Most days are pretty mundane. They don't throw any curveballs. You just get by. So when life does pull a trick on you, it comes as a surprise. Especially if it's a life-threatening one.
To give us an idea on how to prepare for the unexpected, a former royal marine and TikTok user Robin (aka DutchInTheUSA) has been creating a video series, sharing survival tips for all sorts of (extra) ordinary situations.
Truth be told, you probably won't need them. But if there's one time you will...
#1 Suviving While Lost At Sea
This trick can save your life. Build your own floating device using your pants. Once you get your pants off, you're gonna tie the two ends of your pants together like this, zip up or button up your pants, and this is the hardest part, you're gonna grab it by the sides, you're gonna slam it down and get as much air in there as possible. Now all you gotta do is put your head through it. And this is how you stay afloat.
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123points
Robin came up with the idea for this series when he reenacted a movie scene and did a video on zip ties. "After that, I got a lot of people who didn't know how to do that [asking me about it in the comments]," he told Bored Panda. "So I showed it to them."
"But then some of them began asking 'Well, what about thicker zip ties? Or duct tape?' And it kind of just went from there and eventually ended up with handcuffs. And once I kind of was done with the handcuffs, and ropes and whatever, I felt that a lot of people just wanted daily safety tips. You know, how to keep yourself safe or be aware of your surroundings."
#2 Being Followed At Night By A Stranger
Here's what you do if you're being followed. First thing you're gonna do is change your pattern and cross the street. Next thing you're gonna do is change your pace, but not too obvious. Next step is to look for houses with lights or TVs on, and call 911.
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101points
Robin doesn't just google these tips. He tests them himself. "Most of my research is done by actually trying [what works and what doesn't]. Plus, once I do the videos, people give me feedback and whether or not it is positive, even if someone says they don't believe that particular method works, I try a different approach for them," he explained.
When people tell Robin they can't do something themselves or simply ask him about alternative ways to handle a situation, he keeps researching and experimenting. "I just try it out," the former royal marine said. "I put myself in a scenario [suggested by the viewers], and I just give it a go, and keep trying it until I find the best solution for it."
#4 Surviving While Lost At Sea
Okay, so you don't wanna eat fish eyes. Let me show you how one guy survived for 72 days by himself making his own water. So you need two bowls and plastic, and if you don't have a bowl, I'm gonna show you how to make it out of duct tape. First bowl, fill it with sea water. So here's my duct tape bowl. Put your smaller bowl in the bigger bowl with sea water. Cover it with plastic or tarp. And we wait. So we left it in the sun for quite a while. You see all the condensation? Let's see what we've got in our bowl.
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93points
#5 Right And Wrong Way Of Getting Into Uber/Lyft/Cab
Here's the right and the wrong way to get into an Uber, Lyft, or a cab. So the wrong way of doing it, car is here, I get in, pay no attention to any signal, just get in and hope it's my driver. Here's the right way to do it. Number one, I have my app open, I'm gonna verify that the license plate matches what I have on file. I walk over to the driver to ensure the information on the app resembles the driver. So next I'm gonna check the child safety lock and I'm gonna check if the windows work, and I'm gonna show you why that's a good idea to check this. If I didn't check any of that, number one, I'm stuck, I can't get it open and I can't even access my windows to try to reach from the outside. If you didn't pay attention to the child safety lock, but you verified your windows, at least you can do the following. Roll down my window, go from the outside, open the door if I feel uncomfortable.
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83points
The humble man said that his time with the Royal Marines was "nothing too fancy."
"I was there from 2009 to 2014. Before that, I kind of did something in the Royal Army, which is similar to the ROTC program if we were to compare it to the US; you learn a trade and you enlist after that. It was an easier path into the military with higher success rates."
"I was kind of bored in the army. So when my instructor for the courses I was taking asked me if I wanted to try that, and I was very intrigued. I spent most of my time in training, like Arctic warfare, mountain warfare, and that's how I learned a lot of these survival skills. I'm a paratrooper. So I can shoot pretty much any weapon again you point me to."
In other words, Robin is the guy to follow for survival tips!
#6 Self Defence Against Knife Attack
Here's the best self-defense against a knife attack. Now, in my case, someone's trying to rob me, I have two different wallets. Good one, fake one. Someone tries to rob me, I'm gonna keep my hands up high, I'm gonna tell them what I'm doing. I'm gonna move very slowly. I'm gonna grab my wallet and give you my wallet, okay? The moment you do this, you're gonna drop it and run.
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76points
#8 Hotel Room Safety Tip
Here are some hotel room safety tips you should know about. Use your belt to go through the chain link for your hotel. This makes it harder to pick it or even remove the lock from the chain link. Use a glass to wake you up if someone tries to open the door. And my favorite of all - a self-made barrier. In this case, I'm using a shower curtain rod to barricade the door. I'm using a triangular method to put pressure on the door and you won't be able to open it.
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55points
#10 How To Escape A Sinking Car
Here's how to escape a sinking car. If your vehicle is taking on water, your first step is to get the seatbelt off. If you cannot unbuckle it, have a device like this that can cut the seatbelt. The second step is to get the window down. Now you can roll it down using your electrical panel right here, or you can break it with a little pin like this. Make sure it goes on the corner right here. Once you have done that, you're gonna get out of the car, stepping on this with your feet. Do not sit on it, there's gonna be glass all over the place that's gonna hurt you. Here's testing out how it works, place it, and you're just gonna push.
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53points
#13 College Door Safety Hacks
If you ever see this come under the door... In the video you just saw, you saw someone using a coat hanger to get into a dorm room. Most of the advice there is to use a deadbolt, but since you're at a campus, you're not authorized, usually, to manipulate the doors or put extra security measures. What I'm gonna show you is an easy, effective way that is cheap, that you can use to defend yourself against stuff like this. So this is the part in question, all you have to do is push both in...
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36points
#14 Ways To Get Out Of Being Choked In A Car
Here are 3 ways to get out of this. First one: the cool one. You're gonna slide your hand behind your head, come to your throat, then you're gonna use your mechanical lever and get out. Number two: if you don't have enough force, you're gonna move your seatbelt through here, move it towards your feet, step it, push out with your foot, and you have enough leverage. And the most effective one is you're gonna turn to your side, allowing blood flow to go through one side, you're gonna move your hand in through the rope, and with your other hand you're gonna grab your hand right here and slide your elbow out. Like that. And then you can get out.
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35points
#15 What To Do In A Carjacking
Here's what to do if someone tries to steal your car. Full disclosure: this only works if you're by yourself or the items that you're leaving behind are replaceable. "Get out of the car, now." Now they just want my car, so I'm gonna comply. I have a panic button that's called an Invisawear. I press it twice. The moment I get out of the car to give him the car, I'm gonna push my phone and the Invisawear and just drop it underneath the seat. What that does is it's gonna signal the police to come to this location of my car. I'm still fine, he just wants my car, and they will arrest them.
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35points
#17 How To Escape A Chokehold
How to escape a chokehold. So your first step is to move up your shoulder, lift up your arm, and go over. So in this next technique you're gonna focus on this first hand, push this away, and with your shoulder, you're gonna push out.
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31points
#18 Self Defense
Have you ever tried to use this to defend yourself at night? I've got a better option for you. People use this to defend themselves, but the problem with that is the moment you hit something, it cuts into your own skin. Now something like this is used to break windows in a car, but it's also very effective for self-defense. You're going to move your side sideways, and you stab. Now if you have none of that, the best thing you can do in these kinds of situations is go for the neck.
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28points
#19 Your Home's Weakest Entry
Here's how people break into your house using a coat hanger and what to do about it. So here are the four things you can do about it. Number one: place a tie rip over the part that they push/pull down, number two: unplug the garage opener, number three: install a lock, that's what these are here for, and last but not least: please take out your garage opener. Too many people leave their cars open and this is all they need to get in.
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25points
#20 If You Need To Sleep In Your Car In Sketchy Areas
Now some of you might have seen the video where they use the seat belt to go through here and they click it in if you're trying to sleep in your car so they can't open the door. Now what if there's no opening here? This one really bugged me and I spent a lot of time trying to figure it out. The first step is roll the window all the way down, use this to pull it all the way out, and open your door, you're gonna go over right here, all the way to this side right here, and keep it shut. Now you've got this. Now repeat it on the same side. Now once you set up the other side, I use two carabiners, one goes in here, and you've got a little bit of slack to get it in, and then you're gonna readjust it right here. You're gonna open your door a little bit, close the window, and you're all set. No one's gonna come into your car.
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24points