Is Mexico safe?

Our worst vacation fear is that someone gets hurt or lost on a trip in a foreign country and traveling to Mexico is no exception. The pre-travel jitters that can include thoughts that can be as varied as ‘will I miss my flight?’ to ‘will I have some bodily harm come to me?’ but if it happens to a friend or family member, it tends to make the anxiety all that much worse. What is worse than not knowing? And being in another country, feeling completely helpless? Travelling to a place like Puerto Vallarta, where there is sun and sand, is never a place where people expect nor want to expect the worst.

This is what happened to the family members of Keith Hartley Riddiough of Carstairs, Canada. The 60-year-old Riddiough was touring through Mexico on his motorbike when he had ceased to call nor had had any financial account activity. Worried, his family back in Carstairs emitted a missing person report. He only finally called in when two motorbikers in Mexico recognized him from the reports, somewhere outside of Puerto Vallarta, and gave him their cell phone so that he could call his family to let them know that he was alright.

Several things spring to mind here.

  1. Riddiough and his family aren’t communicating properly. The article does not say whether this was his first outing on a motorbike or if he was prone to gallivanting around the planet but regardless, someone is not communicating something. Tip #1 in this case is to expect everything. Knowing how your family and friends are, try to anticipate possible reactions so that you can avoid the trouble of being tracked by Interpol or getting your credit cards canceled because they thought there was illegal activity going on with your purchases.
  2. The trust issue. Even if Riddiough was communicating, his attitude is that of a 60 year-old, living his life. The reaction of his family is like that of one who is worried about an uncontrollable teen.

Whatever the situation with this family in particular, Riddiough is safe and no harm has been done. Whenver you travel, regardless of where you go, always try to let someone know how to find you and give them a basic itinerary. Leave copies of your passport along with this information and check in on them, once in a while. Avoid embarrassment and communicate.

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