Our favourite travel destinations have a serious problem with drink spiking

ANNA knew something was terribly wrong during a night on holidays at a popular island resort in Thailand. Now she’s warning other travellers.

AUSTRALIANS are known for their love of travel and the occasional drink. When the two activities are combined though, it could become dangerous.

New analysis has revealed 10 out of 20 of Australia’s favourite international travel destinations have drink spiking listed as an official warning on the government’s Smart Traveller website, according to finder.com.au.

Sydney brand manager Anna Johnson, 28, knows the danger all too well. While holidaying in Thailand over New Year’s Eve in 2015, she believes her drink was spiked, leading to a terrifying experience that left her unable to see or control her body.

Anna Johnson was on holiday with her partner in Thailand when she got her drink spiked.

She was staying with her partner on Phi Phi Island, a place they had both visited before and went to the beach for a drink. They were being vigilant.

“My partner is pretty protective so he was buying all the drinks, but I bought one while he was talking to another couple and an hour later I started to feel unwell,” she said.

“My partner thought maybe I just had too much to drink but I knew something was wrong. He went to grab me a water and by the time he came back my eyes were rolling back in my head and I couldn’t see.

“I remember sitting down and trying to look for him but apparently I was rolling around and my eyes were rolling back into my head. My partner then knew straight away what had happened. I couldn’t see at all and I couldn’t move my legs.”

Ms Johnson’s partner helped her throw up while giving her water. Eventually, she was feeling in control enough to get the boat back to where they were staying.

But she said the next day she still felt “fuzzy” and later than night after dinner, her eyes started rolling back in her head again, despite having no more alcohol.

Now, she is warning other Aussie travellers not to assume it won’t happen to them.

“We go to Thailand a lot and we spoke to the man we hire bikes from and he said he didn’t think to warn us because I was with my partner. He didn’t think someone would spike my drink because he was around. But he said there has been a heavy increase in drinks being spiked, especially on Phi Phi,” Ms Johnson told news.com.au.

“I’m old — I’m not 18 — and it isn’t the first time I’ve been overseas, and it happened to me. Now I feel terrible because the night before we had been on the beach and seen all these girls messed up and we assumed they had drank too much or had taken drugs and we walked past them thinking it was gross.

“Now I realise they possibly had their drinks spiked and there was no one to help them. They were acting like I was.”

Ms Johnson is a regular tourist in Thailand, and this still happened to her.

Travel insurance expert at finder.com.au Bessie Hasan warned it is not uncommon for travel insurers to reject travel insurance claims in the case of drink-spiking related incidents.

“In fact, travel insurance will not provide compensation if alcohol intake is a factor in any consequential accidents, assaults or robberies,” she told news.com.au.

And she warns travellers to be vigilant.

“If going to a bar, don’t consume alcohol in excess and don’t put your beverage down — hold on to it at all times. It’s also a good idea to monitor the bartender as your drink is poured,” Ms Hasan said.

Ms Johnson said it is “definitely” something front of mind for her now when she travels overseas.

“We went back to Thailand this year and we bought our own drinks and took them with us. We actually bought water bottles that had lids to put our drinks in,” she told news.com.au.

“And bringing your own alcohol is also safer because you never know what they quality of the alcohol is in some countries.”

The 10 most popular travel destinations for Australians with drink spiking warnings are:

1. Indonesia
2. United Kingdom
3. Thailand
4. Japan
5. India
6. Malaysia
7. Vietnam
8. Hong Kong
9. Italy
10. Germany

Source: finder.com.au, smarttraveller.gov.au, abs.gov.au