<p>If she is going to the other side of the world, don’t let her go if you don’t feel she’s ready. </p>
<p>I do not mean to sound overly critical, but I really think that tracking your child abroad with GPS would be over the top. Someday you are going to have to let her go, you may be surprised at how well she copes. You should consult with someone to see if they think your anxiety is excessive. </p>
<p>Take a look at this…
<a href=“Satellite Messenger Devices | GPS Central – GPS Central”>http://www.gpscentral.ca/products/spot3.html</a>
Have always been interested in emergency beacons, have no experience with this model but it does look like it has coverage that you need. <a href=“SPOT Satellite Communication Devices | Saved by SPOT | CA”>SPOT Satellite Communication Devices | Saved by SPOT | CA;
My son was in China and will be in Peru next month and I do understand your concerns. Hate to see people get beat up like they do on a forum where help is sought.
Good luck to your daughter.</p>
<p>Honestly, the only way to truly “track” your daughter would be to have a microchip implanted in her body that is connected to some sort of GPS system.</p>
<p>Imagine feeling comfortable that you had installed software on her iPhone or given her a tracking system to use, and then watching in alarm from home as your daughter appeared to be going into a dangerous place halfway around the world. By the time she found a way to get in touch with you to say her phone had been lost or stolen, you would have completely freaked out. </p>
<p>OP, I will PM you.</p>
<p>Sally, OP said they would be willing to have a chip implanted in themselves if their family wished…so it’s entirely possible they have considered the idea for their child. I get the concern-my 14 yo spent 10 days in Ghana last summer where internet connection and phone service was spotty, AND the kids were not allowed to use their phones for anything but photos. We had to rely on the tour directors to update us. Of course, they didn’t visit and “insane asylum” either.</p>
<p>But I tried to remember that even as recently as my D’s older siblings being teens (they are 10 and 14 years older), we did not have 24/7 access to our kids’ wherabouts. Our parents and grandparents traveled all over the country or the world without anyone knowing where they were. THEIR ancestors crossed oceans on boats with no communication access. I fear that we’d all still be living in our ancestors homelands if 24/7 access had existed back then. What a shame.</p>
<p>My D and I were talking the other day about how sketchy cabs are, especially when you’re a young woman. Basically, you’re getting into a car with a stranger. So we hatched a plan. When either of us gets into a cab alone, we will take a photo of the driver ID and text it to the other. Furthermore, we will tell the driver we are doing so. “hang on, I need to text your ID to my daughter. No offense, but a girl can’t be too careful!” </p>
<p>Your daughter will be fine. High school kids do these kinds of trips. </p>
<p>Gee they seem to have 3 Starbucks in Ho Chi Minh City, with WiFi. Kentucky Fried Chicken. Have to say, having trouble googling an “insane asylum” there on travel sites. Or is this a visit to a routine mental hospital?</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.vietnamonline.com/faqs/where-can-i-find-places-with-free-wifi-in-vietnam.html[/url]”>http://www.vietnamonline.com/faqs/where-can-i-find-places-with-free-wifi-in-vietnam.html</a></p>
<p>The safest countries for solo females:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.gomio.com/blog/index.php/the-safest-countries-for-solo-females/[/url]”>http://www.gomio.com/blog/index.php/the-safest-countries-for-solo-females/</a></p>
<p>“My D and I were talking the other day about how sketchy cabs are, especially when you’re a young woman. Basically, you’re getting into a car with a stranger. So we hatched a plan. When either of us gets into a cab alone, we will take a photo of the driver ID and text it to the other. Furthermore, we will tell the driver we are doing so. “hang on, I need to text your ID to my daughter. No offense, but a girl can’t be too careful!””</p>
<p>I was in a cab once where I felt I was in a sketchy situation – I knew the route that should be taken and the driver was taking me a completely different route, not explainable by traffic or construction. I called my husband and said in a bright voice that I was coming home from X location and I was on Route Y and he immediately discerned that I thought I might be in trouble, so we stayed on the phone the whole time, and I made very clear from my conversation that I was on the phone with a husband who was waiting for me and expected the cab to have me there by a certain time. I mention this only because it may be a strategy for others to use - either call someone and stay on the phone, or if not possible, at least pretend to call someone who is waiting for you at your final destination and keep them apprised of your progress. </p>
<p>This is going off on a tangent, but somewhat related; While traveling abroad recently (western & central Europe) I discovered to my delight that my cell phone’s GPS & mapping worked for me without an active data connection. That is, I could have the phone on “airplane” mode with data connection turned off - and if I was walking around & getting confused or lost, I could find my location. For the most part this only worked while I was outdoors-- and not in an enclosed vehicle like a train – but it did also work at least once while I was in a taxi. I had brought a 2nd phone with a SIM chip for use abroad, but ended up not needing to use it. Most restaurants and cafes I went to had free internet-- so I ended up using my smart phone for GPS, internet & email continually, without incurring any extra data charges whatsoever.</p>
<p>FWIW, I think it’s far more important for the individual to be able to track their own location than for their parents to be able to track them. Obviously the technology is the same – if the GPS in my phone could tell me where I was with no data connection, then a GPS tracker could have worked – but possibly with the same limitations? But as a parent of a kid who has traveled all over the world, often on her own, I’d have to say that most of the time the ability to track my daughter would have been useless except to satisfy idle curiosity – there really is no way for the person monitoring remotely to know whether or not the location seen in the GPS is inappropriate or dangerous unless the monitor is extremely familiar with foreign location and planned itinerary or routes. </p>
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<p>this doesn’t track your daughters… it tracks their phones.</p>
<p>IMO, they are much more likely to have their phones stolen than meet more significant dangers.</p>
<p>My biggest piece of advice for parents of students going on exchange is to make sure your kids understand 100% what health insurance they have and how to communicate that information. Having an idea or two about where they will seek health care in the event of an emergency, both inpatient and outpatient is important too, and particularly if they have any kind of chronic illness (to include psychiatric conditions.) </p>
<p>I just returned two weeks ago from having to retrieve my college-age daughter from a government hospital in Turkey. The conditions were absolutely horrific. The school did not understand, and she did not know enough to communicate the adequacy of our health coverage (and she actually had two plans in place; a student plan, and our family insurance, which is military) so she was sent to the state facility. In the end we required Embassy involvement to get her released to us. (and no, there was no criminal activity involved. This was simply a girl who went for help getting her anti-depressant adjusted, and language difficulties led to an absolute nightmare.)</p>
<p>As far as the tracking, I don’t see it being terribly helpful. This same daughter had previously spent an entire year in Turkey as a high schooler, as well as the two months as a university student before becoming ill. They are adults at this point. My daughter did check in with us regularly via Facebook and such.</p>
<p>Firefly- hope your D is doing well now.</p>
<p>Excellent post btw- and make sure your kids traveling abroad understand if they have evacuation/overseas insurance. People frequently think the coverage is only for a catastrophic illness (and sometimes it is) but sometimes it covers more routine matters if the local hospital refers out for a particular injury or issue.</p>
<p>Read the fine print.</p>
<p>Seriously… I’d be more concerned about dengue than kidnap.
<a href=“DengueMap”>http://healthmap.org/dengue/en/</a> </p>
<p>Pack mosquito repellent. The fishing dept in Walmart sells tiny, pocket-sized spray vials of high% DEET. These fit nicely inside a TSA quart-sized ziploc.
<a href=“http://www.homedepot.com/p/Repel-0-475-oz-Sportsmen-Max-Pen-size-Pump-HG-94095/203589696”>http://www.homedepot.com/p/Repel-0-475-oz-Sportsmen-Max-Pen-size-Pump-HG-94095/203589696</a>
Even cities have mosquitos/dengue; several expats I know have contracted it. I also have a scandanavian friend who contracted chikungunya in SE Asia (probably from mtn biking in the country) and had to go back to the home country for kidney failure.</p>
<p>Again, I recommend an International SOS subscription.
<a href=“International SOS”>https://www.internationalsos.com/en/</a></p>
<p>AK, so sorry about your daughter - hope she is feeling better.</p>
<p>Our son’s debit card transactions while abroad have been like a tracking device! </p>
<p><a href=“Medjet's Membership Options | Medjet”>http://medjetassist.com/defaultmembership/collegiatedetails.aspx</a><br>
Our family was enrolled in MedJetAssist when we traveled overseas for vacation a few years ago.
(Interestingly they seem to have added an insurance program for your student attending college more than 150 miles away from home)</p>
<p>Last summer a friend and her husband had to fly from the US to Mexico to retrieve her adult son who was injured on the job during a film production. Her son had broken both legs in an accident and he wasn’t able to travel back home without assistance. She said the travel bills alone were staggering, never mind his medical and rehab costs. </p>