Woman criticizes TikTok travel creator for getting a ride from stranger in Germany: ‘Never EVER get in a car with a stranger’
A travel creator is being criticized for accepting a ride from a “random German man” she met on the plane.
On June 9, Samantha Sanchez (@travelwsammy), a travel content creator who documents her solo travels, revealed that she had befriended a man on her flight to Germany who then offered her a ride from the airport.
“POV: you meet a random German man sitting next to you on the plane and he ended up being super cool and offered you a ride from the airport,” she writes.
TikTok user Nadeesha (@nadsss97), whose comment on Sanchez’s video has more than 22,600 likes, wrote, “don’t post stuff like this and ‘influence’ or encourage others to be as dumb as you when traveling.”
On June 26, Crawl, who goes by the username @xocrawl, called out Sanchez’s decision to not only accept the ride but seemingly romanticize the interaction by making a video about it.
“I can’t believe I even have to say this. This is not quirky and fun. This is how people die on a daily basis when they travel from country to country. Especially in foreign countries,” she says. “You can get trafficked, you can get kidnapped and never see your f***ing family or anybody ever again.”
Crawl calls out Sanchez for attempting to make this a “rom com moment.”
“Just because they’re nice doesn’t mean they’re good people,” she asserts. “That’s how they drag you in. Out of all the documentaries they’ve ever made about people being murdered… You’re gonna end up on ‘Dateline.'”
Sanchez’s video calls into question the ways solo female-identifying travelers should and should not act especially when in a foreign country. Tracking where you are and where you’re headed via GPS, for instance, can make all the difference.
“Know exactly where you are going each day and learn the general map of where you are,” Phyllis Stoller, founder of the Women’s Travel Group, told HuffPost. “Use the GPS on your phone, even in a taxi, to track where you are being taken.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, there are currently 23,451 open missing-persons cases. The United Nations detected 3,913 trafficking victims in Germany in 2020.
Other solo travelers suggest doing as much planning as possible when it comes to organizing safe transportation to and from the airport as well as other locations.
“Plan ahead as much as possible. As much as spontaneity can make a trip, there are certain things that are better not left to chance, like airport transfers and other transportation,” seasoned solo traveler Julia DeMasi told the New York Times. “Most of all, saving money isn’t worth putting yourself at risk. I feel that lack of reliable and safe transportation in many countries poses the greatest risk to traveler safety.”
‘she needs to know she just got EXTREMELY lucky’
Crawl’s video has more than 1.7 million views, 205,300 likes. Based on the comments she’s received, many creators are in agreement with Crawl’s criticism of Sanchez.
“Never EVER get in a car with a stranger,” @cott1902 wrote.
“I’m not kidding when I say, I rather take 3h more to reach my destination than going with a stranger even if I live in this country,” @mangostarway replied.
“she needs to know she just got EXTREMELY lucky,” @weeyukong commented.
On June 12, however, Sanchez revealed that she and her new friend even went for coffee.
“UPDATE: yes I am alive…,” she writes.
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