Don’t Get Taken: Warning Signs You Don’t Notice Until It’s Too Late

This week on Girls Next Door, Steph and Holly are having a conversation that every girl travelling overseas needs to hear.

After seeing more and more women share frightening encounters while travelling, the girls revisit their own experience in Naples, where a man posing as a taxi driver tried to lead five of them away from the airport and towards an unmarked black van. Looking back now, there were red flags everywhere.

They’re also joined by Olivia, an Australian woman whose night out in San Francisco ended in a high-speed crash, gunshots and the terrifying discovery that the man driving the car was on parole for human trafficking. Olivia shares what she remembers, what police told her afterwards and how something as horrific as the crash may have ultimately saved her life.

Plus, the Neighbours share their own stories from Milan, South Africa, Bali and Marseille, including being followed through airports, chased by cars and moments where listening to their gut may have made all the difference.

This episode isn’t about being scared to travel. It’s about recognising the little warning signs, trusting your instincts and looking out for each other.

Key moments

• Steph & Holly’s Naples Story: The girls revisit the terrifying moment a man posing as a taxi driver tried to lead five of them towards an underground carpark and an unmarked black van, before real taxi drivers intervened and police began chasing him.
• The Paris Story That Changed Everything: After hearing a viral story about a woman being followed through Paris, Steph and Holly start recognising disturbing similarities between her experience and things they had previously brushed off during their own travels.
• Olivia’s Call: Olivia shares the extraordinary story of waking up to gunshots after a high-speed crash in San Francisco, only to later discover that the man driving the car was on parole for human trafficking. She explains why police kept telling her she was lucky, why she now considers the crash the best thing that could have happened, and the PTSD that followed.
• The Neighbours’ Close Calls: Listeners share frightening encounters from Milan, South Africa, Bali and Marseille, including being chased by a car, surrounded inside a shop and followed by the same stranger across multiple locations.
• The Warning Signs: Across all of the stories, the girls notice recurring patterns including strangers asking seemingly innocent questions, people working in groups, women being used to create trust, fake taxis and Ubers, and people trying to find out whether someone is travelling alone.
• Travel Without Living in Fear: Steph and Holly finish on why the episode isn’t about telling women not to travel, but about staying aware, protecting personal information, sticking together where possible and trusting your gut when something feels wrong.

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