Not using a money belt

Cora, I don't wear my moneybelt out sightseeing, I leave my passport and extra cash and credit cards in the hotel safe. Others don't but I do and I have always felt fine doing that. I do however wear my moneybelt when travelling from place to place, travel can be so distracting, looking for signs, carrying luggage, looking for trains,, one less thing to worry about.

I just use my messenger style purse during day and carry one days cash with me.It has a zipper and a flap that close and clicks firmly over the zippered opening, plus I put anything valuable ( like my small camera) inside a zippered pocket in purse. Purse has a wide strap that I wear across chest and in busy areas keep hand on purse. i feel totally safe and know the pickpockets will pick easier targets( and I sure can see those!).

I'm a little puzzled; how could you drop your money belt in Moscow? To me, at least, my money belt is something worn under my clothing and I don't take it off from the time I dress in the morning until the end of the day. Maybe we're meaning different things by money belt?

As for wearing it at home where you feel less safe there are 2 significant differences. First, tourists are known to be carrying money and other valuables and congregate in predictable places. So a pickpocket knows where to hunt for treasure. If you're not in those places in Vancouver your risk is probably low. Second is the inconvenience factor; even if it is unlikely to happen, losing your credit cards + money + identification is much less of a problem at home in Vancouver than it would be in Europe.

Life imitates The Onion. The Onion joke is from 2004. The actual incident in Lisbon happened a few years later, I read about it on USA Today. I believe ETBD also had a press release about the incident. His day pack has either slashed or opened.

Hi Cora,

I never use the money belts for the same reason. i use one of two things - an over the shoulder messenger style bag like mentioned above (where all the zippers can be secured), and a messenger style over the shoulder wallet from Eagle Creek.

The wallet has belt loops that I hook on to so it can't be ripped off my shoulder, and with the messenger bag (it's small) I take one strap, and put it through my belt - that way it stays in place, and can't be pulled off without difficulty.

I've never had any difficulties in 10 years of traveling like that - the caveat being - I'm a pretty humongous guy, so not the first target selected usually.

I would not use a bag that I could not secure the zippers on.

My first trip 6 years ago, I did. My last 4 trips, I did not. I have never had a problem with my wallet in my coat pocket, which has miserable zippers that are rather difficult to zip & unzip. When I put my jacket on my chair for restaurants, I zip my jacket up, so the wallet pocket is now on my back side so no one can get to that pocket. I travel in winter, so my jacket is my money belt.

Same as Kelly, my trips more likely tend to be in the cooler months. Internal pockets of a jacket function the same as a money belt.

I don't wear one. If I'm going into an area that is likely to have pickpockets or on public transportation I shove my hand in my pocket and keep my hand on my money. Also if I have a shirt pocket I'll keep money and credit cards in there.

I do have a neck pouch thing for our passports that I'll keep around my neck for running around the airport because I tend to forget which bag I shoved the passports in.

Not using a money belt or the hotel safe, is like playing Russian Roulette. Travel often enough, and eventually you will be robbed, you can either minimize your losses by wearing a money belt type device or ruin your entire trip. You'll never be able to outsmart professional thieves. Just two years ago Rick Steves was robbed in Lisbon. You'd think a guy who travels as often as he does would be able to see it coming from a mile away...wrong:) But in the end it's your trip, if you want to risk spending a couple of days canceling credit/debit cards, and replacing your passport...go for it.

Bag sounds just like the bag the other chaperone used on my Girl Scout trip to Europe.

Day 1, she "lost" $10,000 in Traveler's checks! (yes we had Traveler's checks. Long Story)

Yes, we got them back. But she spent an entire day dealing with the required police report and AmEx. ($10,000 made them freak out :) )

She had told me how "secure" it was.. Hmm.....

Cora - from another woman who doesn't use a money belt. I use a regular zip top purse. My wallet has a strap on it and it is looped through to attach to the purse itself. Would be extremely difficult for someone to simply "lift" the wallet. I think many women who live in big cities know how to handle their purses.

I don't understand why we seem to have this constant discussion about wearing/not wearing a money belt. As if the non-wearers have to prove they are correct and the wearers have to prove that non-wearers are foolish. It is a personal choice as to how YOU decide to handle your valuables.

Do what you are comfortable with doing and determine the amount of risk you are willing to assume. My assessment is always, "If it is easy for me to get to, then it is easy for someone else." There have several postings on this site and one as recent as a couple of days ago about losses from front pocket. Current posting on Fodors about how a waiter clearly removed a bag from the back of a chair. A good friend of mine repeated make fun of our fixation with money belts. "No one can get anything from my front pocket." For four trips he was correct, on the fifth trip in the Paris train station they got everything.

If I have my stuff secured in a PROPERLY worn money belt I know that I am nearly 100% secure. If I am using a billfold in a pocket, or a bag, I am less secure. How much? I have no idea. But I know it is less than a 100% and it could be significantly less. But I am also pleased to see some people around me who are less concerned about personal security because hopefully the pickpockets will target them rather than myself.

It depends a lot on where you go on your holidays. I will be a lot more vigilante with my valuables in Barcelona, Paris and Rome than I will be when I'm sitting in a pub in Co Donegal (those sheep can be a bit cheeky though).

I don't wear a money belt or an around-the-neck thing, but primarily because I'm a short woman with an even short trunk area, and if I did wear either (I've tried), they don't really fit me.

My husband wears our passports, etc. around his neck. I carry an additional credit card and some cash in the bottom of my day bag (in a small wallet). The bag has a zipper and a clipped flap over the top, and is about 15 inches deep, and maybe I'm naive, but I can't envision a pickpocket being able to unclip the flap, unzip and reach all the way to the bottom (did I mention all the other stuff in the bag that they'd have to get past?) before I noticed. I don't usually need to get to this wallet during the day - it's a backup to the credit card and cash that my husband has.

For when I need better but still secure access to valuables, I made my own solution. I sewed a small zippered pocket, like a smaller version of a money belt, just big enough for a credit card and cash. I then safety pin it to the inside of the waist of my pants (I also usually don't wear a belt). It's reasonably accessable, safe, and small enough for me to wear.

You might try something like that.

Cora, like others I keep the passports, extra cash and credit cards, and other valuables (ipod) in the hotel safe. My husband has interior jacket pockets so he carries our ATM card, credit card and petty cash in. If I'm wearing a jacket I usually have an interior pocket, too. I'm not sure about the messenger bag--I feel like someone could get in a zipper there--but I don't carry one, so you'd know better than me about how protected you can keep it. And worse case scenario, say you do get pickpocketed somehow, if your passport and extra credit cards and money are safe in a hotel safe, you just cancel the cc that was stolen and use the backup. It's not the end of the world.

I also think there's something to be said for playing it by ear depending on circumstance, like you said--it's one thing when you're on a crowded train or standing in front of Notre Dame with a bazillion tourists, and quite another to be walking through a quiet neighborhood on your way to dinner.

You know, Cora, I have never been in an accident where I needed a seatbelt; once a car backed into me but that was about it. So what would you say if I decided not to wear that belt on hot days since I feel pretty safe in my car, and its so uncomfortable with my busted A/C to wear the belt?

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I know this topic has been beaten to death but I always felt like it was only mostly discussed why we need to wear one. I am starting to wonder though with my messenger bag a luggage lock and carrying it in front of me how anyone could get anything!

I can't believe Rick was robbed in Lisbon I had not heard that!

The other thing I was thinking, I often tell people I feel safer in Europe than I do at home. So then maybe I should be wearing a money belt at home too! lol

Thanks for all the great tips, I think above anything else I learned its most important to be aware, no one can steal from you if you are looking for it to happen. I do think though I will wear the money belt when in train stations ect... I think you can get to distracted, for example last year I was in the Moscow metro and it was so crazy I actually dropped my money belt and almost didn't see to pick it up!

Well, if you're leaving for Europe in a few weeks, you will not be there during the hot season.... It's of course up to you what you choose to do. :-)

Well I did not travel solo, but my mom carried our money in one of rick steves bags and were fine. My dad wore a money belt, so it is up to you. I used one of rick steve bags and that was perfectly fine.

I bring a money belt but rarely use it. I use a messenger bag and keep it in there. Only used the money belt on overnight train rides. My trip to London in February I just brought my purse. Left my passport at the hotel and kept my visa and cash card in my wallet like I would at home. I know I am chancing it somewhat, but I will risk it. of course I use some discretion and in unfamiliar surroundings that I feel uncomfortable with I will (might) use one.

To me, using a money belt is like having car insurance (similar to the seat belt reference) -- chances are you won't need it, but if something happens, you'll really wish you had it. Rick being pickpocketed shows that it can happen to anybody. These pickpockets are professionals, it's what they do for a living, they know more ways of getting in your bag than you know of keeping them out.

I don't wear a moneybelt either. On travel days or days where I'm going to be in popular tourist spots, I wear microfiber pants with a zippered deep pocket and keep my passport, credit card, etc in the zippered pocket. I got them at LLBean but I think Magellans and other travel stores have them too. When in small towns more off the beaten path, I keep everything in my purse and of course am watchful and aware.

I have been called a "Ricknik" (8 tours soon to be 9) and spend lots of time in Edmonds when I am in Seattle. I listen to his and his staffs lectures, read their books, and practice what they preach. This includes wearing a money belt, either around my waist or around my neck and always under my clothing. I have never had anything stolen out of my money belt and have never heard of anyone having anything stolen out of one properly worn. Rick has spent more years in Europe than I have days (maybe) so I'll stick with his advice to ware a money belt. To each his own and here is hoping you don't have your purse snatched.

My travel partner and I never wear money belts, just too uncomfortable and hot. We have pants and skirts from Tilley (lucky you, there is a Tilley store in Vancouver)that have secret pockets that no pickpocket could ever access. He would have to be on his hands and knees infront of you using both hands to get the velcro undone inside your pants, as the pocket has a very strong velcro closure on the indide of the pants and it extends almost to the knee.
Have a great trip!

Even zipped pockets aren't enough to stop a pickpocket.
My stepfather was picked in Rome a few months ago, also had money belt with the important stuff. They got his wallet that was in a velcro secured pocket, lost a day of cash and debit card. Previous day my Mom was blocked from getting off the bus (the pick pocket bus Rick mentions, they were exhausted and took a chance) and had her wallet taken out of her shoulder bag (a credit card and a little cash)
Both had money belts with alternate cards in them (and passports), so it was an inconvienence, but didn't ruin the trip.
They frequently travel, and it was the first time it happened to either of them.

I would think velcro pocket more secure than zipper, since you can more easily slide a zipper than rip apart velcro, but distraction is the key for them. Sort of like you can only feel the most severe pain, you don't notice a headache after having slammed your finger in the door.

I also think a lock on a carried bag is more of an invitation to take it, you are advertising you have something you value in it.