TeamLosing important items can dull your traveling experience, and you may not enjoy the rest of your stay. It is hard to avoid the inevitable, but you can minimize the risk of your valuables being stolen abroad. Losing items such as passports and other identification documents may paralyze your travel back home. We have rounded up some tips on keeping your items safe when traveling to avoid frustrations and nerve-racking experiences.
Avoid Looking Like a Tourist
Thieves find tourists an easy target since they are always distracted and unfamiliar with the new sites and presumably carrying valuable items. Keeping your items safe may be a tall order if you are constantly checking your Google maps and trying to figure out your next stop. Therefore, traveling ensures you research the destination you will be visiting before hitting the road. Get to know some of the restaurants and sites you will visit. Look out for their location and what they offer. This way, you will avoid confusion which may make you a prey to criminals. Carrying out your research makes you walk confidently and find places easily without looking like you are new to the area.
Be On the Lookout
When visiting a new area, it is essential to watch out for local scams. You must stay alert to avoid being conned money or having valuables such as your phone and passport stolen. Watch out for scammers operating in pairs; one tries to distract you while the other steals your items. Do not trust beggars, and most importantly, look out for strangers who may try to drug your drink or food. Before hitting the road, ensure you research on the security of the area you will be visiting. You can check online on guidebooks, or by asking a friend who has been to the area.
Do Not Pull All Your Important Items into One Bag
Putting your cameras, laptop, cash, travel documents, and phones in one bag is not wise. Therefore, when packing for the trip, ensure you split your important items into different bags to avoid losing all of them. If one bag gets lost during the journey, at least you will not have lost everything.
Avoid Crowded Areas Makes Keeping Your Items Safe Easier
Crowded areas and long queues are a target for opportunists looking to help themselves off with your items. Thieves only take seconds to grab your bag or backpack or steal your wallet from your pocket, and you may not notice due to the noise and commotion in the crowded place. Therefore, it is best to stay away from crowded areas, but if you must go, ensure you are alert, getting too comfortable may make you a victim of rogue thieves in the area. Keeping your items safe in such areas involves having a money belt, carrying your cash in different areas and ensuring your bag is closed at all times.
Have Copies of Your Important Documents
If something goes wrong, you will not be entirely helpless if you have these copies. Additionally, ensure you take pictures of your passport, identity card, driver’s license, and medical cards before leaving for your trip as backup. Losing a shoe during your trip cannot be compared to the hassle of losing your travel documents since you will replace your shoe as fast as possible, but for travel documents, the hassle and inconvenience are much more because:
- They take time to replace
- They are even more difficult to replace in a foreign place
- What you lose may affect your arrival at home schedule, which makes the trip more expensive
You need to leave some copies with your friends or relatives at home in case you may need them sent to you. Having copies is a way of keeping your items safe, but also you need to have a proper storage for these copies since stolen documents may be the bread and butter for identity thieves.
Check Your Travel Insurance Policy
A travel insurance policy covers risks during travel. Losing your items and having no recourse can be frustrating. Therefore, before leaving, as a way of keeping your items safe, check to see the items covered by your insurance policy. Also, check the policy’s validity in the area you will be visiting. An insurance policy guarantees peace of mind when traveling, but you will be more dedicated to keeping your items safe if you are aware of the items your insurance does not cover.
Wrapping Up
To be safe in a new location, you must be alert and protect your valuable items at all costs. As you enjoy your trip, ensure you do not let your guard down since it is at that moment you will give leeway to opportunists who want to take off with your valuables. Swindlers are not always far from where you are, watch out!
