ALTHOUGH Scotland Yard and MI5's shrewd detective work prevented actual airborne explosions, a bombshell has nevertheless landed in the travel world.

People everywhere are wondering what to do . . . where to go. Or is it safe to go anywhere? Plots and sub-plots are being uncovered as this is being written only days after the scheme targeting ten US-bound planes became headline news.

Writing about sensible travel precautions as a result of what's happening in Lebanon was already on my calendar before the Heathrow scare. That's why the railroad series is being briefly interrupted to offer some safety suggestions. Incidentally, Amtrak reports a 25 per cent increase in inquiries already as a result of the threat.

First of all, heading the list is keep informed about world affairs and pay attention to government travel warnings. That wouldn't help innocent targeted airline passengers, but would have given a thinking person pause about travelling to Lebanon before the one-month war, considering tense conditions in the Middle East.

Yet many came vacationing, some visiting relatives, then were later seen on television complaining loudly that their respective governments ? and in many cases adopted countries ? hadn't come to their rescue quickly enough and provided unsatisfactory accommodations.

Some who managed to get out and across the border to safety at their own expense are now actually suing the US government for repayment. Quite frankly, many Americans consider that mind-boggling.

were brought up in a family where the words "self-reliance" weren't only the title of ancestor Ralph Waldo Emerson's famed essay, but also a personal mantra. "Plan ahead . . . don't leave things to chance . . . be prepared for all eventualities . . . accept responsibility . . . consider the worst-case scenario."

Those valuable lessons were very much a part of our growing up and it's distressing to see the number of people who aimlessly wander off to distant corners of the world and leave their brain cells at home.

Whether stranded in Beirut, Heathrow Airport, wherever . . . always make certain you have access to enough funds to handle complications. We've covered the subject before, after the Kuwait war. In some emergency situations, when escape becomes necessary, a credit card is of little use.

You need cash, whether to buy some sort of used vehicle and rush for a border, bribe a corrupt official, pay someone to get you out of the country in a fishing boat, or a dozen other scenarios. No, it's not wild imagination . . . ask some of the people who are part of these recent headlines. It's unfortunately part of today's world.

Yes, carrying cash can have hazards if you're careless and flaunt it. But not when done discreetly. One of my brother Jim's leather belts looks like any other, but it holds $2,400 in $100 bills and the small pouch which attaches to my lingerie straps has another $1,000.

Check your favourite luggage department for all sorts of other possibilities for secreting emergency funds, passports and so on. We've accumulated a collection of them.

Always have a contingency plan. If stranded overseas when terrorism threatens, what would you do? Just after 9-11, we were briefly faced with such a decision.

In Bermuda attending the Society of American Travel Writers' convention on that fateful day, I'd had the good fortune to be at Daniel's Head (now 9 Beaches). A particularly tranquil and idyllic setting, it seemed a world removed from New York's twin tower tragedy.

ASTA, the American Society of Travel Agents, had scheduled its annual autumn convention in Seville, Spain, then immediately cancelled it after 9-11. As invited journalists with air tickets purchased, car rented and parados paid for, we decided to go ahead anyway and wrote about it here.

our last afternoon before flying home, the concierge at Spain's historic Parador Chinchon, south of Madrid, excitedly handed us a press release. It covered the crash of another American Airlines plane en route to the Dominican Republic with the loss of all passengers.

Was it terrorism or an accident? Jim and I decided that if it was terrorism, we wouldn't be flying back with American, since there had already been an incident on the flight over from Miami covered in this column at the time.

It occurred on a day when the US government issued a warning involving a feared terrorism incident in the southern US and a suspect passenger was denied boarding at Jim's request to head of security. If he had boarded after highly suspicious behaviour, we would not have. I stayed awake that night at Chinchon planning an alternative route, first to England, then home by ship. It proved unnecessary wen the crash proved to be an accident.

But be ready with an alternative plan . . . and move fast. When a Midwest blizzard caused my Tucson flight home to be cancelled, I was already sitting in First Class sipping a mimosa. Once back in the terminal, most passengers rushed to the counter.

Some threw hysterical tantrums worthy of a straitjacket, others demanded accommodation and meal vouchers. Instead, this traveller sought out the first telephone, called Embassy Suites just across from the airport where I often stayed, and made a reservation.

By the time other disgruntled passengers arrived only to be turned away, this traveller was sitting beside the pool writing a column.

When torrential rains caused major floods in England in 2000, my flight home was cancelled when I drove in to Heathrow after overnighting in the country. Again, a quick telephone call to the adjoining airport Hilton reserved a room in the hotel that almost immediately became sold out. Be tuned in, be proactive, not inactive. When in Puerto Rico on Eastern Airlines, news stateside predicted its approaching bankruptcy. Ever alert, Jim, monitoring the situation back home, immediately made alternative return reservations on another carrier. Eastern filed for bankruptcy the day of my return and happily I had a seat he'd reserved.

When serious storms cancelled all domestic flights from Mexico City, our press group was taken to the connected airport hotel to overnight before flying to Tuxla Guiteriz next day after weather cleared.

The two dozen writers settled into the lobby, expectantly waiting for government officials to take care of them and plan an afternoon of sightseeing.

This writer and another journalist instead took a taxi into the city, had a delightful afternoon visiting intriguing new archaeological digs, shopping and sightseeing. On our return the others were still waiting in the lobby for something to be done for them. Don't play the role of victim. Be resourceful. Do something. What's that old saying, "The good Lord helps those who help themselves"?

Everyone views such incidents differently. If we were among those stranded during this most recently discovered plot, we would immediately be on the phone to Cunard trying to book space on one of its ships, or on another getting us to a safer location from which we could make connections home.

A few years ago the reported a story about a cruise ship passenger rushed to the hospital in an emergency crisis. The distressed spouse had no resources to pay for accommodations or taxis when staying on after the ship sailed. Good-hearted Bermudians came to the rescue.

That family was lucky such generous, compassionate help was available. But do you ever want to be in a travel situation in some foreign place and help isn't there? It pays to plan carefully, not overextend yourself.

these tense times, it also pays to be low-key, don't dress in a way that makes you stand out and attract attention in troubled areas. When Germany's Bader Meinhoff and Italy's Red Brigade were on the attack, or we stumbled into an area where young Nazi supporters were rallying and drinking, we wouldn't even speak English to be overheard.

Although interested in killing others, they preferred to stay alive themselves, unlike today's suicide terrorists.

Choose your destination carefully. We were trying to decide between a and Mediterranean cruise when news about American Airlines' mice infestation made headlines in July. We'd intended to buy tickets on AA, then using 50,000 miles each for business class upgrades.

Then Jim absolutely refused to board any plane that might have hundreds of mice chewing through wires, as discovered by exterminators on the 767 serviced in Kansas City. Appetising, isn't it, to learn they'd been reported in the galley and the airline ignored reports since April and kept flying that plane on long hauls until an employee released a video taken when the plane was being serviced. When a recent promotion arrived suggesting back-to-back Mediterranean cruises on Wind Surf for September and October, they were tempting. But since news from London, we've decided to do something else. Regardless of current precautions, it's not encouraging to hear newscasters keep repeating that only three to five per cent of air cargo on your flight is screened.

This isn't the first or last crises and it would be naive to think that challenges are not ahead in a troubled world sadly seething with hatred. Does that mean you should stay home and vegetate in a bunker somewhere? Absolutely not. But do be a prepared and savvy traveller.

As someone who has survived many tense high adventures, flown on flights under bomb threat, got used to seeing tanks lining runways and roads everywhere from Jakarta to Venezuela, along with heavily-armed, ominous-looking guards alongside roadsides, in hotel lobbies and diverse locations from Brazil to Indonesia . . . enough is enough. Stepping off a small plane in a remote corner of Egypt, only to be faced with an armed soldier peering at me out of a foxhole directly at the foot of the plane's steps with his machine gun aimed at me, finger on the trigger, is not the most pleasant memory of that first early 1970s trip.

New carry-on rules will hopefully be relaxed eventually. This traveller, like many others, has always carefully packed carry-on so all basics were along in case checked baggage went missing. That strategy certainly came in handy when luggage went astray being transferred from American Airlines to British Airlines en route to Nice, France and a cruise on the . Astray for several days, in fact.

The same was true heading north for an outdoorsy yacht cruise of Lake Superior's Apostle Islands . . . and in Taiwan where red tape tied up a missing bag at the airport . . . and so on. You've all been there! In each case an appropriate survivable collection of basics saved the day. So in weeks to come, we'll be concentrating on destinations that readers will find interesting, scenic, exciting, but hopefully safe. Ourselves, we're so intrigued with our train adventures that we'll be taking you to Montana and points west in a couple of weeks, and even now we're trying to decide on our next rail adventure . . .

Interesting travel facts emerge from files