Most travelers will never have a plan for what happens when the streets outside their hotel window fill with an angry crowd. The ones who do are the ones who get home safely.
Political instability is no longer something that happens somewhere else. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, global peacefulness has declined for eleven consecutive years, with many pre-conflict conditions now sitting at their highest levels since World War II.
Recent cartel violence in Mexico and drone strikes across the Middle East have already forced airspace closures and stranded thousands of American travelers with little to no warning.
The world is not becoming less complicated, and the gap between a pleasant trip and a precarious one can close faster than most people expect. Here is what security experts, State Department officials, and travel risk specialists say every American should know before, during, and after a crisis abroad.
Before You Leave: Set Yourself Up to Get Out
The first and most important thing any traveler can do before an international trip is check the U.S. State Department’s travel advisory for their destination.
Advisories are rated on a four-level scale, from Level 1 (exercise normal precautions) to Level 4 (do not travel), with country-specific breakdowns for more complex destinations like Mexico. They are a starting point, not a full picture, but they are free and updated regularly.
From there, travelers should sign up for the State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, known as STEP. The program registers travelers’ itineraries with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate so the government can reach them if something goes wrong.
Tommy Pigott, a principal deputy spokesperson at the State Department, describes enrollment as a best practice that simply cannot be overstated. STEP is a communication tool, not a rescue service, but in a fast-moving crisis, being reachable by the right people matters enormously.
On the insurance side, standard travel policies generally do not cover civil unrest or war.
However, a comprehensive policy purchased before a crisis becomes publicly known will still apply standard cancellation and delay benefits, covering additional hotel nights and, in some cases, change fees.
Travelers heading somewhere that feels uncertain but has not yet made headlines should look specifically for Cancel for Any Reason coverage, or CFAR. According to Suzanne Morrow, CEO of travel insurance comparison site InsureMyTrip, CFAR is the only policy type that covers the decision not to go for any reason at all.
It typically costs five to ten percent more than a standard policy and reimburses between 50 and 75 percent of prepaid trip costs.
For travelers who want a stronger safety net, specialty firms like Global Rescue offer extraction services covering civil unrest, natural disasters, and government evacuation orders.
A single-traveler, one-week membership with extraction coverage runs around $270. Annual memberships start at $375 and include real-time intelligence alerts and destination reports for more than 200 countries, compiled by former military intelligence officers.
What to Watch for on the Ground
Locals nearly always know something is coming before tourists do. Kenneth Bombace, CEO of Global Threat Solutions and a veteran of intelligence work in Iraq, learned to read the signs early: when shopkeepers start pulling down their shutters in the middle of the afternoon, something is about to happen.
His advice to travelers is straightforward. If businesses are closing without explanation, police are amassing, or a large crowd suddenly surges, leave the area immediately. Do not stop to take photographs. Do not linger to see what happens.
Distance, Bombace says, is the single most important variable in personal safety during civil unrest. Most travelers who find themselves in danger did not go looking for it; they simply underestimated how fast things can change.
STEP alerts can be supplemented with private intelligence monitoring. Global Threat Solutions offers services that can geo-fence an area as small as a single neighborhood and push real-time alerts to a traveler’s phone, starting at a few hundred dollars per day for travelers with elevated risk concerns.
If Unrest Breaks Out Around You
The instinct to act quickly can work against travelers in a crisis.
Daniel Richards, CEO of Global Rescue, which has evacuated hundreds of people from the Middle East and dozens more from Mexico during recent unrest, is direct on this point: rushing to do anything is usually not a great idea. It does not look like the movies. There are no helicopters waiting on the horizon.
The safer move in most situations is to shelter in place and wait for professional guidance. When conflict erupted across the Middle East, Global Rescue clients who immediately tried to self-evacuate found the airspace closing around them.
Those who stayed put and followed expert direction had considerably smoother extractions.
A few practical steps apply no matter the situation. Keep a passport on your person at all times. Carry cash, since ATMs may go offline. Keep a phone charged and ration its battery. Stock up on food and water if it is safe to leave the immediate area, and be prepared to travel light if departure becomes necessary.
Contacting the U.S. Embassy
Do not rush to the nearest U.S. embassy under the assumption it will function as a refuge. Embassies are not designed to shelter large numbers of civilians and can themselves become targets during serious conflict. The right move is to call rather than appear.
Americans abroad can reach their nearest embassy or consulate at 1-202-501-4444. Friends and family in the U.S. or Canada trying to help someone in a conflict zone should call 1-888-407-4747 to report that an American may need to be accounted for, particularly if that person has lost power, internet, or cell service.
Enrolling in the State Department’s Travel Assistance Program
Separate from STEP, the State Department operates a travel assistance program that activates during active crises.
When conflict spread across the Middle East, the department created a 24/7 task force that provided security guidance and arranged transportation for more than 50,000 affected Americans.
Enrollment is separate and should be completed as soon as a situation becomes serious.
Government resources, however, have real limits.
Travelers may not be among the first wave to access an arranged commercial flight. Private extraction firms like Global Rescue and Global Threat Solutions can be engaged after a crisis begins, though doing so mid-event costs significantly more than subscribing in advance.
Knowing When It Is Safe to Return
Resumed commercial flights are a reasonable early signal that a destination is stabilizing, but they are nowhere near sufficient on their own.
Bill McIntyre, Director of Communications at Global Rescue, puts it plainly: the question is not whether the violence has stopped, but whether the conditions that make travel workable and survivable have actually returned.
That means assessing whether violence is still active or could reignite, whether transportation is functioning reliably, whether medical care is accessible, whether disruption is localized or widespread, and whether there is a viable exit route if things deteriorate again.
The State Department’s travel advisories remain a solid baseline for this assessment.
Additional sources recommended by experts include the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Australia’s Smartraveller portal, the CDC’s travelers’ health guidance, and Overseas Security Advisory Council reports, all of which offer independently gathered, regularly updated risk information for Americans planning a return.
The world is not getting simpler, and the best-prepared travelers are not necessarily the most fearless. They are the ones who made a few decisions before departure, paid attention to their surroundings on the ground, and had a plan already in place before they needed it.