I never said that you were the one who was hugged; I used it as an example. Nor did I say that all Americans are 'huggy, kissy and ignorant'. Your responses are however apparently presenting an image to several readers.

My advice remains the same. I will list it for you.

Safety often means blending in and not making yourself an easy target. How do you blend in while still immersing yourself?

- Avoid drawing attention to yourself. This refers to dress, physical behaviour, volume of voice, etc
- Appear confident. Even if you take a wrong turn confidentally backtrack.
- Know something about the local area and culture. There are many variables even within a country, so take some time to read up on local habits and customs to avoid insulting or offending someone unintentionally, or drawing attention to yourself
- Know the basics of greeting and thanking people in local language
- Don't expect better treatment because you are a tourist
- Trust your instincts
- Put away stereotypes. Avoid reading guidebooks which don't have local contributions
- Put away any attitude you may have. If things go wrong, approach it as a 'we are all in this together' and don't tell everyone how this would not have happened in your country, or how it would have been resolved in a better fashion
- If you find yourself losing your cool, step away and calm down. Screaming in a metro station because you can't figure out the ticket machine will make you a target
- Be open to learning and trying new things, and don't constantly compare things to your norms as 'better' or 'worse'. Different is often just 'different'

The above is advice I would give to anyone travelling to an unfamiliar destination, male or female.

Again, it is virtually impossible to give specifics about 'Europe'. Once you have a list of places you are visiting, more specific advice may be possible. Until then, I think that it is quite pointless for me to offer advice about somewhere thousands of kilometres away physcially and light years away culturally from somewhere you may be visiting.