What an ex-CIA agent says you should never do while traveling
What do you look for in a hotel room — close to the pool? Great view from the window?
Well, it turns out the most important thing is that it isn’t on the ground or the top floor.
That’s the opinion of Drew Dwyer, a Marine Corps veteran and former CIA agent.
With the number of terror attacks on tourists on the rise, Dwyer has shared a list of tips for how to travel safely when on holiday with Sofrep.com.
While some of them can seem a tad paranoid — like keeping the TV on a low volume at all times in case the room is bugged — some could actually save a life during an attack.
One of the most important tips was that guests should always request that their room is on neither the ground floor or the top floor when booking a hotel.
Dwyer said: “The ground floor is readily accessible to intruders and the top floor does not allow any maneuvering room. The first or second floors allow access for most third world country emergency vehicles.”
Dwyer also advises that guests should request a copy of the fire escape plan, usually found on the backs of hotel room doors, as soon as they check in.
In case of the need for a quick exit, he also keeps an escape bag packed at all times.
He said: “Keep a small ‘bug-out bag’ packed with must-have items (money, ID, passport, etc.) in the event of an emergency departure.”
Instability in the Middle East means terror attacks are likely to be commonplace in western countries for several years to come.
Many popular holiday destinations like France, Turkey and Egypt are classed as a high terror risk by the government.
However, it’s important to know what to do if a terror incident happened, like the 2015 attack in Tunisia, when 30 Brits were among 38 holidaymakers killed in a rampage by a lone ISIS gunman at a beach hotel.
According to Randy Spivey, founder of the Center for Personal Protection and Safety, which runs courses like Active Shooter Response, Travel Safety and Security and Kidnap Survival, there are a few key actions to take that could make the difference between staying alive and ending up dead.
He said: “In a worst case scenario there are three rules to follow, whether you’re in an airport, a café or a hotel — it’s ‘get out, hide out, take out.’”
Here, he tells Sun Online how that motto applies if a terrorist comes into your hotel with a gun:
Get out
Spivey told Sun Online Travel: “If the terrorist is carrying a gun it’ll be over pretty quickly, so you have to try and get outside fast.”
“Run outside and get to a sheltered location or if you are in a high rise building, your best option might be to run upstairs, to try and get to the roof. Just get as far away from the situation as you can.”
“Do it fast and trust your instinct. That might sound simple but many people just freeze when it happens to them.”
Hide out
Spivey says:”If you can’t get out because violence is happening between you and the exit, then hide in a place where you barricade yourself in.”
“Get to somewhere like a bathroom or office closet, then block and lock the door and make it difficult to get inside.”
Take out
“The third option, if you are in a close confined area with no other choices, is to take out the person with a gun. At the shooting in an Orlando nightclub in 2016, there was just one guy walking around in a close confined area, shooting a lot of people.”
“In a close confined area, if you have five or six people on your side then try to come up behind that person with the gun, get them to the floor and control their hands.”
“The odds are in favor of the group if they act together, but they have to get that mental capacity to act together.”
While the three rules above are crucial for survival, Spivey says that the main issue people struggle with is freezing on the spot.
He said: “With normal people who have not had training, the normal response when an attack like this happens is to be startled, afraid and to reach out and hold onto to someone. This is the worst thing possible that you could do.”
“Also, only play dead as a very last resort– people might have survived that way in the past but it is not recommended.”