Securing Day bags while out and about

I do the thing with the chair leg. Sometimes my own leg if it works better. But, normally, nothing irreplaceable is in the bag.

I usually put mine under the table in front of me. I don't secure it but may just tuck one strap around an ankle if it's not too cumbersome. But as Stan said, I don't put anything in there that is valuable so I don't worry about it too much.

I also do the wrap around my leg bit. Ever since I planted my shoulder bag at eye level, announced to myself “You cannot possibly forget it now”, and promptly walked away only to luckily have it returned to me by the thief who had already taken the cash but left everything else (passports, phones, wallets you name it) I actually thanked him! Then ran for the plane and discovered my loss after takeoff. Several lessons that day. Safe travels.

EDIT: FWIW my experience was waiting at the airport. Normally I wouldn’t have all that stuff with me out and about each day. But I still practice the leg wrap whenever out with a small bag.

”What do you do? Other than only putting a pack of Kleenex, guidebook and dry socks in the day pack?”

That might be the key to your issue/question. What must be carried with you? You mentioned guidebook. The RS store has the thin small folder to just carry a slim set of pages of the guidebook. I used it during the RS Adriatic tour, and it easily fit into my purse. My vitals were reading glasses, phone, small amount of money, lip balm, pen, sheet of paper & the kleenex & guidebook tiny folder.

If you’re able to scale back what you’re carrying, probably a crossbody messenger bag or purse will work. And to answer your question, with a crossbody strap, I just slide it down around my waist when I’m sitting down at an outdoor cafe.

What crime-ridden city/country are you visiting where day bags are being snatched from under tables with the owner present?

I'm with Jean....look at what you really need.

If you feel bad about tearing up a guide book, can you go digital? I have most of my RS guidebooks on my Kindle app and can access on my phone.

Last Fall I downsized my purse as the trip before I'd had to check what I considered an ordinary sized purse at 2 museums. I realized I didn't need as much stuff as I was carrying. The purse I went with is big enough to accommodate my iPad Mini if it's a day I think I might spend time in a garden.

I'm wondering about the dry socks. Certainly I have them when I'm out hiking but in that instance I'm not too worried about pick pockets. In a city where I AM worried about snatch and grabs (and yes that includes Paris) I would not carry socks with me. If I got soaked I'd probably be miserable enough to go back to my hotel and change anyway.

I don't carry a water bottle. I stop and get one at a market or it's time for me to sit and rehydrate in a cafe, lol.

I DO agree that if you need to carry a back pack I'd attach it in some way to myself or the chair or sit inside next to a wall where it can be safely stowed. I would never let anything be unsecured on any terrace eating area.

I carry a medium size cross body bag and just swing it around so it sits on my lap. But DH carries either a full size crossbody messenger bag or a smallish back pack. I'm not going to tell anyone what they should or shouldn't include in their day bag- that's up do the individual (other than to keep anything valuable on their person). DH just puts it on the floor under the table with his foot between a strap.

I usually drive to my destination or fly and rent a car. Locking extra “stuff” like my small computer, jacket, souvenirs in the trunk is not a problem. My hobby is genealogy, so the small computer goes with me when doing a research trip. Then I lock it in the trunk when I’m ready to go eat or go sight-seeing.

My regular purse is a waist pack with my wallet, phone, glasses, Kleenex, hand sanitizer, chap-stick, a tube of Advil, pen, notepad. I carry it to the side or sometimes cross-body up front. It stays around my waist and in my lap while seated. The wallet is in a pocket across the back next to me.

I’m just looking at different styles of day packs for when you want more than “purse size” and don’t have a car to leave stuff. Or need to keep stuff with you like on a cross-country train. Most packs that would hold a small computer and jacket/sweater would be backpacks or large slings. And I started wondering, what do people do with it when they don’t want to sling it over the back of the chair? Too big to keep wearing and too big to lay in your lap. Not crazy about setting it on the floor, but sounds like most do with the chair or leg wrap thing.

Thanks everyone.

I never put anything on the back of my chair. My day bag goes in between my feet when I am seated at a restaurant or café.

Not crazy about setting it on the floor, but sounds like most do with
the chair or leg wrap thing.

Not crazy about it because of concerns about getting it dirty, or germaphobia, or something else? I don't have concerns about it, any more than I have concerns about putting it on the floor on a plane or train. Of course, if the floor was muddy from previous feet on a wet day, that's something else. I can relate a story about a friend who is a neat freak. On her trip to Europe last year she bought a newspaper on her arrival day. I've no idea if she actually read it or not. But she took one page from the paper each day and folded it up in her day bag. And when she sat down in a Cafe for lunch or dinner, she would place it on the floor before putting her bag down. Seemed a bit much to me, but who am I to judge.

....I never put anything on the back of my chair...... We are the opposite. Always but it over the back of the chair and run a strap through one of the opening in the back of the chair. What I am trying to avoid is a distraction while someone else grabs the bag BUT --- since it is hooked to the chair they are not going far and since I am in the chair I think I will notice. It has worked for over 50 years. It is just a matter of being careful.

I don't carry a day bag in Texas, so I'm not sure why I would in Europe. But I put my shopping bag, when I have one, on an empty seat at the table. I got the idea by watching the locals. I also keep my cell phone on the table where I can see it, and it's convenient to use. Another tip from watching locals.

The last time I went to Paris, I took a friend who apparently thought she needed to bring all her worldly possessions everywhere . After one day of that backpack mess, I told her we were not leaving with it again.

amazingly she could leave half of that crap back at the apartment, and have no problem. Her children are 25 and 30 years old and I think she was still packing as if she’s preparing for a day with them as toddlers. She was prepared for any and all events.. I expect like her 90% of you can get by with a small Crossbody bag.

And if you think you’ll come up with a good way to put it on the back of your chair and secure it You might want to go over to YouTube and watch a recent video by les Frenchies. They live in France- he’s French. They did that and they actually got ripped off. The backpack was still there. The credit card was gone. While they were eating dinner, someone unzipped the backpack and lifted out the credit card.

"What crime-ridden city/country are you visiting where day bags are being snatched from under tables with the owner present?" It can happen in a city/country where such a thing is totally unexpected.

Picture this. My work colleague went to Europe annually for many years. As a classical music lover and performer, her trips were always focused on that. Most of her trips were small group tours with music lovers like her. She was one of such a group seated at a large round table for dinner. She'd put her day bag, actually a large purse, under the table at her feet. I think they were in Austria or Germany. I know it wasn't the UK, Italy or France.

When the event was over, she discovered that her bag had disappeared. Hers was the only one taken. I don’t think it had all her valuables in it, but it did have her room key. When the group got back to their hotel, the management let her into her room. Her bag was there. So was her room key. The cash was gone, but her meds and credit cards were still there. To her, the biggest loss was the many music CDs she'd already purchased on the trip. All of them had been stolen from her room.

I didn’t return to European travel myself until several years after this incident, but I remembered it well. I'm not a person who carries a large purse anywhere. My MO when I lived in Germany and when I traveled before that was a small cross-body purse plus a mesh bag or plastic bags from local vendors. On my husband's first trip with me in 2009, he questioned me about that, wondering why I wasn't concerned about the fact that people could see what was in those bags. I told him that it was highly unlikely that anyone would grab a bag if they could see the bottled water, bread, cheese and fruit in it.

Like others have mentioned, in a restaurant I slide the small purse down around my waist, even here in the US. It may end up in my lap, under a thigh, or next to me, but then only on the wall side of my body if there is one. On planes or in enclosed booth seats, I may slide it around to my back and use it as a lumbar support.

So my answer is that I don’t use a day pack. Of the contents you listed, a little pack of tissues is the only thing that I'd be carrying in such a bag and those fit nicely in my new small and comfy cross-body purse.

Lo!!! My word, what a creepy, creepy story! Holy cow. At least 1+ for hotels that still want you to turn in your key when you go out! I might have had to change rooms.

Lo, that really was a weird event.
My friend that I travel with used to pack everything for the day too.
She had had a career child- minding in the UK, so I also think she was still unconsciously packing for toddler emergencies.
Anyway, when she lost her brand new glasses at the Cat Sanctuary in Rome, and also her phone charger and lens cap got left behind in a rental apartment, we had a talk.
We went to a market and got her a crossbody bag, cords for her sun and regular glasses, emptied her wallet of all unnecessary cards, and got her to the point where she was hands free.
If a traveling companion is not always conscious of their possessions and has a theft, it becomes a problem for the whole group.
Plus, your shoulders and back will feel so much better carrying less around for the day!

Something like 40 years ago one of my aunts placed her purse under her chair in a restaurant during a tour-group dinner. I'm nearly but not 100% certain it happened in London. I don't know how, but later they figured out someone had used the hook on an umbrella handle to dislodge the bag without being noticed.

Like others here, I only hang my purse on the back of a chair if I'm sitting in a corner with two solid walls behind me. Given a choice, I always select a table like that, and I always sit in a chair where I face into the room.

I always find some way to keep my tiny Pacsafe purse safe in a restaurant, including just lengthening the straps and keeping it still crossbody but in my lap. The only time I didn't was in a restaurant (I think in Siena) in which all the people with purses and bags were very seriously (actually, sort of firmly) supplied with miniature versions of the chairs we were sitting on --- this looked so funny that I had to just leave my purse on its own tiny chair.

Oh, my, Lo! I'm with Pam--that is a very creepy story!

The bag between the feet or strap around the ankles is to help me (or DH) remember to take the bag with us as much as avoid theft!

In addition, if ones concerned about floor/ground cleanliness/dryness, an alternative to the paper could be a plastic bag. After use, the bag could be turned inside out and tucked away until the next use. I do something like this on the airplane. I put a plastic (or paper for onetime use) bag in the back of the seat pocket. Anything I want at hands' reach I put into the bag to avoid the bacteria of the pocket. At the end of the flight, I insert any bits and pieces of trash stashed in the pocket over the flight and put the bag into the attendant's trash bag.

Posted by acraven

Like others here, I only hang my purse on the back
of a chair if I'm sitting in a corner with two solid walls behind me.
Given a choice, I always select a table like that, and I always sit in
a chair where I face into the room.

Probably about 30 years ago my Mom and her cousin were in Italy with a tour.

The guide reminded the group over and over and over again to keep purses / wallets secured on their person at all times.

The group stopped for lunch. They were in a room by themselves. It was a long table with one long side against a wall. Mom was seated on the open side with her purse still cross-body and in her lap. The woman across from her, against the wall, hung her purse on the back of her chair. When the group got up to leave, the purse was gone. Mom said she was talking with the woman all during lunch and never noticed anything. The tour group and the restaurant staff were the only people in the room.

As far as what one does or does not carry around in a day-pack,

This post wasn't intended to be what one should or shouldn't carry around in a day-pack everyday. Everyone has their own level of what makes them feel comfortable, prepared and secure.

It's about how that bag, whatever it contains, is kept secure, or not, when continuing to wear it is not a comfortable option.

And the "Kleenex, guidebook and dry socks" were just examples of expendable things someone, not necessarily me, might have in a day-pack. In the case of losing those things, it's the bag itself that I would mourn losing.

I'm with Jean. Have a bag small enought that it can sit comfortably in your lap.