Mind Your Decisions

10 Tips for Traveling Safely with Valuables

Every Tuesday is a Game Theory article at Mind Your Decisions

photo credit: GrooverFW

A successful vacation depends as much on safety as it does on activities. The best travel plans can be sabotaged by pickpockets and dishonest hotel staff. Travel risk is inevitable because valuables like money and passports are needed when traveling overseas. So how can you protect yourself?

This article arms you with my 10 favorite tips. You might not be able to prevent theft entirely, but by following these steps, you will make yourself a much harder target for thieves and greatly reduce your risk.

Before I get to the tips, I want to connect travel safety with game theory. In fact, what inspired this article is reading a tip that I thought couldn’t possibly work.

Traveling off-season: a questionable safety tip

I once read it’s safer to travel during the off-season, like say, going to Europe during winter. The off-season, it was argued, contained smaller crowds and hence fewer thieves.

But this logic doesn’t make sense when viewed strategically. The problem is that although there are fewer thieves, there are also fewer tourists. A tourist who travels during the off-season would stick out like a sore thumb and attract all available thieves. By contrast, a tourist who travels during the peak-season would blend in with others and could assure safety simply by appearing to be a hard target.

Since it might be easier to outsmart other tourists instead of trying to outsmart all thieves, a sophisticated traveler could be safer during the peak-season. This is a point overlooked by financial writers that promote the off-season for discounted airfare and accommodation rates.

Travel safety is a game

The example above illustrates that travel safety cannot be based on a static list of precautions like “travel in groups.” Travel safety is about outsmarting thieves. It’s a game of cat-and mouse. You have to be constantly warding off thieves preying on your valuables.

In a sense, travel safety is much like a biological predator-prey game. Thieves are predators that need a sustainable supply of tourists to line their pocket. Too much theft and travelers stop visiting a region entirely. By analogy, thieves, like natural predators, will focus their efforts on the low-hanging fruit: the weak, the confused, and the unprepared.

These tips are about putting you ahead of the curve. Even though this is public information, do not be concerned that others will instantly adopt them and lessen the advantage. Discussions of game theory only attract the smartest people, and enough people are likely to forget the tips.

So do yourself a favor by printing these out (see the “printer friendly version“) and checking them off one-by-one on your next trip. That’s what I plan to do.

The tips are divided between steps you can take “before you leave” and “during your trip.”

Before you leave

1. Remove unneeded valuables

It’s worth stating the obvious because this step alone would reduce damage while traveling. What are some items that are not necessary? This depends on your trip’s purpose. A basic step is to remove all unnecessary travel items like domestic store and membership cards. I go even further and avoid taking jewelry that I’d miss, like watches, chains, or rings. Many people suggest using a disposable camera to avoid yours getting stolen. I settle on taking a camera that I would not particularly mind losing—like an old digital camera.

2. Plan out secure ways of getting money

People debate about the best option between traveler’s checks, ATMs, and credit cards. From what I gather, the fees keep on changing, and convenience depends on where you’re staying. The main point is that all of these are safer, though possibly more expensive, than carrying paper money. Call around for fees (two years ago some exceptional credit cards had no fee on international charges) and plan it out.

3. Think about where you store your wallet

Many thefts occur with wallets in outer jacket pockets or back pant pockets. You can reduce theft by putting your wallet in your front pocket. Better yet, consider getting a security wallet that sits under your clothes. Now apparently thieves know about these too, so to be even safer, you might consider one that is stronger and can’t be cut with ordinary knives.

4. Divide up valuables between several areas

Two of my friends were debating whether one person should carry the passports or whether each person should carry it individually. I ultimately suggested that each should be separate. While putting both passports with the safer individual might lower the chance of theft, it increases the risk that both are lost. The same logic applies for cash, credit cards, debit cards, and traveler’s checks. Spread the wealth among responsible parties so that one theft isn’t going to leave your group stranded with nothing. Additionally, spread the goods among your various items—your wallet, camera pouch, and luggage.

5. Create a “throw-away” wallet

My friends in Chicago tell me you should always carry some cash to dispense with during a robbery. The thief goes away and you leave unharmed. I recently heard about a variation of this advice: create a decoy wallet with a small but decent amount of cash. If robbed, you can give this wallet to send thieves on their way. I cannot personally vouch for this advice, but it is logical and one story in this message board thread makes a convincing case.

6. Photocopy documents and have important numbers

This is a step aimed at quick recovery rather than theft prevention. Make copies of traveler’s checks numbers, passport information, driver’s license, and airline tickets so you can inform appropriate agencies quickly and limit damage. Keep a copy with you and leave one at home—just in case your copy gets stolen. Also include numbers like the American (or your country’s) embassy and your credit and debit cards’ customer service to get replacements.

During your trip

7. Use your room or hotel safe

When my friends went to Italy, they always made sure to lock up passports and other valuables. Some hotels might charge for this service, but it’s probably worth it. Former New York City cop Bill Stanton explains why:

Even if hotel employees are beyond reproach, you don’t want to make it easy for anyone to dart in and grab your valuables. Cleaning staff frequently leave room doors wide open, sometimes when they’re not even in the room. “I’ve walked in, as a test, acting as if it were my room,” Stanton says. “All you have to say is, ‘Can you excuse me for five minutes? And they leave.’” (source)

8. Ask your hotel manager about unsafe areas

Neighborhoods can be surprisingly small in large cities. In Chicago and San Francisco there are dangerous areas just a few blocks from extremely safe ones. Since neighborhoods change over time, it’s best to ask a local who is up on the news. It always surprises me how helpful people are in these situations if you just ask. You might even get a tip about the latest scam while you’re hearing about good places to eat.

9. Act like a local

We forget how easy it is to stick out. My history teacher told me how Americans are easy to spot because they often wear clothes with the American flag and they wear sneakers everywhere. It’s wise to dress modestly and learn a bit about the culture in advance. Another good tip is to go to a local store that other tourists would avoid, like a supermarket. Then use one of their bags to carry things in public. In a similar vein, if you rent a car, consider putting a local newspaper in the back seat. And then there’s the obvious: walk with intention even when you’re lost, and avoid taking out a map in crowded areas.

10. Be careful when drinking alcohol

I know enough stories where people get in trouble domestically when drinking too much. The same risks are there when traveling in another country. The story I want to share concerns an amusing business episode. One of my friends was traveling to Europe and ran into colleagues working at a competitor. They bought some rounds to get him relaxed so they could extract information. The only problem was they ended up tipsier than my friend and so they ended up leaking information. My friend quickly called his boss back home so he wouldn’t forget. His competitors didn’t size up the risks, and they paid for it. Literally.

Sources and additional reading

Safe ways to carry valuables (Independent Traveler message board)

Travel safety tips (Better Health)

Travel safety (Bugbog)

Outsmarting thieves (Rick Steves)

12 ways to trick thieves (Journeywoman)

Thieves love tourists (National Post)

Tips for traveling with valuables (Associated Content)

What are your tips? Share in the comments, and I’ll add valuables suggestions and links.

Reader suggestions

Useful comments have been reprinted here for ease of printing.

From Christina:

• While I realize this might be a better tip for girls than guys, pay attention to the zipper on your purse/bag/etc. When I travelled Europe, I had a shoulder bag that had sort of a long zipper in the front - I walked around with my fingers pinching the zipper to the strap: nobody was going to get into that bag without my knowing about it.
• A lot of bags and coats and things have zippered pockets inside of them - I feel more secure when someone would have to open two or more pockets to get to my money.
• Don’t keep anything valuable in a backpack. It’s too easy for someone to get into it without you seeing.
• When you’re eating in a restaurant, don’t put your purse/bag/etc on the chair behind you. We were warned several times about this in various restaurants throughout Europe.
• Don’t make it LOOK like you have money. If you’re wearing expensive jewelry or designer clothes, or you take out a wad of cash when you’re paying for something, it’s probably going to mark you out. I usually kept a small amount of money in my wallet - in smaller bills - for paying for things, so it looks like I have less money with me than I actually do. (I guess that fits with the dummy-wallet idea)

From Milena:

• I’d add - if you plan to rent a car, make sure insurance coverage is valid for your entire route! In Bosnia, any areas that were Serbian territory, which were unavoidable based on our route, were not covered and any damage incurred would have required our full payment.
• Take the cell phone, but turn it off before you leave the country and only turn it on if you have to use it. That way, if you have an emergency you could use it, but if you don’t turn it on until you are back in the US, you won’t be charged roaming fees for messages left, etc. (Courtesy of AT&T)
• Call your credit card companies ahead of time and inform them of your travel route and the possibility of any large purchases/withdrawals. That way you will not be cut off and have to deal with the hassle of getting your card re-instated while trying to enjoy yourself!

From Mihir:

I personally dont consider & suggest people not to consider credit cards as an option but as a financial backup. I feel it is best not to use ur credit cards when traveling unless you have no other alternative.Use your cards at safe locations only. It is company policy for all credit card companies atleast in India to replace your credit card after you return from southeast asian countries like Malaysia, specially Thailand etc. You dont even have to inform them about your trip as soon as they see expenses in their black listed countries they issue new ones to you. I read somewhere that there is 50 % chance that your card data has been skimmed before you get it back in thailand.