When heading abroad, there’s a lot of worries that might be on your plate. You can be racking your brains over questions like, ‘Are you going to understand the people you’ll be around?’ or, ‘Are you going to cope with the weather just fine?’ All in all, it can be quite a stressful time, which is very ironic!
However, there are some things that should take a bit of worry and careful forward planning, such as making sure your luggage will stay safe and secure whilst you’re on vacation. A lot of people can lose their items whilst in a foreign country, or just at the airport, and it’s important to ensure you don’t make the most common mistakes!
So, let’s go through a few details about what to do to keep your items safe when you’re away on vacation. Keeping your items safe goes hand in hand with having a good time, and coming home with all of your favorite possessions in your bag ensures you’ll always feel good about going away again.
Your luggage contains your most precious possessions and everything you need for your vacation – how are you meant to keep it secure? (Pexels Image – CC0 Licence)
Pack it Up Yourself
The first thing to do, to ensure your case is packed right and packed safely, is to do it yourself. You should always be packing your bags yourself, and ensuring there’s no middle man, or no one else around to tamper with the contents inside. Of course, you can pack your kids’ bags as well, but if they’re not old enough to do so themselves, you’re the watchful eye that ensures everything they need will be taken with them!
So, when the time comes to walk through customs with your bag on your back, you’ll know exactly what’s in it, how it’s packed, and whether or not you’ve got anything to declare on the form. And if airports give you anxiety, this is a real weight off! Don’t listen to those thoughts in the back of your mind – you packed your bag yourself, and you’ve never left it with anyone!
Following on from that point, you’re going to want to keep your bag with you at all times, and ensure the only bags you’re carrying are your own. Don’t accept to carry bags for a stranger, and don’t let your children do the same either – it might seem like something harsh to say, but you can never be sure what’s in a bag, and you don’t want to get caught up in something suspicious at the airport.
Tag the Bag!
Luggage tags are an indispensable part of the packing process; when you’re waiting at the airport for your bags to turn up on the carousel, they can be the only thing stopping you from taking someone else’s bag that looks like yours, and vice versa. So one of the main rules of keeping your items secure when you’re away on vacation is to tag things always and correctly, with just enough detail on the tag to ensure people can get in touch if they find your case.
You’re going to want to tag the bags you take with you, of course. But how can you be sure the tag won’t simply be ripped off, and your case taken anyway? You can always mark your suitcase physically; a marker pen, a certain color padlock on the zips, etc. But you can also make the tags themselves a little more durable.
So, you’re going to want to ensure that the tags you put on your luggage cannot be removed, and that their absence (if it occurs) is definitely noticed! Badge reels would be a good way to ensure the bags you’re carrying are clipped securely with a tag informing anyone of who it belongs to, and even the kids won’t be able to fiddle them off either!
Pack a Daypack
You’re definitely going to want to pack a daypack for use whilst you’re away too. You can’t be lugging that big duffle or that cumbersome suitcase around everywhere, and you can never be sure such a heavy package on your bag will allow you to visit all the sights you want to see – a lot of museums and galleries and tourist spots demand you leave your bags in a cloakroom.
So, make sure you’ve got a smaller bag for general use within your luggage. Make sure it’s big enough to carry the essentials around; things like your passport, any medication you need to take with you, room for a souvenir, etc. But also ensure that it’s small enough to be a non issue – make sure it sits snugly on your back or over your shoulder, and no one would be able to ask you to store it away in a potentially insecure location.
Make Sure You Have Insurance
Of course, you’re going to want to have travel insurance for any periods you spend abroad. Even if you’re only going away for a day or two, make sure you have insurance to cover both you and the contents of your luggage! You can never be sure what’s going to happen when you’re away from home, and if you lose anything, or anything gets stolen, you’re going to want a policy in place to claim on in case of the worst.
That expensive camera you were gifted for Christmas? Make sure you have a policy that will fork out $500 or so to cover it if it gets snatched. Don’t worry, it’s not hard to get your hands on a cheap policy, even if you’ve got a whole family to cover.
Your items need to be kept contained and secured when you’re on vacation, and this doesn’t have to be too hard a task. Just stay vigilant and aware when you’re away, and make sure you’ve packed everything yourself! And be sure to hammer home this point to your kids as well – they can’t just leave precious things in hotels!
