Travel Safe: Your Cash and Credit Cards

Travel Safe: Your Cash and Credit Cards


When you're travelling here and abroad, having your purse snatched or slashed can sour the whole trip. You've probably heard about street thieves who operate in teams. They slash shoulder straps or purse bottoms, and snatch open purses in crowds. It can happen anywhere, but there are some travel destinations you definitely need to take precautions for.

It's not enough to be forewarned, and think you are forearmed. Few among us can sense or prevent organized street thieves before they pounce. They can do the deed in nanoseconds. You've got to minimize your exposure in every possible way. Anti-theft purses and waist wallets are just one way you can travel safe, not sorry.

Step 1
Pacsafe Bag: Invest in an anti-theft purse

When you travel to places that have known purse-snatch and pickpocket problems, just forget about taking your traditional, every-day purses. Leave them at home, and any unnecessary ID or contents, too. Travel instead with a purse that rests comfortably and securely across your body or inside your clothing. And carry as little as you need for the day on your person, securing the rest in your hotel safe.

The travel industry has answered the need for safe, secure, lightweight purses and money belts. The selection and features of anti-theft purses on the market is impressive. There are some pretty extreme things... wallets with alarms that go off, purses with fingerprint identification clasps... The average person who travels wants to secure their cash and plastic, in more down to earth and affordable ways.

Pacsafe makes attractive, lightweight purses with stainless steel cable and wire mesh features hidden inside the bag. Slash-proof adjustable shoulder straps are just one of the security design elements. There are several designs, sizes and fabrics.

Daymakers of Santa Barbara is another brand of anti-theft purses. These have steel-reinforced 48+" adjustable shoulder straps. Magellans.com has a collection of other slash-proof, snatch proof convertible travel bags. TravelSmith.com also has a selection of secure travel purses and money belts.

Step 2
Lewis N. Clark
If you're carrying any purse on the street, it should be worn cross-body or around your neck

If you need to carry more than bare essentials (passport, cell and credit cards), any purse you carry should have a very long shoulder strap, and be worn diagonally, from your shoulder across your chest close to your hip. This 'cross-body' type purse is a very secure position. If you are right-handed, the purse strap should be placed at your left shoulder with the purse laying under your elbow or lower arm at your right hip, where you can protect it and access it easily.

An alternative is a neck stash, like the one pictured here by Lewis N. Clark. Worn around the neck and inside a blouse or jacket if possible, this type offers a convenient lightweight option.

Being on foot on crowded city streets with a clutch-type bag, short handled bag carried by hand, or even a shoulder strap bag hung from one shoulder... is not smart, it's extremely risky. If you're in the center of Rome or Paris, for example, in a train station, or at St. Mark's square in Venice, your purse should be concealed or very close to your waist and torso. Don't carry a purse that dangles from your shoulder or a backpack of any kind.

Step 3
Travel Smith
Consider a silk money belt if you only need to conceal cash, credit cards and hotel key

This belt is a thin, silk blend, lightweight, undercover version, worn against your skin, beneath your pants waist. It is a comfortable and secure way for men or women to safeguard cash and credit cards.

Step 4
Read US Department of State Travel Advisories for Your Destination

A sample advisory for Italy, for example, warns that: Well-organized pickpocket rings are a continual problem in Italy. Generally, pickpockets work in small groups of two or three individuals. One or two individuals distract the victim while another thief comes from behind and snatches the wallet or cuts a woman's purse and steals the contents. The most common type of pick-pocketing involves a woman's purse being cut, generally where the zipper meets the fabric, or the slashing of the interior pocket of a man's jacket or even the front pants pocket.

Other popular methods involve the pickpocket simply colliding with the victim and snatching the wallet or having an accomplice drop items at the feet of the victim to create a distraction. When the helpful victim bends down to assist in picking up the items, a second thief comes from behind and commits the theft.

Step 5
Use it or Lose it
Take Other Precautions
Before you go:
Read State Department travel advisories for the countries you're visiting. Buy a secure money belt or anti-theft purse.
Choose a hotel with security in mind, of your room and with a safe.

When you arrive:
Use your hotel room safe. Don't carry anything more valuable than you can afford to lose on your adventures each day. Remember that most purse snatchers strike from behind and thrive on the noise, distraction and chaos one finds in a train station, on a crowded street, at a festival, and in tourist areas. Purse snatching is a crime of opportunity -- remove the opportunity.