THE HIGHER-RISK TRAVELLER

ANDREW COLLINGWOOD (pictured) is practice lead, governance, security and justice, for an international development organisation in Pakistan. He works with clients including the UK government and the EU and travels frequently across the Middle East.

“On November 7, 2015, I landed in Cairo a week after the [Russian A321 Kogalymavia] plane exploded soon after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh. With a consular crisis under way in Egypt, I had to balance the decision [before departure] of whether to fly there or not, knowing that our client, the UK government, had a crisis to deal with.

“Keeping an eye on travel advice and the media gets you so far, but I was travelling [to Egypt] to launch a project, with meetings and calls arranged for the first week. This meant I was relying on people to be available to meet me, and that is difficult to judge when you are not in the country and your client is busy managing a crisis. In this case, I chose to travel but left the option open on the length of stay. It turned out to be the right decision and I extended my visit by a week to take meetings.

“On leaving Egypt, I was more anxious than usual. With all the additional security at Cairo airport, all the media reporting and the heightened perception of threat, I found myself looking at people differently. To help overcome this, I talked to people as much as possible. It’s easy to obsess about something you see and get suspicious. By talking to people, you quickly find that people haven’t changed since you last got on a plane – it’s your perception that has. That helped a great deal.

“It’s rare I feel unsafe. But I sometimes forget that I am used to being in potentially unsafe environments. I have learnt that explaining more about the countries I work in and the work that I do helps people to appreciate that I am safer than people might believe. Travelling a lot means sometimes people are not sure where exactly you are. In December, there was a firebombing at a club in downtown Cairo. I’d left Cairo the day before but had several messages asking if I was okay. It reminded me that keeping those close to you updated on where you are is easily neglected.

“I was also in Islamabad during the recent earthquake. I was upstairs in my office and felt the initial tremor. When that turned into a sustained rumble, I was genuinely scared as I had no idea if the building was about to fall on top of me. We quickly evacuated and, thankfully, damage was limited. I used the Facebook Locater for the first time – a useful way of letting friends and family know that I was safe.

“Higher-risk destinations can bring higher levels of stress with them. Being able to adapt and change plans is really important. You can’t be rigid, so experience of having to completely rethink an approach is important. It can be emotionally draining.

“A lot of my job is about responding to people’s issues and worries to get the best result. It can be lonely. The regular use of things like Whatsapp and Skype mean you can be in constant touch with people. It really makes a difference.”