And one thing with "getting around" like that is this ... carrying a gun (outside of hunting purposes) is illegal here in Canada where I live, and I cannot take a weapon with me when I fly to other countries.

So I have to resort to other tactics ... basically Chipcom sums it up with this: "Best weapon for any situation is a brain." ... and for me I also add a bit of women's intuition. There have been many times on my travels where I have suddenly felt uncomfortable with the situation. Often I can't put my finger on why I feel uncomfortable ... I just know that something isn't right. For example, that has happened a few times when we were looking for a place to camp ... I'll have a look around a potential camping area and if something feels uncomfortable about it to me, we move on. Another time it happened while walking through a certain area of downtown Sydney (Australia) after dark. My hair practically stood on end I felt so uncomfortable. We grabbed the first bus and got into a more populated, less run-down and graffiti covered area.