Sunday, July 26, 2020

How To Secure your bags and pockets on trains - and in restaurants



Some people travel with their own helmets to go cycling, motorcycling or skiing overseas.

Before travelling, check your clothes pockets for security and your bags and locks and keys.

Pockets
I ordered a multi-pocket jacket. I was disappointed that it arrived with pockets which had no fastening. However, with a day or two to spare before my journey, I had time to add zips and press studs and even extra pockets behind the front pocket.




 Even if you are capable of carrying a large item, a bag which is too large to keep under your seat can be a security risk when you are travelling.

 
Most years I take at least one train trip. sometimes from London, England to Wales to a Writer's Holiday. Sometimes, from London up north to Derby to Writers Summer School.
 I remember my journey on a train within Switzerland. They had a rack with hooks for your coat to hang up.


I have also travelled from the airport to Philadelphia. I sat around in the airport for hours. All sorts of people, porters, waiters, people at the next table, tried to apparently help me by movin my bag our of my way and theirs to a position away from my table.

I never allow that. My shoulder bag and wheel on bag must be in front of me, visible, ideally attacheched to me by the shoulder bag handle looped around my arm or the chair leg.

I have a friend who have lost her bag which was by her feet at a large table for ten in a Chinese restaurant in London.

My husband lost his wallet and sunglasses from his coat on the back of a crowded restaurant in Prague, Czeck Republic, one New Year's Eve. In addition to the manager and waiters, people passing to and from included diners leaving. Would-be diners walked in to enquire about a table and leaving disappointed. We had a guitarist and his assistant with a cap for money approaching us and passing to and fro. A person selling flowers. Another collecting money for charity.People at the next table getting up to go to the toilet.

I don't let a coat out of sight either. A coat hanging in a cupboard can disappear. Unless it is on a hook on the wall behind your table and you are facing it or leaning against it, don't let it go.

I also have a distinctive cover on my phone. A black phone could easily be picked up by mistake by somebody else. Or left behind by you, not realising it was your phone, thinking it was somebody else's.

I get onto a train and the man who helps me onto the train wants to heave my bag onto the luggage rack by the door. My reserved seat, or the only empty seat, is further into the train with its back to the distant luggage rack.

Thieves' tricks
A well-known trick is for a thief to get onto the train just before it is about to depart. When the signal for departure goes, he grabs a nearby bag and leaps off the train. Even if you had a distinctive bag and were watching and saw this happening, by the time you have raced to the end of the carriage, the train is moving.

Porters
In some hotels the porter wants to take your luggage away and up to your room via a service lift. I don't allow that. I recall ariving at my room and can't clean my teeth because the bag is delayed whilst they wait for somebody else on the same floor to load their stuff onto the trolley.

I once decided to change rooms, because mine looked out onto scaffodling and rubbish bins (Americans say trash cans). I had not left my rented home overlooking a swimming pool to stay in a room overlooking a buldging site and rubbish. But where was the luggage. (Americans can baggage.)

If the porter insists the luggage must go in the other lift, go with the luggage in the other lift (if you feel safe), or remove the wheel on bag containing your lap top and keep that small item with you whilst they take the larger suitcase.

Or just take your own luggage.

What can you do?

Bicycles
Which rack is easier to watch, the one in front or the one behind?




1 Buy pickpocket proof clothing. (That's a brand name.)
2 Add inside pockets to your clothes.
3 Add zips to all pockets with flaps.
4 Add a second zipped pocket inside and behind the main pocket compartment.
5 Wear a second garment such as a jacket or cape outside your jacket.
6 Keep a social distance from anybody. Face them when speaking to them, watching for people standing alongside.
7 Keep your wheeled bag between yourself and others in a queue (Americans say line-up) so they are not right next to your pockets.
Turn your wheel on bag so the front zip comparment is towards you or on the floor with another bag on top.
Buy a wheel on bag with a compartment at the back instead of the front.
Keep only newspapers in the front zipped compartment.
Count your bags.
A jacket with pockets on the outside can be worn inside out. Remove the neck brand and size labels or cover with satin ribbon.

Useful Websites
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-in-1-Women-Pockets-Scarf-Convertible-Journey-Winter-Infinity-Scarf-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Convertible-Scarf-With-Hidden-Zipper-Pockets-Bandana-Headscarf-Wool-Neckerchief

About the Author
Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer. Author of Quick Quotations and several other books.

See Lulu.com and Amazon.com 

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