Why I finally took a Wildereness First Aid Course and why it's useful when you travel

When you travel long-term, you quickly learn that the world doesn’t always work on your schedule. Anything can happen, you’re far from home, and medical help isn’t always around the corner. Whether you’re trekking through the Himalayas, on a bike in Vietnam or camping somewhere in France, knowing how to handle an emergency can make all the difference. And it’s not just a safety net, it’s also an investment in confidence, independence, and in being able to help other people when it actually matters.

Why it took me a while before I did a first aid course

I’d been thinking about doing a first aid course for a long time. One moment that really stuck with me was when I was walking through Amsterdam and saw someone get hit by a tram. They were bleeding and unconscious, and even watching it from a distance was pretty distressing. What stayed with me most was not knowing what to do.

Growing up, we never really learned first aid at school. No recovery position, no CPR, not even how to recognize when something is actually serious. If you ask me, that’s quite a big gap in the Dutch school system.

That feeling of not knowing what to do stayed in the back of my mind for years. Especially when I started spending more time outdoors with my then-partner—mountain biking, climbing, hiking. It always went well, but there was always that small voice going: What if? What if something happens to one of us? Or to someone else out there?

Still, I never actually did a course. In the Netherlands they’re quite expensive, and as a student, and later someone with a student loan, that just didn’t feel like something I could easily justify. Also, I was living in a city, where help always felt close by.

Why I decided to do a first aid course it in Australia

After about two years of travelling, that situation had changed quite a bit.

I arrived in Australia, a country known for its remote areas and, let’s be honest, a fair share of dangerous creatures. By that point, I’d already spent time in the mountains in Nepal, India and Japan, often in places where help wasn’t exactly around the corner. Nothing had ever gone wrong (knock on wood), but I was very aware that it could.

So I figured: let’s see what Australia has to offer in terms of first aid.

It turned out to be much more affordable than in the Netherlands. For around 100 AUD, I could do a course. That made the decision pretty easy. I signed up at the start of my working holiday year, thinking it would be a good base for whatever adventures were coming my way, and, also not unimportant, something useful to have on my resume.

The reality of a one-day first aid course

To be very honest: it was fast.

About five hours of online learning, followed by four hours in a group session, and that was it—I had my certificate. While I did learn practical things like CPR and some basic bandaging, it felt quite rushed and mainly focused on getting people certified. I didn’t walk away feeling fully confident that I could handle a real emergency. But then again, I also wondered what I had expected from a one-day course.

One thing that did stick with me was that they explained we’re not obligated to provide first aid, but if we do, we can be held responsible for our actions if we do something wrong. That idea stayed somewhere in the back of my mind.

What I liked about the first aid course in Australia

That said, I did enjoy learning something completely new.

Whenever I get interested in a topic, I tend to go all in. I sat there with my notebook, pausing videos, writing things down almost word for word. Probably not the most efficient method, but it did help me really engage with the material.

In the end, it felt like a good introduction. Not mastery, not even close, but a kind of familiarization, and I think that already has value. I also liked that the course touched on things like snakebites and other Australian wildlife. That was one of the reasons I wanted to do it in the first place. Interestingly, it made me realise that there’s often less to be scared of than you think, if you actually know what to do.

Still, after months of travelling around Australia, the feeling that I didn’t really know what to do if something serious happened stayed with me. So I started looking into going a bit further.

Going beyond the basics of a First Aid Course: Wilderness First Aid course

Because of my love for the outdoors, I’d looked into Wilderness First Aid courses before, back in the Netherlands. There weren’t many, and the ones I found were quite expensive and relatively short, so it kind of slipped off my radar.

When I was in Tasmania, though, I started hiking and climbing more frequently again, and the idea came back. I came across a course that looked amazing. Definitely more of an investment, but after hearing several guides talk about it, it felt like one of those things that would actually be worth it.

Why I chose to do a Wilderness First Aid course

There were a few reasons for me to go for it.

First of all, I wanted to do it for myself. I wanted to feel more confident in remote areas, both for my own safety and for the people I travel with. That small “what if” voice had been holding me back more than I liked to admit.

Secondly, it made sense if I want to switch to a job in the outdoors (which I'm thinking about). After working at an outdoor camp in Japan, I realised I’d been quite lucky to get hired without first aid qualifications. A Wilderness First Aid certificate is pretty standard in outdoor jobs, and also relevant for fieldwork as an ecologist.

And third, I just genuinely like learning new, practical skills, especially ones that might actually make a difference one day.

What made a Wildreness First Aid course so different

This course felt completely different from the one-day first aid course. Spending five days on one topic gives you time to actually understand what you’re doing, instead of just trying to remember steps. We practiced a lot, made mistakes, asked questions, and repeated things until they started to feel more natural.

We were a group of like-minded people, hikers, guides, outdoor educators, rangers, which also made it a really fun environment to learn in.

A big difference with the basic first aid was the context. In these scenarios, help isn’t just ten minutes away. Sometimes it’s hours, sometimes even days. That changes everything: how you assess a situation, what you prioritize and how you stay calm. To get used to that, we did all sorts of practical things, bandaging, building stretchers, working through scenarios, and even figuring out how to manage basic needs like an injured person needing to go to the toilet in the wild (dig a hole, roll them over, use a bottle, get creative, this course definitely wasn’t just about textbook solutions). It was hands-on, sometimes a bit chaotic, but in a good way.

The final scenario, at night, pulled everything together. Multiple “patients,” limited resources, and a lot going on at once. It was challenging, but also exactly the kind of practice that makes things stick.

Basic First Aid or Wilderness First Aid?

What stood out about the Wilderness First Aid course was how it built on the basics and pushed them further, especially in situations where help might be hours or even days away. It wasn’t just theory, we spent days applying what we learned in realistic scenarios, from snakebites to broken bones in the middle of nowhere.

I don’t feel like I know everything now. Not even close. But I do feel more capable, and more confident going into remote areas. That “what if” voice is still there, but it’s a lot quieter, and that already makes a big difference for me.

I think that whether you do a basic first aid course or go further with something like Remote or Wilderness First Aid, you’ll take something valuable away from it.

For me, the biggest difference between the two was time and practice. Having multiple days to really engage with the material, instead of rushing through it, made everything stick much more.

The wilderness aspect also adds something important. When help isn’t nearby, you’re the one who has to manage the situation for a longer period of time. That changes how you think and act in those moments.

A first aid course is a great addition for any traveler

I don’t think you do a first aid course because you expect something to go wrong, but because you want to be prepared if it does.

For me, it shifted something in how I move through the world (and the mountains), especially while travelling. I notice more, I feel a bit more prepared, and if something does happen, to me or to someone else, I’m not starting from zero.

It perhaps doesn’t turn you into a wilderness medic overnight, but at least you’re no longer the person just awkwardly standing there hoping someone else knows what to do.