How to Protect Your Belongings While Traveling Solo

Solo travel is something that sits high up on the bucket list for so many of us. But it’s an experience that, while undeniably worthwhile, does come with a certain amount of risk. Without a travel buddy to give you a second pair of eyes, the responsibility of keeping your belongings safe falls entirely down to you. 

The good news is that just a touch of prior planning and strategy can go a long way to prevent any thefts or losses. In this guide, we’ll be covering some practical, real-world tips for solo travellers to keep their belongings safe while out on the road. 

Choose the Right Travel Gear

Let’s start at the start, shall we? The makings of a good trip begin long before you’ve boarded your plane. When you’re choosing what and how to pack, consider some of these items to help keep you safe.

Get an anti-theft backpack

Anti-theft backpacks have become a staple for seasoned travellers over the last decade or so — and for good reason. If you’re unfamiliar with what makes a backpack ‘anti-theft’, check out this model from Zoomlite. 

Some key features include cut-resistant outer panels, bag straps with steel cables inlaid to prevent slashing, RFID pockets to protect against the growing threat of digital theft, and a specific lockable section to keep valuables safe. All that aside – they’re just good backpacks.

Store your valuables in an RFID-blocking pouch

Honestly, the whole hidden money pouch thing has become a bit outdated considering how few of us carry physical cash these days. But what has become more useful is RFID pouches. Digital card theft is no joke, and crowded spaces around popular tourist attractions are well-known hot spots for this type of theft. 

RFID scammers only need to be within a few feet of you to clone your card. RFID-blocking pouches counteract this as they are lined with a metallic material that blocks radio waves. Here’s a great example from Pacsafe®.

Use a smart lock

Who knew a lock could do so much more than just keep things shut? Smart locks are growing in popularity for solo travellers because they eliminate the need for keys or easy-to-guess combination codes. The AirBolt Smart Lock is a great example of this. 

It only opens when you tell it to via the app. It also has lock and unlock history, separation alerts, SOS functions, and encryption software. And don’t worry—if your phone dies, you can still open it manually too!

Get a GPS tracker

Losing your belongings is one thing. Losing them and having no way to track them down? That’s another level of stress you don’t need on your travels. A GPS tracker is an easy way to keep tabs on your valuables even when you’re not around them. 

Say you’re staying in a hostel and have just taken your day pack out with you. Wouldn’t you want to know if your valuables started moving? Or left the area? This is the beauty of a GPS tracker for travel. The AirBolt GPS allows you to set motion alerts as well as geo-fences to alert you if anything happens to your things. Additionally, this GPS comes with an inbuilt SOS function and helps loved ones know that you’re safe.

Smart Packing & Organizing Your Valuables

Now that you know the right gear to bring, let’s talk about some actionable tips for packing and organizing. 

To start with, it’s a good idea to spread out some of your most important items. This applies to packing but also just to day to day travel as well. This means not keeping all of your money, cards, and IDs in one place. A good rule of thumb is to imagine what you would do if you lost your wallet or the bulk of your IDs. If you don’t know, set up a back up option. 

This next tip might sound a bit far fetched if you’re travelling somewhere deemed to be quite safe. But if you’re travelling to a place where theft, muggings, and other types of crime are more prevalent, using a decoy wallet actually has a lot of merit. 

Next, back up your key documents if you can. Visas, passports, travel insurance details, they’re all things that are worth having two of. 

Stay Aware of Common Theft Scams

This is a big one. What people don’t tell you is that, if you solo travel to enough places, you’re probably going to get scammed eventually. It sucks, but the good news is—once you’ve been scammed, you won’t get scammed the same way again! In this section, we’ll call out a few common ones so that hopefully, you’ll be able to avoid them. 

Distraction scams

These scams seem innocuous at first. Someone bumps into you, maybe spills something, or causes you to pay attention to them in some way. This often involves having your physical attention on one part of your body while someone else is pinching your valuables from another part. 

The bracelet scam

This one is pretty common in public squares in much of western Europe. A seemingly jovial person will come up to you looking to give you a bracelet. They’ll say it’s for free and that they’re doing it out of good will. But one of two things is likely happening. As they have your attention on your wrist and them, someone else may be pick pocketing you. Alternatively, they will then ask you to pay them ‘a donation’ for their service. 

💡 Top Tip: If someone is getting a little too close or insistent, trust your gut and remove yourself from the situation. Most scams rely on catching you off guard—staying aware is your best defence.

Travelling solo doesn’t mean being an easy target. It’s really just about preparing correctly so that you can focus on having an amazing time, seeing amazing things, and having new experiences. We hope this helps!