airports hotels tourist traps thieves are everywhere luckily with these anti- theft travel gadgets you'll be their worst nightmare the first is this bad boy that my wife and I used for years while backpacking through South America Africa Asia and Europe we were digital nomading and had some expensive equipment with us and not all of our accommodations were what I would consider secure but this wire mesh safe locks to furniture and fix objects which keeps our laptops and action cameras and pass sport safe while we're out I think this is the large size but they also
have smaller ones it came in especially handy a couple years ago when the whole world locked down and we were stuck in a small island in Cambodia for a couple months which is actually where we started this YouTube channel in case you want to go back and watch some really cringey videos anyway our beach Bungalow had a lock on the door but it was so flimsy that anyone could just give it a firm yank and rip it open and steal our stuff I usually attach this to a bed frame and then stuff it underneath the
bed or cover it with a blanket that way it's not only more secure but it also takes a thief longer to find while not quite as secure another cheaper option is to just use one of these metal wires with those combination locks you use for your locker back in high school and that way you can connect any backpack to a fixed item in your room but unless that backpack is made of Slash resistant material then a thief could just cut through your back next up is a clever little device that's not so much for theft
because you have to be inside of your room but it does make your room way more secure especially if you're a solo female traveler it's called an adock and it's basically a portable door lock that you can easily install on most inward Swinging Doors in seconds with no tools that way even if someone has a key to your room they won't be able to get in if you don't want them to just make sure to look for the original because I see a lot of fakes out there in alternative are these door stop alarms that
trigger when someone tries to open your door the downside to these are that the alarm will probably go off every time you pick it up depending on the sensitivity settings that you use and that could get annoying after work okay enough about accommodation what about when you're out in the airport or in crowded tourist areas with lots of pickpockets that's where Clos with secret Pockets interior pockets and hidden Pockets come in handy my favorite is Scotty vest which offers jackets and vests that have 20 to 40 Pockets that are pickpocket proof many actually have a
pickpocketing guarantee and here there's also an RFID blocking pocket which is actually a kind of overrated anti- theft measure that I'll explain in a second they also have shirts hats shorts and other clothes with secret Pockets that are thieves worst nightmare but if you want to save money you can also just take a DIY approach on my first solo backpacking trip through some sketchy areas in Central America I found a seamstress in Guatemala who sewed in some secret Pockets to the inside of my pant legs for like $5 those pants got wrecked in my motorcycle
accident but I cut out the secret pocket this is what it looked like and it fit in my passport and extra money and zipped up pretty cool now this would obviously cost more in the US but you can also just ask your grandma to do it for you or look up a YouTube tutorial or something another cheap and simple solution is just to pack pants in shorts that have zipper pockets on the sides instead of open pockets all of the shorts and sweatpants that I travel with have zippers I don't know if you can see
it here zipper and now whenever I wear pants without zippers I feel a little bit vulnerable not only from pickpockets but also that stuff is just going to fall out of my pockets when I'm sitting down and standing up all the time in airports and planes and taxis as I'll show you in a sec there's some other clever items you can use to minimize theft in pickpocketing including some super cheap items that you may already have lying around your house but at the end of the day nothing is 100% theft proof to a determined Thief
with the right tools and enough time and if you travel with expensive Electronics like I do then this thought can give you some extra unneeded anxiety during your trip one way to add some peace of mind is to get travel insurance that covers theft of electronics for example safety Wing who partnered with me on this video offers an add-on that covers Electronics theft up to $1,000 per item and $3,000 total per insurance period this add-on costs about as much as buying a gumball per day and it allow you to relax and enjoy your trip more
instead of worrying that your stuff's going to get stolen all the time and even more important than your belongings you'll also be protecting yourself yourself in case of an accident or medical emergency while you're on the road trust me I am the king of accidents and safe doing coverage has saved me over $20,000 in medical expenses over the years if you want to cover your trip in electronics I'll link their sign up page in the description and as always whenever you're buying Insurance make sure you always understand the terms and conditions so you know what
is and isn't covered this next one is a little bit obvious so I won't spend too much time on it cuz I want to get to the more clever and cheaper ideas but basically the bags you use determine how easily you are to steal from for example if your bag is made of Slash resistant material reinforced with steel or carbon fiber then thieves won't be able to slash into it and take your stuff when you're sleeping on that overnight train for example or if your back has anchor points and cut resistant straps you can secure
it to fix objects kind of like the portable safe I talked about earlier or if it has lockable compartments or hidden zippers that can be tucked away that'll make it way harder for pickpocketers to sneak in their slippery fingers I'll link to some of the best bags that have all of these features in the description these bags are cool and can give you some extra piece of mind but you don't necessarily have to go out and spend a bunch of money on a fancy new bag to make it more secure by packing your valuables in
hard-to-reach spots inside of your bag like under some clothes for example and using one of the several $1 Solutions I'll get to in a second you can majorly upgrade your security on the cheap by the way make sure to subscribe and hit the Bell if you want more videos on tricks to travel smarter if you don't have a bag with all those f fancy anti- theft features another cheap little tool that pickpockets will hate you for are these little zipper and clip thingies I don't know if you can see it you just clip it on
here like this that make it way harder to disconnect your zippers no it's not for KNX but it would be very difficult for a pickpocketer to unhook these Without You noticing they also come in handy in case one of your zipper pulls breaks while you're traveling an alternative would be one of these TSA locks that I also always carry with me when I'm traveling but this can be a pain to take on and off if you need to get in your bag all the time or if you have a bag that doesn't have zippers where
you can easily connect a lock like this lastly if you're in a pinch you can also use an oldfashioned Clos safety ping to secure your zippers together these also work for Pockets that just have one zipper because you can connect the other side directly to the material of your bag I honestly don't use these though because I'm way too clumsy and would poke myself way too much another cheap item that you should always have with you is a carabiner these can also be used to clip some zippers together depending on how big the holes are
but they can also be used to clip your bag to fences or tables or chairs or secure it to other objects this not only prevents grab and dash situations but having a permanent Carabiner clipped to your bag at all times just makes life way more convenient for travelers wet swimsuit or dirty flip-flops clip it to the Carabiner in the bathroom and don't want to set your bag down on the nasty floor clip it to the door handle leaving your bags unattended on an overnight bus or train clip all your bags together so it would be
really hard and awkward for someone to take a bag and just walk away before we hit the last couple tips if you want more of my best travel tips that I don't share anywhere else make sure to join my free weekly email newsletter using the description next is a super popular anti- theft feature that is actually kind of overrated and not worth worrying about according to my research and that is RFID blocking wallets Pockets or packs all of which I don't think are worth buying the idea is that this RFID blocking material prevents thieves from
using their little RFID readers to steal your sense of information from your passport and credit cards which they can then use to steal your identity but what most people don't realize is that US passports have built in RFID blockers the RFID chip that's inside your passport can only be read when your passport is open not when it's closed credit cards that allow you to tap to pay also have RFID information that can be stolen but the risk of this happening Without You realizing it is extremely low that's because the thieves RFID reader would need to
be within a couple inches of your credit card with an unobstructed view so if you have your credit card in your pocket or just a normal wallet or your backpack you don't really have anything to worry about the real risk is losing sight of your cards like when you give it to servers in US restaurants okay so I just saw a survey of over a th000 American Travelers and apparently one in five report having had their phones stolen while in vacation now I have no idea how stringent of a study this was but I think
we can all agree that phones are like magnets for thieves luckily there are two cheap and simple products that can help prevent phone pickpocketing and snatch and runs the first is a carabiner lanyard that you can stick to the back of your phone case that will attach to your belt loop or around your wrist or to a purse or bag or anything else I'd say this option has more practical uses but isn't necessarily the most stylish option and the second option is more stylish but less practical and that is a removable wrist strap bracelet for
a woman that will make it hard for thieves to snatch your phone and run away if you're looking at it and not paying attention but you can also prevent this by just paying attention and not walking around with your phone in your face if your luggage or backpack does get stolen you're more likely to recover it if you can track where it is that's why it's smart to hide a GPS tracker like an Apple Air tag or one of those tile trackers inside of your backs for anti- theft purposes I actually recommend the tile tracker
because it has an anti- theft mode that'll make it impossible for thieves to scan and detect that there's a GPS tracker there air tags don't have this feature so you would have to take it apart and take out the little speaker on the inside so that the thieves wouldn't be able to hear the beeping and just throw it away if you think you can just buy a bunch of anti- theft gear and and be safe though I'm afraid you're wrong that's because the best gadgets in the world aren't going to help you if you willingly
get tricked out of your money the truth is you're more likely to lose money from a travel scam than you are from getting pickpocketed and that's why I highly recommend watching this video next I reveal some of the most cunning travel scams tricking Travelers like you and me every day plus how to avoid them getting scammed can ruin a perfectly good vacation so watch it to learn what to look out for to prevent yourself from becoming the next victim all right guys like subscribe do the things love you bye-bye
