Safety In Your Hotel

Theft from your hotel room is by far the most common security problem anywhere. It usually occurs in your absence. The first precaution is to find a hotel that is reasonably secure. The best way is to get recommendations from other travelers. If non-guests are constantly walking up and down the halls, it is not a very secure place. Some hotels are careful about who they let enter; some travelers' hostels post rules that no locals are allowed to enter, even in your company, for your own protection. If you find yourself staying in a noisy brothel (and you will stay in such places more often than you think), in addition to losing sleep, there may be all types of strange visitors wandering around at all hours.

Next, always inspect any room before agreeing to take it. Take your time and pay special attention to security. Are the door and locks sturdy? Is there a good latch on the inside? Are the windows barred or lockable? Flimsy screens can be removed or cut from the outside. Check to make sure the locks work, solidly! Are there any other ways to get into the room? It only takes one weak point to allow thieves inside. If you aren't completely satisfied, ask to see another room or find another hotel. Never rent a room that is not secure if there is any alternative.

While you are at it, check for peep-holes in the walls and for windows that cannot be completely covered. Some unscrupulous hotels have special rooms with peep-holes just for female guests and couples! If you find some later, stuff them with paper; if anyone can possibly look in, they will!

You are never quite as safe as when you have your own lock on the door. In some countries, hasp locks with padlocks are common, in others they are rare. Generally, cheaper hotels will have them, while nicer ones have door keys. If you are given a key to the room or lock, you can be sure that the hotel has at least one or two more keys which dishonest employees may use to enter your room. Carry a good-sized, well-made padlock and use it whenever you can; then you never have to consider how much you trust your hotel staff. I carry a heavy combination lock. It has no keys to lose or carry while swimming, and it cannot be picked.

Locks are of little help if you don't use them. Lock your room every time you leave it! Don't even stop to consider whether or not it is safe, just make it a habit, even when you go out to the toilet or shower. Speaking of showers, always take your money pouch with you when you go to the shower -- don't leave it in your room. Make this a habit! Hang your towel over it to keep it dry, but make sure it is close to you and safe from prying hands.

If you have a door key, leave it in the lock at night so you can find it easily; it also keeps people from looking in the keyhole. Turn the key sideways so it cannot be pushed out from the outside. If the key can fit under the door, a thief only has to lay a cloth under the door to catch the key when it is pushed out. If your windows have only bars, do not leave anything remotely near the window where it could be snatched by a long arm or pole.

If you end up with no inside latch, or if you distrust a hotel which has a key to your door, put a chair or table against the door. In this situation I always balance my tin cup on a shoe next to the door to sound the alarm should anyone try to enter. You can buy a small locking device to act as an inside lock for your door, window, or most any drawer. Keep your windows secured when you sleep at night unless you are absolutely certain that no one could possibly reach your window. If you have to shut the windows, this means you will get no breeze; consider this when choosing your hotel. This precaution is especially important for women travelers. Women have been attacked by men crawling in their windows while they slept; for these men, an open window was an open invitation. Again, make it a habit.

Keep your pack closed and locked when you go out, even if you feel that there is little of value in it. If someone comes into your room, with or without your knowledge, they may be very curious to see what all you have in your bag. If they find something small and interesting, they may be tempted to take it. If they find a nice camera, cassette player, or cash, even an honest person may seriously consider stealing these valuable items. If they have no way of knowing what is inside without stealing your entire pack, most casual thieves will just leave it alone.

When you go to bed, take your money pouch with you, and sleep on it! Don't put it under the mattress, put it inside the pillow case (if there is one) or under the pillow. If this still makes you nervous, wear it. I usually wear my money belt to bed if I have to leave very early; I don't want to forget it in the pillow! If you have taken all these precautions, no one will ever enter your room without you being aware of it. But some people have actually been robbed in their sleep!

Dormitories

After all these precautions, lone travelers may often stay in dormitory rooms where they have little of the security I have outlined above, not only because they are staying with strangers, but because the doors are often left open and you cannot use your own lock. Yet I often stay in dormitories and don't often hear of problems. You will almost always be staying with other travelers, who are generally a trustworthy group. They share your vulnerability and know how important your gear is to you. But don't tempt them by leaving your valuables around.

In many cases, dormitories are in "secure" hotels where only travelers stay, and the front entrance is watched for unwanted "guests". In some places you will be given a personal locker to store your gear; this is a definite plus in choosing a hostel. Use the locker and put on your own padlock. If you keep your ear to the grapevine, you will hear of hotels and dormitories where thefts are known to occur, and other popular places where travelers regularly stay without problems. If you are not satisfied with the security in the dorm, don't take the chance -- get a private room or find a new hotel.

Going Swimming

Going swimming presents a dilemma. Do you take your valuables with you, or leave them in the room? Since I often go to the beach alone, I break all my rules in this case, and leave my valuables in my locked room where they are safer than lying unattended on the beach. I lock them inside my rucksack and may take the extra precaution of locking the rucksack to a bed or sink. It is a risk I choose to take instead of staying out of the water. If you are with other people, you can leave someone out of the water at all times to guard the valuables. But there will be cases where this is not feasible or desirable.

Of course I find the safest room I can at the beach and always put my own lock on it. Still, there are special cases. I have stayed in crude shacks on the beach which were not particularly secure. As with dormitories, you must evaluate the general security of the area and take the safest course you can, or find a different beach if you are suspicious. I once stayed for three weeks in a beach hut which had no lock or latch on the thatch door. Still, it was a relatively safe area, (as it turned out), and the managers kept an eye on the enclosed area of the huts. I buried my money belt under the sand floor, digging it up every few days to replenish my cash supply.

Hotel "Safe"

You will sometimes be advised, often by your hotel, to leave your valuables in the hotel "safe". I cannot recommend this unless you are staying in a first class hotel. None of the simple lodgings you will use have a real safe. Your valuables may be locked in a drawer, or just kept in a bag that the manager takes to his room. If you don't trust the hotel staff not to unlock your room, how can you trust them with your valuables? In any case, the manager's room may be no safer than your own, especially if you have your own lock on it.

While your money pouch may not be stolen from a "safe", a few notes or travelers checks may be removed. How can you prove that they were ever there? Travelers checks may be removed from the center of a bundle so you will not notice their loss immediately. Another scam is to remove your credit cards and go on a shopping spree before returning them. You receive the bills when you get home! In some places you will be asked to make a complete list of everything in your money pouch, for your own safety. I definitely do not make a practice of telling any hotel clerk exactly how much money I have.

Here is a good horror story to illustrate the worst possibility. A woman left her money in the "safe" of a reputable travelers' hotel in a popular town which I will not name. She indicated on her list of its contents that she had US$800 in cash! When she went to retrieve it some days later, all the cash was missing. It was not the only thing missing; one of the hotel clerks had disappeared two days earlier. The temptation was just too great for him -- on $800 cash he could run off and start a new life!

Laundry Theft

A minor nuisance is the theft of laundry from an outside line. If you are unsure, stay home and do some reading and letter writing on laundry day. Women's underwear is a very popular target for washline theft, and can also incite lewd behavior in local men; these articles will usually dry overnight when hung inside your room. Don't leave laundry, or anything else, outside your room overnight.


Storing Luggage

There are a number of situations where you may want to leave some part of your luggage behind and pick it up later. You can often do this at your hotel, or at a railway station. If you pass through a major city on your way in and out of the country, you can leave gear that you won't be needing in that country. If you make some circles in your route, you may leave things at a major crossroads. You might leave heavy clothes when going to the tropics, or beach gear when headed to the mountains, or lots of unessential gear when heading out into the bush. You could also leave behind some of the purchases you have made, until you reach a safe place to mail them home, or guide books that you won't be needing yet.

You can even plan ahead for places you might store gear, but try not to depend on them. First, it only makes you want to carry more gear. Second, you might change your plans and use different routes. Third, if you do store luggage, it commits you to coming back to a particular place, sometimes within a certain time limit. Fourth, you may not be able to find a reliable place to leave your bags when you need it. And finally, it is never completely safe.

Never leave anything of real value in your left luggage. There is often a minimal amount of security. For typically small amounts you can use a day pack; make sure you can lock the zipper-pulls together with a padlock. If you can use a smaller lock to connect the pulls at the bottom, where they attach to the zipper, there will be no chance of little fingers working their way in to drag out your things. If you go into the bush, you may take only a day pack with you, and leave your rucksack behind; of course, keep it locked securely. Make sure your bags are clearly tagged with you name and address, and perhaps your passport number.

There is always a certain amount of trust in leaving your things behind. The most obvious place is at your hotel. Ask in advance to see what their policy is about left luggage. I have refused or changed hotels just because they did not allow left luggage, or I was not satisfied with the security of the place, at times when I knew I would be needing a place to leave my bag. You cannot usually leave a bag in a hotel where you are not a guest.

I prefer to pay money to leave my luggage, even if it is only a few cents a day. This means that they have an established system for keeping luggage and a record of what belongs to who, and when it was left. This should mean that no one else can come and claim your bag. You will sometimes get a receipt; try to get one if you can. But I have left luggage in many places where all the bags are just tossed into a closet, and you come and find your own when you return. At the Malaysia Hotel in Bangkok, anyone could come and toss their bag into a huge unlocked room, piled almost to the ceiling with rucksacks! It took us ten minutes to find our rucksack three weeks later, but it was there! There is an obvious chance for a rip-off, although is doesn't seem very common. When you get hotel information from other travelers, ask them about leaving luggage and if they actually did it.

An alternative to leaving luggage at your hotel is the Railway Station "left luggage" room; most main stations will have one. You will always pay money there, perhaps more than at a hotel; they will always give you a receipt, and the room is usually well locked. The main problem with railway rooms is that they have time limits, sometimes just a few days but typically a few weeks or a month. In Bangkok, where perhaps more travelers want to leave more luggage that any other place in the world, the limit at the station is seven days. In addition, they will not be open at all hours of the day and night, and the station may be far from your hotel.


Shop Rip-Offs

The amounts of money you will lose by being ripped-off by various shop merchants will be fairly small, but still annoying. You may think that selling nylon as "silk", or garnets as "rubies" is dishonest and illegal, but in most of the Third World this is just shrewd salesmanship!

Always count your change. For this to be meaningful, you must know how much you should pay, and how much change you should get back. In a few frustrating places, you must ask the price of everything before buying it, even a cup of coffee or a soda. If you drink it first and then ask the price, they will ask the moon! Wait for this to happen once before being so suspicious. If the prices asked are too outrageous, even for foreigners, just move on to the next shop and let them know you don't appreciate their greed.

Beware of people who go away to wrap up your purchases, especially expensive items. The package they come back with may not contain what you think you just bought! They can even do this with their back turned to you, so be alert.

When you change money in a bank or money change bureau, know exactly how much local money you expect to receive. Often they will show you a receipt which you may have to sign; know ahead of time if this amount is reasonably accurate. When you receive the money, count it before leaving the counter, and preferably before letting the next person ahead of you. It only takes a few seconds to verify that it is very close, if you know the exact amount already.

Now take all your new money and documents, sit down inside the bank and put it all away inside your money pouch before leaving. Be aware of people waiting around near the bank as you leave; they have a good reason to be there -- they know that you have just gotten plenty of cash. Don't talk to them.


Safety On the Street

You are about to leave the relative security of your hotel room to step out onto the streets of an unknown city. What do you do with your valuables?

The answer, of course, is  D., Leave them at home! For the things you brought anyway, the answer is to take them with you. Just like at the hotel, where you take them into the shower with you, your valuables are generally safest when you are there to protect them. As you know, I keep mine in a money belt. If someone wants them badly enough, he is going to have to do much more than just break into my room or bribe a hotel clerk. He is going to have to force me to take my trousers down, probably in some public place, at the point of a knife or gun. Mind you, if he does so, I will gladly drop my drawers rather than invite an attack. But the chances of that happening are just much more remote than the chances of having my room robbed.

If you find yourself heading out to a remote area, perhaps where bandits are not uncommon, you may wish to consider other alternatives. I have left my money pouch with a safari company in Africa, (not the hotel) because I know companies I can trust. I have already discussed the dangers of leaving your valuables in a hotel "safe". If you go trekking (in Thailand, for example), consider whether your hotel is really trustworthy to watch your valuables. In some places you can go into a bank and rent a "safety deposit box" for a short time for very little money, if they have any available.

But normally, you will be walking around carrying all of your valuables with you. Here are the precautions to make sure they make it back with you. Try to keep physical contact with your belongings at all times. When you sit in a cafe, place your bag on a chair next to you where you can always see it. Better yet, put it on the floor under your foot, or with one strap looped around your ankle, or both.

When you stand in line at a station, put your rucksack on the floor between your legs and keep contact with both legs. If you wear it, turn around regularly to see who is behind you. Wear your daypack in front of you in such situations, and on crowded buses. Be aware of everyone around you. If you do these things, nothing will happen to your luggage. If you don't take these precautions, probably nothing will happen to it. But if you take that chance a hundred times, one time you will lose.

That's why I am so cautious. I live out there for long periods of time and I cannot afford to have bad work habits. You may get away with sloppy precautions for a few weeks, or in relatively safe countries. But if you are in for the long haul, eventually someone, somewhere will teach you a good lesson. If you are lucky, you will continue your travels with a minimum of expense and hassle. If you lose everything, it will be a very costly lesson indeed. Just make these habits a part of your routine, and don't worry about them.

Whenever you get up to leave a cafe, bus, park bench, office, shop, bank -- anywhere! -- turn around and look back! What did you forget? This is one of my essential rules, even at home. In Japan, you can go back tomorrow and find it where you left it. In Peru, it's already gone when you turn around! I have been forgetful and I have left dozens of things behind. Only twice did I forget to turn around, look back, and retrieve them. I still remember both of those times.

Be aware of everyone around you. Notice who is hanging around your hotel room, keeping an eye on you, or following you around. Be conscious of when people enter your immediate periphery. This applies especially to cities and crowded places where thieves abound -- airports, marketplaces, train and bus stations. If you are aware of them, you can avoid letting people get too close to you. If you are not, some of these people can steal your underwear without your knowing it!


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Randy Johnson's "Footloose and Fancy-Free in the Third World"
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