After eventually trudging back to his hotel, in a very shocked state, he was able to obtain contact details for the British Consulate and make arrangements to rectify the situation and get his holiday back on track.Go To Jail - Go Directly To Jail - Do Not Pass Go!The next day my hungry friend (he had no money for breakfast) made his way on foot (he had no money for a taxi) towards the consulate only to get caught up in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on the US Consulate a short distance away. 3 dead Police Officers and 3 Dead PKK terrorists equals utter panic and a lot of checking of identity documents - of which he had none! And that is an offence in Turkey.Lets just say that he didnt spend that night in his hotel room. With more pressing matters on their minds that day, it was a good few hours before my friend said goodbye to his Police hosts and finally made it to the Consulate a day later. His intended 2 day short stay in Istanbul before going on to Marmaris had extended to 4 days after which time he was more than ready to return to the UK and start saving for next years holiday - to the Isle of Wight!!And The Winner Is......Now remember, the point of this story - its true by the way - is not in any way to detract from Turkey (which is a fantastic vacation destination), its to give you an indispensable travel resource that almost certainly would have helped prevent this disaster if only my friend had consulted it and followed a few very simple and readily available tips.The travel resource Im talking about is: The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)(In Australia: The Grus.ru>overnment Safe Traveller Website) (In USA: Department of State Website - International Travel Page)What Do You Get?A couple of mouse clicks takes you to the Travel and Living Abroad page of the FCO Website. This is a publicly accessible site that is jammed packed full of useful information on rus.ru>overseas travel including topics such as:Staying Safe and Healthy Crime and Terrorism What To Do If Things Go Wrong Local Laws and Customs Travel Restrictions Emergency Points of Contact Responsible Ethical and Environmentally Considerate Travel Registering of Births, Deaths and Marriages and much much more.Planning a trip with advice from this site in mind would have discouraged my friend from visiting certain dangerous areas, advised him to store important local numbers in his phone, prepare duplicate copies of important identity documents and to be aware of criminal and terrorist activity. In short he could have avoided the whole sorry episode.Is It Really Necessary?Am I being melodramatic? Well, not when you consider that last year 715 Britons required Consular assistance after having their passports stolen whilst on vacation in... Italy.So remember. A vacation (or holiday as we Brits call them) is supposed to be a time to rest, relax, unwind and enjoy yourself. A little bit of research beforehand will help ensure a safe and happy holiday/vacation and will also equip you to deal with any problems that do arise, keeping stress to a minimum.Heres to Safe and Happy Travelling.
Source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Essential-Foreign-Travel-Advice&id=3555562 Magnificent