Chances are if you are the dread-locked backpack toting, Lonely Planet-reading travel type, you’ve never much worried about being kidnapped. But if you are one of those high-roller, alligator briefcase, $1000 suit business traveler types, well, maybe the thought has occurred to you that if you visit certain places, there is a likelihood that someone could nab you for ransom. The father of a friend of mine actually ran one of the top hostage negotiation business in the country, and after a few martinis, oh man the stories I heard. OK, not really. He was pretty tight-lipped, but he did explain that kidnapping is big business and a big problem for corporate travelers to the Third World.
The all-new business glossy Portfolio has got a story on this very subject that I found interesting. One of the main characters describes how he was detained in Papua New Guinea in a “dungeon” for two weeks, basically for nothing. He says he was there to help the people and was falsely arrested. I suppose I believe him. Either way, though, the story is a good reminder of how careful you have to be once you leave the cozy confines of your own country. Of course for most of us (I, for example, more firmly fall into the above “backpack-toting, Lonely planet reading category”) it’s probably not too big a worry, but you can never be certain that such a nasty fate won’t someday befall you. And so for you, I’ve got this handy post on how to survive a kidnapping.