got everything we talked about before in the show in

1:02:04

the books, etcetera. So hopefully you've got some out

1:02:06

of bed. I will see

1:02:08

everyone back here in two weeks weeks,

1:02:10

and I've got some big announcements. We'll see

1:02:12

you then.