Reviewed by Meenakshi Bhatt for Readers' Favorite

The Smart Travelista’s Guide by Linda King aims to educate women on the basics of traveling safely. It covers various aspects of maintaining one’s health and safety while traveling. She provides a reliable resource to find out if the reader’s destination of choice lies within a developing or developed country. This is a sensible place to start since the problems that a tourist is likely to encounter in developed and developing countries are somewhat different. She writes about the importance of travel insurance and the institutions that need to be informed before undertaking overseas travel. While writing about health issues, she covers topics as diverse as vaccinations, jet lag, and protection from food and water-borne infections. Similarly, when discussing the topic of safety, she writes about ways to protect one’s cash and cards, safe places to withdraw money, and red flag signs that could alert one to a thief.

King has traveled widely and the information in The Smart Travelista’s Guide is extremely practical. For example, most people know the risk of food and water-borne illnesses in developing countries. King warns readers of the hidden ways by which contaminated water can be inadvertently ingested. She has first-hand experience with the methods used by pickpockets and she educates readers about this menace. On the subject of personal safety, one of my favorite pieces of advice from the book is that if one needs to consult a map, one should never do it out in the open. This is exactly the kind of precaution that may not come to one’s mind until it is too late. The book is packed with such tiny nuggets of wisdom which can keep the reader out of trouble. Though the book is directed at women travelers, the tips are useful for anyone who is a bit of a novice when it comes to traveling. The book is written in simple language and all would-be tourists will benefit greatly from the suggestions mentioned within it.