How to foil pickpockets
Zipper pockets and airtags
I traveled 75km of the Camino Portuguese Coastal route and went on to Eurail for another 25 days solo. Nothing was stolen from me. There were a couple of unwanted exchanges with folks I felt were looking to steal. I kept them as far from me as possible. This occurred in train stations. They seem to wait for you to set your pack down to make their move. I loudly and firmly told them “no” and grabbed my pack and walking stick.
In hindsight the speed I grabbed my pack and stick might have seemed aggressive, but it ended the exchange.I do wonder if my carrying a nearly 5ft long, one inch thick, walking stick contributed to my being largely left alone when I left the camino. I was finally able to replace that with a collapsable walking stick in Budapest.
I see so much fearfulness in the backpacking and travel forums. Bad things happen. They don’t happen at such a rate that you need to be overly concerned. Don’t make yourself a target and the odds are on your side. I lost things as I traveled. I left my post hike shower/sleeping dress on two occasions and had to replace it. I lost a single sock that I had drying on my pack. I may have lost other items on drying racks. My losses were a function of the fact that everything I had was black, so it was easy to miss, and hurrying.
I learned during my trip that pockets with zippers are the best. In future trips my dresse pockets will have zippers. I had a key card fall out of my pocket between dinner and the albergue. That cost 5€. I picked up some hiking leggings in Budapest that had cargo pants-like pockets, but weren’t bulky. I wore these over my merino leggings every day in was in Eastern and Northern Europe. They were wonderful because I could keep my essentials on my person.
In future trips I will keep the things that losing would be trip-enders on my person. If my bag is stolen, I don’t want to have to either go home or spend the rest of the trip focused on replacing.I don’t personally see any real need for a travel wallet, nothing says inexperienced traveler like a travel wallet. I think carrying yourself with confidence and purpose as well as being aware of your surroundings is your best protection. Travel wallets say I’m not from around here, I might be lost, and I’m still getting accustomed to my gear. I’ve never seen anyone using them that didn’t give an air of anxiety.
I do think it is wise to keep the following essential items physically on your person:
Passport
Phone
Credit card and cash
Keys/keycard
I tend to keep cash in a different pocket than my credit card. I prefer to keep each in a separate pocket, I’m less likely to accidentally drop something else during retrieval and not notice. I’ve got the list of essentials in order of importance. Keys/key card are the least important item, but still can be a pain if you lost.
I had AirTags on everything except my passport. I had a card wallet on my phone that would send a notification with the addresses of where it detected being removed. If I was more than a few feet from any of my airtags I got a notification on my watch. This was so great as I traveled. There were quite a few days that I was in multiple countries on a day.
The combination of the leggings and notifications made changing trains and lodgings less stressful. I could just pat my leg to check for my passport, phone/cards, cash, and keys. I slept on trains alot during my travel and I didn’t worry about my belongings much. I knew I could replace anything in my pack if I needed.
Interested in discussion?
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Signing off. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum a hiker’s life for me.