Safety is a concern for nearly every traveler, especially au pairs, who are typically young women traveling solo. And even if the au pair herself (or himself) isn’t overly concerned about their safety, there are probably parents back home who are! Below are a few tips for staying safe overseas:

Make sure you are healthy before you leave

It’s important that you start out your au pair journey healthy. Adventures Abroad recommends seeing your doctor at least three months prior to leaving your home country in order to check your overall health. Not everyone is organized enough to plan a doctor’s visit that far in advance, but the important thing is that you do get a physical exam and check up with your doctor before leaving for your trip. The last thing you want to do is get to your new country and have a health issue that could have beeen prevented or treated beforehand.

Another benefit of visiting your doctor is that you can get prescriptions of any medications you will need to have for the first little while overseas. It can take some time to get health insurance coverage through your host family, so you will want to have several weeks of any necessary medication that you take regularly on hand.

Remember dental and eye health as well. Visiting your dentist and/or opthamologist to check for any problems will also help ensure that you arrive to your new home in as good a shape as possible. If you are a contact lense wearer, be sure to take a copy of your prescription with you, as well as extra lenses.

Get travel insurance

Even though your host family will provide you with health insurance while working as an au pair, it can take several weeks for coverage to start. Even when coverage does start quickly, it often will not be in effect until you actually start your job. Having travel insurance will ensure that you are covered in the event of an emergency during the first weeks of your journey. It is usually not very expensive and is worth the small investment.

Safety while en route

Use your street smarts when travelling to and from your home to your new destination, and while you travel during your stay. The U.S. State Department suggests traveling light, dressing casually (affluent-looking tourists are more likely to be victims of theft), and keeping as few valuables as possible with you while traveling. The State Department also has the following recommendations for being out and about abroad, and the list is pretty complete:

• Don’t use short cuts, narrow alleys or poorly lit streets.
• Try not to travel alone at night.
• Avoid public demonstrations and other civil disturbances.
• Keep a low profile and avoid loud conversations or arguments.
• Do not discuss travel plans or other personal matters with strangers.
• Avoid scam artists by being wary of strangers who approach you and offer to be your guide or sell you something at bargain prices.
• Beware of pickpockets. They often have an accomplice who will:
  • jostle you,
  • ask you for directions or the time,
  • point to something spilled on your clothing,
  • or distract you by creating a disturbance.
• Beware of groups of vagrant children who could create a distraction to pick your pocket.
• Wear the shoulder strap of your bag across your chest and walk with the bag away from the curb to avoid drive-by purse-snatchers.
• Try to seem purposeful when you move about. Even if you are lost, act as if you know where you are going. Try to ask for directions only from individuals in authority.
• Know how to use a pay telephone and have the proper change or token on hand.
• Learn a few phrases in the local language or have them handy in written form so that you can signal your need for police or medical help.
• Make a note of emergency telephone numbers you may need: police, fire, your hotel, and the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.
• If you are confronted, don’t fight back — give up your valuables.

In the end, using common sense and paying attention to your surroundings will help ensure that you stay safe during your stay abroad. Use your head, be careful, and have fun!

If you have any other good safety tips for au pairs/travelers, please comment below!

Where are you thinking about going? Which places keep you up at night wishing you could see? Is there more than one place you would consider working as an au pair? I worked as an au pair in Germany and loved it, but as I was am pretty much obsessed with all things French, I sometimes wonder whether I should have gone to France instead …

But what about you? If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Please let us know in the comments field – and yes, you are allowed to list more than one top destination!

As 2011 begins to wind down, it’s time to start thinking ahead towards next year. Do your plans for 2012 include being an au pair overseas? If you are considering a gap year abroad, working as an au pair might make sense for you.

Why? For starters, working as an au pair is a very affordable way to see and experience a new place very inexpensively. The only major cost would be that of the plane ticket to your new country of residence. If you’re lucky, that expense may even be covered in part by your host family. You get room and board as well as a monthly stipend. The monthly salary you get won’t make you rich but is enough to be able to enjoy life.

Another good reason for working as an au pair next year is because in the shaky world economy we are in right now, finding a “real” job isn’t as easy as it has been in the past. Unemployment is still very high in some countries, and jobs are continually being outsourced or cut out altogether. So instead of being at home without a job, why not get some overseas experience and learn a new language?

Another – and maybe the best reason – to consider being an au pair in 2012 is because it is worth it. Yes, working living in a new place and working with kids can be challenging at times, but the au pair job can also be incredibly rewarding. You gain a new family, a new language, invaluable life experience, and more as an au pair. So why not go for it?

Just like the rest of us, au pairs sometimes get sick. It isn’t fun for the host family who might have to find substitute childcare while their au pair is really under the weather, which can be a hassle. It is also un-fun for au pairs, who would probably rather be healthy and working and sick and not (working, that is!).

Making things even more difficult for au pairs who become ill is the fact that they are already out of their element. Being sick is a particularly rough time for au pairs, as their usual support group – family, friends, their usual doctor, medicines, etc. – is missing. They may even feel guilty for being sick, feeling as though they are putting their host family off by being unable to work or by needing any extra attention.

My advice? For au pairs, it would be to take good care of yourself in the first place to avoid being sick as much as possible. Your family needs someone who is healthy and fit most of the time, and your time abroad will be much better enjoyed – and remembered – if you are healthy.

When you do get sick, take time off to get well. And don’t feel guilty about not working if you are truly sick. Your host family will survive while you are sick, so don’t kill yourself. I nearly did – instead of taking time off and visiting a doctor during the week while sick, I waited until I was in unbearable pain over the weekend – when doctors in Germany are all closed – and wound up having to visit the emergency room to get meds for a horrid sinus infection. Not something I would recommend!

Also, sick days also don’t count against vacation days, so there is no need to fear losing precious days off when ill. And if you are contagious, believe me – your host family would rather you lay low than infect the entire family!

One of the hardest parts of being an au pair can be meeting people and making friends. Even though you are living with a family, being an au pair can be very lonely, especially at first. Most au pairs who are brand-new to a country don’t know anyone outside of their host family.

Even those who did their homework, asked all the right questions, and landed with a really great host family, getting to know people outside of your new home can still be tough. Especially at first.

For me, I was fine when I first moved to Germany as an au pair. I had a few friends in the country (although none nearby). I also had a great host family who took me out to see the area and introduced me to their family and close circle of friends, which was fantastic and very kind of them. But at some point I was ready to make friends of my own, especially close girlfriends. You may be in a similar situation and wondering how to meet people.

If you are, here are three ways that I made friends as an Au Pair:

1. Language class - I can’t recommend this enough. My closest friendships were made through my German classes. The courses I signed up for were pretty crappy (my German teacher was actually Russian, if that tells you anything). But I made some great (and lasting) friendships during my classes. Granted, once you make friends you may spend more time skipping class than attending (consider yourself warned!), and you will quite likely have to step out of your comfort zone to meet new people, but language school is a GREAT way to meet other people.
2. Go to church - Seriously. I met some really great people through a church in Stuttgart and through Bible studies at one of the universities in the city. And believe it or not, some of these people were really cool, and not crazy Bible-thumpers. (For those who do not attend religious services, maybe you could look for groups/meet-ups on things that interest you – either hobbies, sports, or something similar).
3. Just get out there – Sometimes you just have to get out and talk to people. And although it can be intimidating, you can meet some great people by getting over yourself and talking to strangers. One of my best friends and I made some great friends by going out and talking to people at our favorite hangout. We didn’t have time to wait around to meet people, so we took it upon ourselves to talk to people who looked like fun, and we made good friends this way, even in Germany, where people tend to be a bit more reserved than what we were used to.

I’d love to hear from you. How have you made friends? Was it easy? How did you handle loneliness in the meantime?