The Dangers of Travelling Abroad (according to my parents)

In July I am going alone to Peru for a month. Now, according to my parents, I am officially a lunatic. There are apparently many dangers of travelling abroad, as they told me. These are some of the questions I have been asked by my parents. (I do not agree with all of them, especially the more racist ones)

 

  1. What is the plane crashes?
  2. What if you have a connection what if you get lost?
  3. What if you get kidnapped?
  4. People in South America cut off your hand to steal your watch
  5. Leading on from the former…what if you are wearing a necklace and they want to steal that? Will they cut off your head?
  6. Worms. There are little worms that crawl in through the skin and into your eyes. What if you get one of those
  7. All Peruvian men are looking for an English girl to marry then and take them away to England
  8. Young white single girls are attractive to rapists
  9. Malaria
  10. People grow coca to be made into cocaine in Peru
  11. People are poor. They live in slums. What if you have to stay in a slum?
  12. People are poor therefore desperate. The might do anything!!
  13. People on buses get stopped by highwaymen who then bash their heads in with stones
  14. Will you be able to communicate with them?
  15. What if you don’t like the food?
  16. What if they force you to eat guinea pig or llama?
  17. What if you elope?
  18. The drivers abroad are lunatics. I might get killed on the road
  19. What if the family you stay with are really nasty and lock you in the basement?
  20. What if someone smuggles drugs into your suitcase and you are arrested?

Now finally, an absolute classic.

  1. Peru has a very high rate of sexually transmitted diseases. What if you catch one?

WHAT???????? I am going to Peru ALONE!!!!!!!!! How am I going to catch an STD really???? That particular question had me laughing out loud. My parents are genuinely concerned that I will be kidnapped, marry a Peruvian man, get a sexually transmitted disease and finally die of malaria locked in the basement of a Peruvian slum!!! I have so much to look forward to! HAHAHAHA

Do you think my parents worry too much? Do you have anymore words of wisdom for me? Would you be concerned by any of the above?

My future husband????

 

By Helen Rutherford

 

© 1997-2006 Freeway
Writers: Helen Rutherford
HTML by: David Broad .