Having his belongings stolen are one of the worst thing one can experience while travelling. It can be technological equipment especially bought before te trip (laptop, camera…) carried in the backpack or important amount of cash that is sometimes taken in order to avoid too many withdrawal and then bank commissions. That’s why travellers can also be considered as an easy target in poorer countries when such equipment can attract the attention. How to prevent this kind of unfortunate event to happen?
Be discreet
Of course, the main recommendation. Be discreet and don’t ostensibly show your last iphone of state of the art drone drone in each and every street . Wear simple clothes and don’t go out with your precious belongings, better to keep them safe in your hotel. Then, try to avoid to walk around at night time in areas you don’t know or which suffers from a bad reputation, keep informed. Last but not least, don’t necessarily trust people you don’t know at all. These are very basic advice everyone is aware of, and the most important is to follow your intuition, you have developed with your experience. Again don’t be paranoid but don’t be naive either. And keep in mind that people who seems the friendliest and who absolutely want to help you may have another idea for later…Stay vigilant at any time and don’t follow someone you don’t know to an isolated place. Also, beware to pickpockets as well, mostly in crowded markets where it is easy not to feel anything when someone tries to steal from you. Negative feedbacks have been reported in Ulan-Bator, Mongolia, Barcelona, Spain or in various cities of Latin-America. Over there, many people prefer to keep their small backs or backpacks on their belly, just to keep an eye of them. Up to you, but I think you can also attract more attention in this case and it can be perceived as you have very valued and expensive belongings in your bag. Up to you!
Protective bags
Finally, not only your precious belongings have to be well protected and kept an eye on, but also your cash, ID card, passport, visa…Much better to leave as much things in you hotel when you go and visit places for the day…but sometimes you can’t! And when you travel from an accommodation to another, protective bags are compulsory according to us. They are very convenient and can be waterproof, very thin and discreet. Also, remember to scan and send to your email copies of important papers such as health insurance, passport, hotels confirmation, driving license…
Very safe ventral pockets
- For example, there are pockets you can wear around your neck or at your belt, which are discreet and awesome. You can find them in every sport shop or on Amazon and one can barely notice them when you wear them. These belly-bands are pretty comfortable to wear.
- Also, waterproof pockets are recommended if you are fond of aquatic activities such as rafting, kite-surfing…so your valuable items (camera, USB key, hard drive…) wont risk anything. Also better to be more cautious! They can be transparent and with a nice texture you won’t feel anything.
Getting lockable backpacks or suitcases
If you really want to be safe at 100%, on top of the recommendations above, locks (with key or digital code) on backpacks or luggage (dark colors of course not to attract attention) are very important.
- Straps with TSA standards on your luggage, backpacks (to allow the customs officers to check them, notably in USA or Canada, with a code to open them without breaking the lock unnecessarily), are very useful and give you a better protection
- And straps with secured rope which will tighten up you rigid luggage during your trip, locked with a code may also be a solution for more protection, Very convenient during long public transports, they will prevent any possible stealing and forced opening as they go around the luggage.
