Your bag

Watch out for the following:

 

Bag swapping can be deliberate, or an honest mistake at the airport, but whatever reason it is extremely inconvenient. Try to get through customs and through to baggage reclaim as soon as you can. It is best to stand where the luggage comes onto the carousels to ensure that your bag is with you straight away.

If your bag has no obvious features to distinguish it from the others it may be a good idea to make it easily and quickly recognisable to you  by sewing on a badge or fitting a safety strap around the whole bag. This also ensures that others realise quickly that they have grabbed the wrong bag.

Bag Slashing is thankfully a relatively rare occurrence and is when thieves use razor sharp knifes to subtly open up the side or bottom of your pack allowing your stuff to either drop out or to enable a hand to rummage inside. This is most common in certain areas of South America and it may be wise to sew a metal mesh panel, such as 'chicken wire', inside the pack. This can always be ripped out later when you get to safer places.

Theft of bags from hostels, buses etc., is generally a lack of awareness by the traveller and not by violent attacks. Theft from your accommodation can be minimised by either

  • Locking your room if possible

  • Keeping valuables in the property's safe

  • Storing your bag in lockers if available

  • Chaining your pack to a radiator etc in your room

  • Packing everything in your bag and securing it to prevent petty theft

Theft from transport is a little trickier to stop, especially if the only room for your pack is on the roof of a bus with the chickens! The only thing you can do in this case is to make sure you have all your valuables in your money belt or daypack and try and check it is still there when you stop while keeping one eye on people about.

Keeping it secure is a simple and effective way to deter petty theft. Spend a few extra minutes while packing to ensure that all your valuables are tucked away deep inside your bag, with no obvious protruding shapes sticking through the side. Also consider buying a pack-lock or strap to slow thieves down.

 

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