I gather tips I’ve learned the hard way…and tips I’ve read about that made my journey easier and saved me $$$. Maybe some will be helpful to you.
Packing: Less is better. Choose one or two colors in your clothing. Less to bring. If you buy travel clothes, get easy to wash and dry overnight. When moving to new locations, new people won’t know you wore it yesterday in another place!
Accessorize simply. Leave the ‘good’ stuff at home. If you lose it or a bag is stolen, less crying. Scarves are easy to pack and look fabulous! Costume jewelry is your new best friend!
Carryons and backpacks can be all you need. If you plan to walk a lot and carry a backpack of any kind, wear it in front when you need to, lock it when you can. Obviously large cities attract more thefts. Don’t be an easy target.
Carry minimally. Need a travel purse? Inexpensive ones that lock each zipper, a crossbody bag with hidden metal straps. I like the Travelon brand. If carrying your Passport, consider an inside your shirt travel wrap. Some countries require you have it on you at all times. I have carried it and I’ve also just shown a photo of it. Loosing your Passport to theft or simply misplacing it will cost you at least a day of your travel.
Large cities worldwide have begging and thefts. Tourists are generally easy prey. It ruins your trip and puts a bad taste in your mouth for that city and country. Terrible time waster to recoup and deal with the loss.
Credit card loss happens. Use RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) to secure your card. Try to take few cards. Keep secured. Why? Ah thieving of tourists is a full time job. They have small readers and simply being near you, they can grab your card information. Does aluminum foil work just as well? Supposedly but wrapping and unwrapping gets old! It will wear out. You can lose hours and days trying to recoup another card. So take photos of all your cards, documents and Passport. Front and back. I store all my ‘stuff’ on a neat, very secured application called TurboScan. Costs a few bucks but I have everything in it, on my phone. I use face scan for my security. Some of my apps require it and to open my phone requires it. My phone syncs with my laptop so I have backup. And the Cloud. TurboScan is a face scan app for me also.
Lose my phone? Ah a disaster. It’s my keeper of everything! I keep my phone very close. Secured. In cooler weather, I have it on a small RFID crossbody that stays under my coat or jacket. I generally wear pants and clothing with zippers. Just feels more secure to me.
I travel alone a lot. I rarely am in a crowd. Waiting for a train or bus, I find a place where I can be a bit distant and totally aware of my surroundings. When in a line or crowded area, my hands are on my phone and handbag. And I rarely speak to people who look, act or say something that indicates they are a thief. Perhaps a second instinct I learned while working in NYC. Never engage people asking for something or offering something. ‘No’ Loud voice, walk away. Observe surroundings on public transportation. They look for easy targets. No one carries my luggage to the train. Or anywhere.
Try to keep your luggage above you on an airplane. Placing your carryon bags away from you can lead to it missing. Same on trains. Keep as much with you as possible overhead or under your seat. Another reason to travel lightly.
In a foreign country, use Google maps and ensure you are spelling the location you want in that country’s language. I used an American form of a location in France. Ugh. Wrong place way away from where I needed. My English interpretation made google come up with the closest French place. Wrong! I’ve learned. If in doubt, check other mapping applications. Beats loosing hours, driving in wrong areas and a mess. Although, for me, a few funny and lucky ‘lost again’ stories but … most times you just want to get there!!
Train apps can be good and not so good. I learned the hard way to always use the train apps of the actual train companies! Why? In Italy, if you miss the train, you have a 4 hour window to get the next train! But only if it’s from the train apps of the actual trains. Sometimes I use other apps to check times and locations but now in Italy, Trenitalia and Italo apps are in English and easy to use. Get familiar with apps you will be using in a foreign country. Download ahead of your trip and practice. Truly I speak from the fountain called ‘experience’!!