We all know that traveling can be a stressful experience. But the last thing that you would want to experience during your international trip is to have your items stolen. Not only does it become practically impossible to retrieve your stolen goods, but it also just increases your stress levels even more. In this article, we will discuss five different tips to help secure your belongings and make sure your trip is one to remember — for all the right reasons!
1. Buy a Leash for Your Phone
Travelers will often be face-down in their phones looking at their GPS to make sure they’re going the correct way. Understandably, this is a completely normal thing for tourists to do. However, thieves can often take advantage of this scenario where travelers are too distracted by their phones to observe their surroundings. Many videos and reports out of European cities have shown thieves riding on bikes and coming up behind unsuspecting tourists and snatching the phones right out of their hands. To combat this, we recommend buying a leash for your phone. These attach to your belt loops and make sure that the thieves aren’t able to snatch it away from you.
2. Lock Down Your Luggage
Be it a code-locked bag or using a physical lock, it is highly recommended to lock your luggage to deter thieves from taking your bags. Thefts of your luggage can occur before you even depart for your destination — so as the saying goes — better safe than sorry! If your luggage doesn’t come equipped with code-locking capability, you can buy a twist-to-lock Biner or an old-school lock. Be sure to buy multiple for however many bags you are bringing with you!
3. Wear waterproof bags if you’re going to the beach
You’re at the beach and prepare to take a dip in the water. What are you going to do with your belongings? Instead of leaving them where your towel is located and risking it being unsupervised, instead wear a sizable waterproof bag that you can bring with you in the water. Yes, it won’t make you the most flexible swimmer — but it’s a sensible compromise to make! These bags can be worn across your body or your waist, whatever you are more comfortable with. That way, you can keep your wallet, phone, and keys safe and sound.
4. Keep your card/cash stash separate
Keeping all your cash and cards in one location (such as a single wallet) makes sense for the organization’s sake, but if that one wallet gets stolen, you’re left with nothing. Be sure to keep your cards and cash separated throughout your belongings and luggage, so you will have a backup in case the worst happens. Keeping a daily allowance in check or even putting your cards digitally on your phone (with a code, such as on Apple Wallet) is a fantastic insurance method to make sure you don’t leave yourself too dry.
5. Buy an Apple Airtag (or similar tracking device)
What are AirTags? These are small devices that can easily be attached to a keychain or just left inside your luggage (or whatever else you want to track). These AirTags will constantly keep you updated on their location on your phone. That way, if your luggage does get stolen or lost, you can track it to its exact location. After that, you can contact authorities to let them know.
