To expose someone or something valued to danger, harm, or loss.
An introduction
“‘It’s a dangerous business going out of your door. You step into the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no telling where you might be swept off to.” Bilbo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins did not think too much about risk before he closed the front door and set off on his first big adventure. My career has required me to continually consider risk and I suppose that it has become second nature. We all live with risks, like crossing the road, and don't give them a second thought, so most times this is an intuitive subconscious exercise - we all cross roads. We are comfortable with and take for granted these everyday risks where we live and work; they frame our 'comfort zone'.
Extended overland travel represents a significant investment in time and money; at some stage an issue or incident will almost certainly carry you outside your comfort zone. You may be literally travelling in your home and its is both you and your 'house' that will be exposed to risk. You will be travelling through countries with different cultures, climates and possibly prone to unfamiliar natural disaster (like earthquakes). Poor quality roads, challenging tracks, travelling amongst overloaded, appalling driving standards and poorly maintained vehicles (perhaps except for the horns). If you get bogged, breakdown, run out of fuel or water, get malaria, or whatever, you should assume you are on your own. I'm not trying to scare here, actually I want to encourage you to take the first step, but I do want to encourage you to think through potential issues so that you can consider what actions you can take now to mitigate them. Frequently asking yourself 'what if.........?' will go a long way to keeping you safe.
A 'fag packet' approach may work for you but its too easy to miss something that subsequently becomes very important. The Risk Annex summarises an approach that you might be able to adapt or use. Who knows, when you have finished show your insurer, if they know you understand and have mitigated risk, they may even reduce your insurance premium!
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