Engagement ring security at Paris hotel

Any reason not to keep it in your money belt or a money pouch worn under your clothes? Put it in a teensy ziploc bag with your contact info printed on a little slip of paper stapled around the ring.

Going through airport security, have it in your luggage in a designated place, such as inside your toothbrush holder. (You can put the ring on the toothbrush the way it will eventually go on the wonderful young lady's finger.)

Just be aware that to enter some buildings in Paris, such as Sainte Chappelle, you have to go through airport-like security so a money pouch might get scrutinized. For such visits, I'd say put it inside your wallet, again in the ziploc bag.

Good luck and best wishes!

Take a small, travel-sized deodorant and empty out the product. Wipe it all out, wad up the ring in tissues, and pack it in the container and put the lid back on. Have it in your carry-on in the requisite quart bag. When you get to your hotel and unpack, just put the "extra" deodorant in an inconspicuous part of your empty suitcase until you're ready. Hopefully if TSA notices the ring and wants to check that bag more closely (not likely to even happen) you can ask your girlfriend to go ahead or whatever while you get screened and you can quietly communicate with the inspector--but again, really not likely to happen. They don't scrutinize much.

Bonne chance!

You are waiting till next year to propose???? Go for it now and have the honeymoon next year!

Astorienne, brilliant suggestion.

Just put it in your money belt for the whole trip. The jeweler should be able to give you a velvet pouch for carrying it instead of a box.

Thanks guys for the suggestions! Love the deodorant one. I would do it this summer but because of work and other obligations, next summer is the first chance for me to take a vacation!

Buy a big, huge fake ring! No worries if it gets lost. If she accepts, she'll get the real deal when you get home.

I wouldn't fret about an expensive ring - my daughter and son-in-law travel with silicone rings (which no one wants), and if they get lost during swimming or diving - no one cares. They keep their really nice and expensive rings at home.

She should be happy to marry you - no concern about the ring!

Congratulations!

I think it' s a lot of trouble to empty out a déodorant container - and think of how you would présent it to her!!!

Your jeweler will give you a nice velvet pouch. Put the pouch in a small plastic bag in your money belt and wear it.

Can't think of anything worse than presenting an expensive ring from a deodorant container...

I'm with tgreen -- if you know you want to marry the girl, don't wait a year to do a staged "event" proposal. You could even go out to a local French restaurant and tell her "I planned a really romantic proposal next summer in Paris, but I don't want to put off being married to you for a minute longer than I have to ..."

I agree with Laura. That, in the end, is more romantic than waiting a year for Paris. What is your end goal- marrying the woman you love, or making the perfect proposal? Wait- did you come here for packing advice or relationship advice? Sorry if we overstepped our free advice parameters. ;)

If you go out to a nice dinner, you could arrange to tip the head waiter to place the ring in a glass of champagne - and forget the deodorant.

Agree with tgreen!! Do a nice proposal here, now, and honeymoon in Paris.

And then she chugs the champagne and chokes on the ring. :-(

Have a worry-free trip: Take a "faux ring" for the proposal event in Paris and save the "real ring" for when you return home.

When we travel overseas, instead of wearing my engagement ring and wedding ring, I wear only a cheap silver band ring (so that I don't draw attention to myself). My valuable diamond rings are safely stored in the bank safety deposit box until we return home. There's peace of mind in not worrying about the loss of something so treasured.

Unfortunately that is the current way. The engagement proposal has to be huge if not over the top coupled with a huge ring - at least a caret. Younger son spent a year and half arranging the proposal - in Paris - with a large ring that he worried about carrying. Although advised by Dad to do so, didn't get insurance on the ring till after they returned. (Get insurance before you go !!) She would have been happy to get the ring anywhere and anytime earlier. They were together seven years before the proposal. I proposed the night I returned from active duty. Didn't plan anything, didn't have a ring, so it wasn't very exciting. It worked. Will celebrate 50 next June.

Just schedule the ring with your insurance company, assuming it isn't an heirloom, and don't worry about it. If it gets stolen, you get a new one. Just keep it in your personal item on the plane and then put it in your suitcase until you are ready to present it.

Could you do the event without the ring? Or with a funny fake ring?

The thought of dealing with an expensive engagement ring in Paris makes me very apprehensive. The last thing you want is for the rock to attract any undesired attention. It's not that someone might try to remove it from her hand. It's that it would be an ad that you might have good pockets to pick.

The standard advice is to never wear or take any expensive jewelry to Europe, to never wear or take any jewelry you can't afford to lose.

Insuring it is a good idea, but the hassles of dealing with the local reporting paperwork and the insurance claim if it does go missing are not trivial.

We saw two couples get engaged on a Seine dinner cruise in 2012. Neither involved an engagement ring. Subsequently I learned that engagement rings are not all that common in France.

You realize this is a public forum, right? I hope your intended isn't a regular RS visitor. ;-)

I can offer no advice, I'm a guy.

My husband proposed to me at the Trocadero across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower at the end of a week long trip . The entire time he carried a small backpack with stuff for the day. In the backpack he carried his toiletry bag and the ring was hidden in there. There was no reason for me to go in the toiletry bag and I never had a clue. Except I did think it was a little strange that he carried his toiletries around everywhere. But you could certainly keep it in with a small bag of other items within your main daypack. I would only do this if you are a street aware person and very careful of pickpockets.

However, I do agree with the others that if you know you want to get married to this person, don't wait another full year to propose. Life can change so unexpectedly, unless there are financial or family considerations, go for it now!

Daypacks and quart bags for liquids both strike me as things that get put down in various situations and can be forgotten or stolen. At the airport, the day pack will likely have your money belt and electronics inside and be of bigger concern to you than a bag of liquids. Once you're in Paris, I'd want to wear the money belt properly and not have much of value in a backpack, which you may sometimes check at a museum, take off during meals or on a train, etc.