1 Simple Trick to Protect Your Valuables While Traveling

The most common excuse for not traveling is a lack of money. The second most common excuse for many people is that they are afraid of traveling; more specifically, they’re afraid of something happening to them wherever it is that they might go. If you fall into the first category, then our article on saving money while traveling will help you solve that problem. If you fall into the second category, then you’re in the right place already and should keep reading.

A fear of the unknown is not a new phenomenon among humans. Most people tend to stay close to home and don’t often venture too far from there. People generally associate home with safety and it makes sense. After all, home is a place we’re familiar with; we know the area, the people and we usually have friends or family nearby who can help us if necessary. When traveling, on the other hand, we often find ourselves in unfamiliar places and/or situations. If something were to happen too far from home, we may not be ready to deal with it and this can cause us to panic. Although the odds of falling victim to a crime or getting into an accident are generally extremely low, just the thought of being forced to deal with that kind of stress in an unfamiliar city or country is sometimes enough to keep people from walking out their doors. We all know that accidents can happen anywhere; in fact, the majority of accidents happen within 5 miles of a person’s home. Therefore, most tourists are less worried about accidents and more worried about crime.

Personally, we have never fallen victim to a crime while traveling and we are confident that there are two reasons for this. 1) The world isn’t nearly as dangerous as you might think. 2) We take precautionary measures to avoid being targeted. Let’s talk more about that second one. The most common crime affecting tourists is pickpocketing. Tourists are generally easy targets for pickpockets because they are most unaware of their surroundings, especially when they’re too busy ooing and awing at all of the attractions. Even though the odds of you having something stolen from you while traveling are very low, it’s still a situation that none of us want to find ourselves in. Having some cash stolen is bad enough, but if your wallet is stolen, then you have enormous amounts of bureaucratic work to deal with in getting your credit cards canceled, getting a new ID, dealing with potential identity theft and the list goes on—this is, of course, all on top of the arduous task of contacting local law enforcement and filing a report with an unmotivated officer who’s just going to tell you something you already know: you’re never getting your stuff back.

We would prefer to avoid this, but we’re not willing to sacrifice our vacation to do so. That’s why we travel with a PacSafe. A PacSafe comes in many different forms; small bags, larger backpacks, fanny packs (like we have) and the list goes on. The most important feature of a PacSafe is that it is extremely difficult to open if you’re not very familiar with it and even then, it can still be a pain. This is a good thing. Pickpockets are experts at stealing items out of your pockets or bags without you even feeling the slightest touch. However, with a PacSafe, they would first be forced to navigate a series of complicated locks and closure systems in order to gain access to your valuables. In short, they don’t have time to figure out that system before getting caught.

Furthermore, it’s much more difficult for potential thieves to snatch a PacSafe away from you like they would a purse because it has a sturdy latch and lock system that keeps it securely fastened to you at all times. In this scenario, the worst that could happen is that you feel the thief’s failed attempt to steal your bag and catch them in the act. Likewise, no matter how hard someone pulls, the straps will not tear. In fact, the straps are so sturdy that you can’t even cut them with a knife.

We mentioned previously that we’ve never fallen victim to a crime while traveling. We are confident that our PacSafe bags are part of the reason for that. We even had a scenario during our world trip where we’re fairly confident someone was trying to reach into our pockets. You can read more about that in our article on Buenos Aires. If you’re familiar with the city, then you may already know that Buenos Aires is very safe. We are mentioning that here because we don’t want that story to deter you from visiting that beautiful city and because no matter where you are (even at home), you could still be targeted by a pickpocket.

We’ll wrap this up by encouraging you to get out and explore the world (surprise, surprise). We also want to encourage you to travel safely. If you’re concerned about theft, then we can highly recommend buying a PacSafe as a way to keep your valuables safe and give you peace of mind so that you can enjoy your holiday.

Have you ever been pickpocketed? Tell us about your experience in the comments!