Travel Bits: March 2018

Safeguarding important personal belongings when travelling.......

Over dinner with friends during the weekend, one of them related to us about an incident in his recent  trip to Europe.

He was on a group tour and one of the travellers in the group had lost her passport as well as all her cash and credit cards. She was the victim of a pickpocket. Apparently, the act occured while the group was in a small crowded lane while moving from one point in the city to another. The pickpocket (or pickpockets) must have had made use of the confusion and the crowd to carry out the theft.

The aftermath of that incident effectively ruined the victim's trip. She was left without her important travel document which also happened to be her only form of identification in a foreign land. And she was also left penniless as all her cash and credit cards had been stolen. Thankfully for the lady, my friend loaned her cash and assisted her to contact the nearest diplomatic representation of her country, allowing her to be issued with ad-hoc travel documents so that she could return home.

This incident is not far fetched. In fact, it is fairly common amongst travellers. And more importantly to travellers, it can and does happen anywhere in the world. Pickpockets exist everywhere and will strike when the opportunity presents itself.

So, how does one safeguard one's important personal belongings when travelling?

For me, I never keep my passport in locations where it is beyond my visual range, such as in a backpack slung on my back. And to further ensure that my passport is safe, it is always kept separate and away from my cash and credit cards. Pickpockets are usually after cash and credit cards. The passport, when kept together with these items, become an unintended part of the loot. And the loss of one's passport when travelling creates lots of administrative and security headaches which will immediately and effectively ruin any trip.

Secondly, I always have at least a few hundred dollars worth of widely used and internationally recognisable currency kept in the safe in the hotel room or in my secured luggage bag. This way, if I happen to be an unfortunate victim of a theft or robbery, I will still have some cash in my possession when I return to my hotel room.

Thirdly, in the same way I stashed away some emergency cash, I will also have at least 2 credit cards kept separate from my wallet and the rest of my other credit cards. This ensures that I will not be relieved of all my credit cards if some unfortunate criminal incident is to happen.

When travelling, we are all responsible for our own safety and the safeguarding of our important personal belongings. Taking some precautions like what I have mentioned do not require much effort. It should not be construed as being paranoid as it is always good to be prepared for all eventualities.

With basic precautions taken,  I can enjoy my trip with peace of mind and to venture out to explore what my host country and city has to offer to me as a visitor.

A Cathay Pacific passenger plane taking off at the Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong SAR, China (2018)

Myself talking timeout from sightseeing and shopping for a personal photo opportunity at a Line speciality store in Taipei, Taiwan (2018)