Taking off Travel blog

Whenever we board a plane, we tend to heave a sigh of relief and relax, but as a recent incident showed, it’s not the time to let your guard down. It seems that some business class passengers had more than $5,000 stolen from them while they slept on an overnight flight from Tokyo to Paris. Since it’s not practical to stay awake all night, how can you guard against this kind of theft?

Overhead Compartments

Let’s look at the overhead baggage first. We often want to keep this handy so that we can take stuff in and out without hassle, but that very ease could cost dearly. Instead of putting your case at the front of the cabin, push it well back so that others can put their stuff in front of it. That makes your hand luggage a less easy target for those looking to help themselves. If it’s lockable, then keep it locked; if not, use a simple tip to make it harder for people to get to your stuff. Turn the case around so that the zip and handle face the interior of the storage bin. That makes it harder for anyone to grip your case – and much harder to do it without someone noticing.

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I’ve never been mugged on vacation. That doesn’t mean that everywhere I’ve travelled to has been a walk in the park. Caracas is no picnic but I managed to spend a month in the city without getting into serious difficulty (unless you count the scary night I’ve already told you about). Staying out of trouble is often a matter of common sense. Here are some travel safety tips that will make your vacation more enjoyable.

Safety At Home

First of all, give yourself less to think about taking care of safety and security at home. Get someone you trust to look after your house keys and emergency information and to swing by your home every so often to make sure that everything is okay. Put delivery of mail and publications on hold and use timers to program your lights, TV and radio to give the illusion that your home is occupied. Let your neighbors know that you will be gone so that if they see someone in your home who shouldn’t be there they will alert the police. Read more »