In our full year trip throughout Oceania, Asia, and Central Europe, we never had a single object stolen (lost yes, stolen no). We stayed in cheap hostels, trusted our things to strangers, rode the cheap seats on the train, yet the reason we came home with (almost) all the goods we left with was because we used some common sense and prepared ourselves for any situation. The following are a list of tips on how to keep your things safe while traveling abroad.

Money Belt.
This was a key item for keeping the most precious documents safe. I have heard other traveler’s horror stories about money belts around the neck getting cut and stolen in the middle of the night. My money belt was worn around my waist and tucked into my pants. I wore it every single day, and often even when I slept if there was any chance of someone stealing it in my sleep.

• Passports.
• Emergency money. Some use traveler’s checks instead, because if they are stolen they can be canceled, but we never did.
• External Flash Hard Drive. This item became very precious as it accumulated all of our photos from the trip. I was most protective of it, and slept with it in the money belt, or in a securely zipped pocket when on a night train or bus.
• Immunization Records.

Burn your photos to blank CD’s and ship them home. If photography isn’t a big deal for you than maybe this isn’t necessary, but for us it was very important. Every month or so I would burn all of our photography onto blank 4.7GB DVD’s and mailed it home. This is usually pretty cheap, and surprisingly everything got to where it was meant to, even sent from middle of the desert in India.

Locks & Chains.
We brought a lock with us from REI, but didn’t use it as often as the chains we bought in India. Sleeping on a train, bus, or leaving the bags anywhere it might be unsafe we wrapped them with chains and locked them to a secure fixture. If a thief really wanted to get our bags they could have, but the vast majority of thefts are opportunistic, meaning as long as it looks secure the thief won’t take a chance.

Travel Cheap.
Simply don’t bring things you really can’t afford to lose. Leave the $1,000 macbook at home, and bring a $250 netbook, or used laptop. Don’t bring a new iPod, bring an old one you don’t mind losing. Maybe you don’t need the state-of-the-art winter jacket, instead just a thick used jacket you can part with. Keep in mind that your whole bag may be stolen, even if you are careful, what in it will be the most devastating to lose? Chances are you will bring something expensive along that you were certain you would use a lot, and you probably won’t.

Multiple forms of Currency.
The more you vary your forms of currency the safer you will be. Hide some cash in your money belt, have an emergency ATM card in there too. Have another small cache of money or travelers checks hidden deep in your bag somewhere. At one point near the end of our year trip we lost all our debit cards and were out of cash. My travel partner Jessica got money wired direct from Wells Fargo, which was made a lot easier having all of her account information written down in a safe place.

Incognito.
Do not draw attention to yourself or your stuff. If you have nice things, it helps to make them look ugly. A dirty, old looking bag is a lot less enticing to a thief that that brand spanking new Osprey. Don’t show that you have a lot of money; don’t dress particularly nice, or flash around cash a lot. Just try and blend in and look like you have less valuables than you do, and if you have no valuables whatsoever…then less stress for you!

Leaving bags with a hostel/hotel.
This depends on the situation, and you must feel it out. Leaving bags in your room alone can be more unsafe than leaving them with the hotel, as the hotel wants a good reputation to attract more customers and will try and protect your stuff. They cannot however account for the employee who sees an iPod sticking out of a bag pocket and nabs it; even nicer hotels will employ opportunists. Again, bring your most precious items with you at all times, and for the most part it is safe to leave your bags with someone seemingly responsible at your accommodation.

When we were Couchsurfing we felt far more safe leaving all of our belongings at our hosts residence than at a hostel. Again, you must feel it out, how trustworthy does your host seem?

Hide.
If a thief is going to rummage through your bag, it will be in the obvious spots first. Anything of value should be buried in your bag to make it inconvenient to steal.

If you must leave a valuable in your hotel room (which we did often; like days we were going to swim), then try not to leave it out too obvious. At least hide it under the mattress or somewhere else less obvious as a deterrent.

So, if you have lucky underwear, wear it, or have a lucky deity, pray to it, but I promise you it will do no good. Just try and be smart, use common sense, organize your stuff,  know what is most valuable and keep track of it. If your things do get stolen, just remember it is just stuff! All the beautiful experiences you had abroad will be with you forever, losing a bunch of items is not the end of the world.

Think we missed anything in this article? Have any questions? Make a comment, or write in our forums and we’ll try to revise it! Thanks.

Written by: David Jackson