Your girlfriend's been throwing up for two days in Bali, you've come off your bike in Thailand, you're in the Louvre and you've had your passport stolen – what do you do?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
These are the situations most young adventurers would never prepare for, but with nearly a fifth of Year 12 graduates travelling within a year, Kriton Glenn has set out to make sure more do -- before they get on the plane.
The veteran instructor and traveller to 46 countries has spent 30 years in classrooms, educating everyone from Defence Force members to custom officers and paramedics, and for the last 14 months has offered his know-how in a course targeted at recent school leavers.
"The aim is to enhance the situational awareness of gap year travellers and empower people with the skills to feel safer and walk with confidence," he Glenn said.
"When living in or moving through third world countries you are on your own: [there's] no big brother coming to the rescue, parents are too far away, law enforcement and government agencies are either ineffective or underdeveloped... it's easy to see that the responsibility sits with ourselves."
The course covers cultural awareness skills, health hints and disease prevention, basic first aid and tips as varied as how best to avoid being kidnapped and how to pack your bag.
Steve Jenkins, 20, from Higgins, took the course in February and said it helped him stay out of trouble during his seven-months backpacking in south-east Asia and Europe this earlier year.
"The key was always to have something planned, have something booked, know how to plan a taxi or a bus," Mr Jenkins said.
"[The training] was worth every cent -- when you're travelling you meet tonnes of backpackers and you hear some hairy stories."
Of the nearly 1700 ACT 2012 Year 12 graduates who were not studying in 2013, nearly half gave the main reason of "taking a gap year" (33 per cent) or "travelling" (13 per cent).
Lewis Mason, 19, took part in the first course last November and said the practical advice had removed much of the anxiety he had ahead of a trip to Korea.
"With that newfound confidence it made me think where else I'd like to go," Mr Mason said.
Mr Glenn, who has a black belt in Korean martial arts, said that in response to widespread interest his company, Naturally-Applied, would run a course focused on older travellers in coming months.
Each year about 980 Australians die overseas, and 20,000 calls are made for consular help.