Avoid letting fear of uncommon risks lead you to make everyday mistakes

Don't focus on extraordinary risks to the point that you ignore the ordinary ones. Given how few readers have experienced catastrophic travel events (such as violent crime) and how many have gotten food poisoning or had their pocket picked, readers would be wise to focus their energies on avoiding these traditional risks, which are far more likely to occur than a plane crash or a terrorist attack. After all, last year was the safest ever for America's major airlines (there were no deaths and only nine serious injuries), and the number of terrorist attacks worldwide fell by 44 percent from the year before—and only 30 Americans died in them.

Don't rely too much on State Department travel advisories
More than half of readers (52 percent) say they are "very much" influenced by them. Yet recently, these advisories have hardly been reliable predictors of terrorist activity. There was no warning for Bali before the nightclub bombing, no warning for Kenya before the attempted airline attack last November, and no warning for Spain before the ETA bombings of tourist sites last summer. "I don't think State Department warnings are relevant enough for sophisticated travelers," says Neil Livingstone, chairman of GlobalOptions Inc., an international risk-management firm, and author of Protect Yourself in an Uncertain World. "They've become very politicized and not very timely. They're a place to begin your research, but don't end your research there."

Take the right precautions in the right places
In an effort to increase their sense of control by doing something to decrease risk, some readers may be taking the wrong action. For instance, nearly a third of poll respondents (31 percent) said that taking a group tour would increase their sense of safety, but according to Livingstone, "tour groups make inviting targets in many parts of the world." And 41 percent of readers would stay in a luxury Western-brand hotel, which Livingstone says is smart in most risky places but probably not in Muslim countries right now.