Keeping Your Stuff Safe: Security Tips for Location Independent Professionals Who Travel
Photo by Dunechaser
There is one travel experience I will never forget…and it involves being robbed of $200 by a group of 10 year old girls on the streets of Nice, France.
It’s one of those things I’ll never forget for 3 reasons:
- At the time, I considered myself a fairly experienced tourist having flown to far flung places since the age of five.
- The sneaky & crafty way in which they did it still astounds me - but knowing their trick has saved me (and some friends) on more than once occasion from succumbing to the same fate.
- The fact that I was robbed by 10 year old children is still just a tad embarrassing.
Having survived cities such as New York, London, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Madrid, Rome, Paris, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh and Sydney, and a fair few other places such as Belize City, Mexico, Guatemala, Budapest, and Prague (back when it was far less touristy), I’ve learned how to keep myself relatively *safe* but you can never be too careful.
There are just certain things you do and certain things you don’t do as a foreigner in a foreign land trying to keep you and your belongings secure…
Secure your luggage
- Always have a lock for your luggage - TSA-approved padlocks help to ensure that airport security don’t just cut it off and leave your luggage unlocked, plus they let you know if your luggage has been inspected.
- If you’re travelling on trains or you need to secure your bags temporarily (even if you’re sitting right next to them), then consider getting a backpack & bag mesh protector which encases your bag in a wire mesh and allows you to lock it securely to something to avoid it being taken.
- To help keep your possessions as safe as possible in your room both when you’re there or when you’re not, consider a travel door alarm to alert you of any suspicious activity.
Secure your laptop
- Consider carrying a laptop lock and using it to secure your laptop up when you leave your accommodation and/or if you use it at airports, in cafes or other places where it can easily be snaffled from right under your nose.
- You should also consider the type of bag you carry your laptop in - whilst a fancy Tumi laptop case might set you apart from the commuters in New York or London, it’s almost as good as carrying a sign above your head forecasting your “rob-ability”. Try getting a laptop backpack that looks more like an adventure backpack. Alternatively, you could try the Pacfsafe Theft-proof bag.
- There are certain places where you probably want to avoid carrying your laptop around with you. As nice as it might be to go and work on the beach or from a wireless cafe, be aware of who sees you out and about with it and keep it under wraps. You may also want to avoid broadcasting the fact that you have a laptop at your accommodation by wandering in and out of your accommodation with it under your arm.
Secure your cash & credit cards
- You may or may not be a fan of those travel wallets that strap to various parts of your body. Whether you use one or not may depend upon where you’re going and whether you need to carry huge wads of cash about with you. If you do use one, then I’d recommend the more authentic “belts“over the leg, waist or shoulder-type pouches - unless, as a woman, it doesn’t go with your outfit!
- Keep a note of your credit card numbers and the telephone numbers needed to cancel them (but not the security number and/or expiration date). Whilst some people advise making photocopies of the front & back of your card, if these get mislaid or stolen the thief can use the details to order online.You can keep a soft copy of your cards, password-protected on your laptop if you must.
- You should let your credit card company and bank know that you will be overseas - and ideally where you’ll be. Banks monitor suspected fraudulent use and will stop a card from working if they suspect it. Whilst it often only takes a phone call to reactivate it, it’s more efficient to let them know your travel plans in advance.
In a future post, I’ll be sharing street-smart tips to keep yourself safe whilst out and about - and also sharing the story of exactly *how* I was robbed by a group of little kids…you’ll want to know because if it ever happens to you, you’ll hopefully realise what’s happening to you before it’s too late!
What other street-smart tips do you have to secure your belongings whilst you travel?
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Comments
I think this article misses a fairly major point though there are some good tips in it.
Security and travel safety is not really about attempting to secure your valuables like they are in a safe. If someone wants what’s in your “theft proof bag” badly enough, they will just take it and anything it’s attached to.
Real travel security (in terms of minimising the risk of theft) is making sure you look like a less appealing target than the tourist standing next to you.
Dress down. No YSL luggage. No gold jewellery. No Guccii sunglasses. Be careful where you flash your valuable items.
As a thief, are you gonna follow the two tourists from Miami with the raybans and rolex or the mud smeared, smelly hippy from Canada with a canvas rucksack?
Don’t appear to be the high value target.
It’s not always possibly, but it usually is and it’s pretty easy to do.
Lea, your post today is quite timely. We had been on the road for 14 months without any problems, using a lot of the tips you mention above. Just yesterday, my husband got robbed in Bangkok…at airport security!!
He put his money belt on the tray with his change and mobile phone to go through the x-ray. One of the security employees opened the front zipper and helped herself to the Thai Baht. Luckily, his gut told him something was strange when there was a delay in his stuff coming out of the x-ray, so he checked everything immediately. We filed a complaint and by the time our flight was ready for boarding, we received confirmation that the tapes showed one of the security employees doing something suspicious. We’re now waiting for the investigation to finish.
Lessons learned. 1) Never put your wallet or money belt on a security tray to go through the x-ray machine. Tuck it away in another bag. 2) Trust your instincts when something seems odd. 3) Don’t let your guard down, even if it seems like a “safe” area.
Where would I begin with the scams and tricks in Spain?
I must admit I that I have a bit of admiration for pick-pockets - I know of one person who had his wallet picked, money taken out and the wallet returned to his pocket in a matter of seconds!
I’m on the way out right now - when I get a moment I’ll do a proper report…
@Rob Wood - you’re one step ahead…the points you mention are in the next installment!
I’d have just a couple of comments though….I was robbed whilst looking like a “pauper” backpacker and although in the interests of safety, you are wise to dress down and look as inconspicuous/poor as possible, there are times when (a) you will simply stand out as a target no matter what you’re wearing even with no ray-bans or the trappings of being wealthier and (b) I don’t always (ever?!) really want to travel the world looking like a “mud-smeared smelly hippy” backpacker 
As LIPs, we’re slightly different from the average tourist/traveller in that we will often have high value items with us…I think it’s very important to do as much as possible to at least try and protect your valuables both when they’re in your accommodation and out and about with you. That said…we currently carry our laptops to the internet cafe in a hessian bag rather than our laptop bags because they do look less conspicuous.
@Audrey - wow, good for you guys for noticing and thanks for the additional tips…it’s something I have looked out for a couple of times in the smaller/dodgier airports…never heard it happen before. Glad you got your proof…hopefully you’ll get your money back.
I always go for the scruffy well-travelled look- I do not ironed so well! I’d never carry a laptop in a laptop bag, or a camera in a camera bag- there are heaps of other options which don’t scream still me!
However the most important thing to have the data backed up - 2nd hard drive , photos on CD whatever - the hardware is only hardware and if its that valuable make sure you have decent travel insurance -that will actually pa out!
I’d recommend Crumpler laptop/camera packs - they are well designed to protect your equipment and don’t look like typical laptop/camera bags. My Crumpler Puppet is a fun-looking backpack so most people would never guess that it’s carrying a laptop, DSLR camera and several lenses. They can be expensive, but my backpack has really served me well in protecting my equipment in difficult places from Turkmenistan to Tajikistan.
@Lissie - you are so right about finding multiple ways to back up data. Losing equipment is bad, but losing all your work and photos is tragic. We keep multiple external hard drives in different locations and I send DVD photo/video backups back to a safe place (i.e., mom) every couple of weeks. If you’re in a place with good internet, FTP backup is also a good option.
Two more things:
1) In-room hotel safes
Don’t trust them! Even–especially–at the expensive hotels. If you have no other means of securing your valuables, check that there’s no sign of tampering. Surround it with you own luggage to make access more difficult.
In-room safes have a manual override key slot. Normally, only the manager has access to the key. If there are signs of wear on this slot, there’s a risk that some of the hotel staff are thieves and the manager may be involved. They’ll steal one item or a small amount of money. Most of the time, the theft is never discovered; guests think that they misplaced the item.
If you report the incident, they’ll say, “sir, ONLY the manager has the key! Perhaps you or your wife left the item somewhere else, sir?” You know how this story will end: it’s manager’s word against the forgetful tourist or busy business traveller. Who’s side will the police take?
2) Data security
As others have mentioned, your data is also very valuable. Not only should you keep file backups, but don’t trust internet connections. Your data, once stolen, could be more valuable to a thief than your physical items.
This point requires a longer post!
[...] on from Lea’s first post about Keeping Your Stuff Safe, there are a few things you can do to keep yourself safe whilst out and [...]
[...] this series on Safety & Security, which includes my previous post about how to keep your stuff safe whilst you travel and Greg’s post on how to keep yourself safe in a foreign country, in this post I’ll be [...]
Lea, I’m sure this will be the first of many traveller’s tales. Your tips are excellent. I would add, following bitter experience, never let your luggage out of your site at busy places like railway stations. Once in Rome Termini station - a well-known den of thieves even though these they have cleaned it up a bit - my carry-on bag containing everything important - passport, travellers cheques (it was a while ago) camera etc was stolen from under my nose while I was checking a timetable on a wall. It just evaporated. I have heard that these people, who work in teams, have hollow-bottom suitcases that they wheel along, slip over the top of yours, and just keep walking. I wish someone would invent an alarm that you could trigger from a remote in your pocket that would give out an ear-splitting noise if your case goes walkabout.