Travel Advice Needed

Always keep your money and passports on your person at all times ie. Money or neck belt(I prefer).Make a backup copy of your passport in case you need. Do not leave anything valuable in hostel, hotel or any lodging or car, locked or unlocked.
Yes lock your luggage always but again leave no valuables. Get a cheap wedding band to wear is best advice, you do not want to lose your wedding rings ever or have then stolen. Great that you are asking all these ? ahead. have fun.

Do not leave valuables in any hotel room , one or five star unless they are in a safe . I can't imagine doing that anywhere ,, in Canada or Europe,, if you can do that in Australia you are exceptionally fortunate!! Leaving things in locked suitcases is not safe either, if a theif enters your room,, he knows what a locked bag means, and will either take bag, or break it open. Use safe, and or use a moneybelt.

Choosing to take expensive and bulky cameras and equipment is an extra responsibilty . Carry bag in front of you on crowded buses and metros, and do not let people crowd around you,, use and trust your instincts.

Do NOT leave any valuables in a parked car,, and do not think locking in stuff in trunk is a great idea either,.

Wearing your rings is fine,, unless they are mega flashy,, I mean Europeon married women don't take their rings off when they leave their homes so you don't have to either.

This may all sour very forbidding, but don't worry, I consider Europe pretty darn safe, I have travelled there alone, and alone with a child,, using common sense and taking precautions is pretty straight forward .

Don't be paranoid, but do be careful.

Finally enjoy your trip,, it will provide you with so many wonderful memories as you and partner experience so many wonderful places.

Pick-pockets are a problem, not thieves grabbing necklaces or stealing rings, so rest assured that wearing your wedding rings is not going to be a problem. Wear your camera bag instead of stashing it in your back-pack, otherwise you will be constantly digging in your back-pack for it. Lots of local people wearing camera bags too, it doesn't make you stick out as a tourist, as does wearing a fully packed back-pack would. Messenger bags are better in my opinion to wear rather than a back-pack. That is the bag of choice in most of Europe.

If you are going to wear a back-pack though, then yes, lock it. Imagine though, every time you want to take a photo, you have to take the back-pack off, unlock it, take the camera out, take your photo, put it back in the bag, re-lock it and put the bag back on. Meanwhile, unless you are watching your bag carefully, this is when it can be stolen easily. Sounds like a lot of work to me, rather than just taking the camera out of its own bag that you are wearing.

Hiding your valuables in multiple places in your back-pack isn't the wisest idea. Either wear a neck-pouch or money belt.

How bad is petty street crime in Brisbane? Not sure how it compares to many of the countries you are going to. Most countries over here are safe, muggings are rare.

Hi guys. DO NOT leave passports and other valuables in your room under any circumstances. I always travel with a money belt. I lock our cases in our room, for what it's worth. When I travelled to Europe as a solo traveller, I even wore it to bed!!

No problems with your rings. I wear my wedding, engagement and eternity rings always. After 43 years they are practically welded to my finger.

Thank you for all the advice so far. It has been extremely helpful.

There is very little crime here in Brisbane - it is very very rare that anyone is pickpocketed or mugged.

We will be cautious but I guess if its going to happen then it will.

I might look at getting a messenger bag instead of a backpack.

I really appreciate all the advice!!

Just wanted to echo what James said about taking your car into the Czech Republic. Many rental companies won't allow it, and if you do it anyway and something happens to the car, you'll be personally liable. Make sure you check (and double check) with the rental company.

The good news is you are traveling in September. Pickpocketing and tourist scamming is seasonal work. The thieves follow the tourists through the crowded summer season.

The only place you are likely to have trouble is Oktoberfest - where I lost a camera (fortunately not an SLR) on a busy bus because I wasn't taking appropriate precautions.

In addition to the good advice already given my technique now is to have only one "handle". I reduce everything I'm carrying to one bag. It's a lot easier to keep an eye on one item than multiple items.

As far as jewelry goes, there are two good reasons to leave valuable jewelry at home.

First, you are moving - you are checking in and out of lodging regularly while showering and dressing in unfamiliar places. If there is a perfect time to misplace something, it's on the road. Staying in hostels also means anything not secure will disappear. I like staying in hostels but never leave anything out of sight and unlocked at the same time.

Second, thieves look for the most return on their effort. While an expensive ring is unlikely to be taken from your finger, it is likely to attract attention of thieves - making your backpack more likely to be targeted than someone not wearing valuable jewelry.

I would never leave home without my rings on. Have never had any problems during my travels in Europe. As for misplacing them....I never take them off so I don't have that problem.

The good news is you are traveling in September. Pickpocketing and tourist scamming is seasonal work. The thieves follow the tourists through the crowded summer season.

September is still the peak season for most places in Europe...there just aren't as many Americans around after labor day. Also in big cities like Paris and London, there are more than enough tourists year-round, to keep pickpockets in business for all twelve months.

Two suggestions:

Not everyone likes or is willing to wear a moneybelt, even though it offers the best protection for passports and credit cards. And neck pouches have their own drawbacks. On advice on this board, I purchased a pocket pouch ("hidden wallet" at the Rick Steves online store) that loops across my belt and tucks inside my pants. That has worked well on two recent trips.

I always take my camera, an extra lens and polarizers on trips but leave the camera bag at home. I would not carry them on the street in the backpack except as a last resort, however, because of the greater chance of theft. When not taking pictures during the day, I carry the camera, lens and filters in an inconspicuous messenger bag I found in a web search. That works well if you resist the tempation to dump a lot of other stuff in with the camera. Rick Steves daybags might work as well or even better, but, figuring a Swiss Army-style bag would be less likely to attract thieves, I went for the grunge look.