Planning for an upcoming trip can be exciting, especially if you’re planning to visit a new location. You might spend days deciding which cities to visit and book hotels accordingly. You could also make a list of all the interesting restaurants and bars to check out in each city. However, your trip could go awry if something happens to your luggage along the way.
Stories of people losing valuables from their suitcases are all too common. Such happenings can occur on both domestic or international flights, so it’s important to be prepared whenever you travel. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to make your baggage more secure.
We have compiled a list of the top seven ways to keep your luggage secure during travel. These tips are designed to discourage potential thieves from stealing your valuables or make your bags more tamper proof. The right combination of preparations can help keep your luggage more secure. So let’s dive into it!
1. Invest in Locks
The first thing to know about keeping your luggage secure is that most thieves don’t want to steal an entire suitcase. This is because it is difficult for them to get away with stealing something as large as a 30-inch luggage piece. However, thieves may still try opening your bag and grabbing any valuables they find. Such individuals will then close the suitcase to avoid drawing suspicion.
Most travelers don’t realize they have become victims of theft until they reached their destination and unpack their suitcases. However, by this point it is usually too late to recover their valuables.
One of the best ways to prevent such item thefts is to invest in a sturdy suitcase lock. You can purchase many different types of locks such as cable locks, combination locks, or key locks. However, the TSA are legally authorized to break open any lock and search through a bag.
This may discourage you from ever locking your bag. However, you can workaround this issue by investing in a TSA-approved lock. The TSA can open such locks using special keys and inspect your luggage contents if they need to.
Royce and Rocket’s suitcases come with built-in TSA-approved locks, so you won’t have to worry about unauthorized individuals opening your bags and stealing your valuables.
2. Keep Valuable Items Out of Sight
Prospective thieves generally don’t have much time to rummage through a bag and look for potential valuables. However, they often get lucky if the suitcase’s owner has left high-value items at the top of their luggage. Such items are easy to swipe and often get stolen.
For this reason, travelers should ensure they keep valuable items such as laptops, jewelry, and headphones somewhere deep inside their bag. You can also get creative by placing expensive jewelry items inside socks and keeping them inside packing cubes. This method should dupe just about any potential thief looking for valuables to swipe.
3. Use Plastic Wrapping
Suitcase locks do a great job of deterring prospective thieves. However, some may be able to find ways to open your lock and assess your suitcases’s contents. In other cases, they may be able to pry open your bag by forcing an object through the zipper’s teeth.
One possible workaround for this type of theft is to wrap your bags in plastic wrapping. Many airports around the globe offer this service for travelers, and this wrapping process typically takes less than a minute to complete.
Once your bag has been wrapped in this thin sheet of plastic multiple times, it becomes next-to-impossible to pry open. Any prospective thief will unwrap this plastic and then attempt to force your suitcase lock open. This process will likely take them several minutes to complete, so many would rather just give up than target a suitcase with plastic wrapping.
4. Avoid Keeping All Your Valuables in Your Bag
If you’re planning to carry certain ultra-high value items with you on your trip, it’s best to avoid keeping them in your luggage, even if they are deep in your suitcase within a packing cube. For example, a pair of diamond earrings would be incredibly tempting for just about any prospective thief to swipe.
The truth is baggage handlers and airport staff are often responsible for stealing many of these items. They often identify high value items using x-ray scanners and separate bags before searching through them. For this reason, you should probably keep ultra-high value items in your pockets or in your carry-on bags while traveling.
5. Divide Your Luggage
The standard 30 inch luggage piece can fit a fair number of items. However, there is no reason to keep all your valuable items in one bag. For example, if you’re traveling with a partner or with a group of friends, you can divide your valuables between multiple bags.
This method helps minimize your losses if someone attempts to steal valuables from a single suitcase. You can also get creative with this idea. For example, you can place some of your most expensive items in an old and worn out looking suitcase and leave the less valuable ones in the new flashy looking one. This method would confuse prospective thieves as they will be less likely to search through a less-expensive looking suitcase.
6. Tie a Ribbon around Your Luggage Zippers
Most thieves aim to steal valuables from suitcases without leaving any trace of their crime. This is to ensure their victims don’t realize their bags have been tampered with until it is too late. The good news is that you can use this information to your advantage.
For example, you can try tying ribbons around your luggage zippers so that they can’t be pried apart. Any potential thief will need to cut through these ribbons to open the zipper and look through your suitcase’s contents. To take it a step further this can also apply to packing cubes for added security. If the thief doesn’t want to leave any trace of their crime, they will avoid targeting bags with ribbons around their zippers.
7. Anticipate Any Potential Thefts
The unfortunate reality is that thefts like the ones described above are all too common. Many thieves will go out of their way to target a particular bag and attempt to steal valuables from it. This means most frequent travelers will need to deal with such problems at some point.
If you can’t prevent such thefts from occurring, the next best strategy is to simply anticipate them. Travelers who have to carry certain valuables in their checked-in baggage can minimize their losses by investing in travel insurance. Such insurance compensates you for theft, and can help you feel more confident about traveling with valuables.
Pack Smart for Your Upcoming Trip
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to make your luggage more secure when traveling. Many of the tips above are easy to implement and do not require much effort. For example, you can keep your bag fairly secure by investing in a sturdy suitcase from Royce and Rocket. These suitcases have built-in TSA approved locks that are tamper proof and are likely to discourage most potential thieves from attempting to open your bag.
Royce and Rocket’s products also include luggage with shelves. Such shelves can be useful for holding or organizing your items once you reach your destination. Make your next trip safer and more comfortable by investing in suitcases from Royce and Rocket. You won’t regret it!
