The majority of rip-offs perpetrated on backpackers occur within 40 minutes of arrival in a new country. Mark Eveleigh has been a victim of more than a few of them over the years and outlines 10 key guidelines to avoiding the pitfalls and pungi-traps of your next destination.

The vast majority of people in most countries are good people who will welcome visitors with genuine hospitality and it is an insult to them for a traveller to react with instant suspicion...however, this post is based on the (almost universal) assumption that the worst characters most often gravitate to airports, ports or border areas.

1) Try not to arrive late at night when security is lax, taxis are expensive and you’re too sleepy to be fully alert.

2) Research in advance to find out what the exchange rate is and if possible try to arrive with a supply (and ideally a hidden stash) to get you through the first night

3) Get rid of those airline baggage tags as soon as you clear customs; to hustlers and hoodlums they’re the clearest sign that you’re a virgin ‘fresh off the jet’.

4) Book a hotel or hostel in advance (especially if you have to arrive late). Your first evening in a new city is not best spent dragging your gear around looking for a room.

5) If there’s a domestic terminal in the same airport head there and take a (often cheaper) taxi from the same stand where you see locals waiting.

6) You’re less likely to be seen as a potential victim if you appear to have arrived from in-country and the scam-artists are more likely to hang around the international arrivals anyway.

7) Don't let yourself be rushed into anything - it can be a benefit in a particularly hassled airport simply to grab a seat at a cafe and ‘people-watch’ for half an hour. You can figure out what the situation is and you give the impression to anyone who happens to be ‘people-watching you’ that you have things under control.

8) When you get cash from an exchange bureau or an ATM find a quiet corner (a toilet is ideal) to learn to recognise which banknote is which and to divide your stash into different pockets.

9) If you’re worried about arrival in a city with a particularly dodgy rep consider investing for your first night in a hotel upgrade that includes a transfer from the airport (this can be cost-effective in any case in a city where the airport is far from city centre.)

10) It is often convenient not to speak a local language around customs officials (it invites unnecessary conversation): but in the realm of hustlers and hassling taxi drivers (this could be Jakarta, Mexico City or London) it can be a benefit, establishing you as an old-hand.

NB: This post is not meant to advocate paranoia but, on the contrary, by keeping many of these points in mind you will find that you arrive in a happier more receptive frame of mind...and you will be more open to new experiences by dint of not having been ripped off on arrival!

Any other tips for the first 40 monutes in a new county?  - leave them below...