If you’re a traveler, you need to envision many emergency worst-case scenarios before traveling to Vancouver. Questions like, what if I get robbed?, and what if I’m kidnapped?, need to ring on your mind before you board Cathay Pacific.
Leaving your home to tour Vancouver should be an exciting experience. However, every journey has its uncertainties, and theft is one of them. The next time you take your flight to a foreign destination, you need to know how to protect yourself and your goods not to ruin your vacation. This article explains ways of protecting yourself against theft when flying. But before we get into that, let’s discuss the types of theft you may experience.
Organized Theft
Just like pickpockets on any street, there’s a small ring of robbers that may target your belongings at the airport or in the skies. Such thieves often purchase cheap tickets after singling-out potential targets in the boarding area. Once onboard, they wait for the interior lights to be dimmed, and when the vision is low, take advantage of riffling through a target’s valuables.
Most of these crimes take place when targets are sleeping or distracted. In very minimal circumstances, these robbers may collude with flight attendants to succeed in their plans. However, flight attendants found to help thieves are fired by most airlines.
Opportunistic Theft
Opportunistic thieves take advantage of your naivety and mistakes to steal from you. They may not have the intention of stealing your items, but when they’re presented with an opportunity, they gladly seize it. After noticing something of value in your luggage or purse, these crooks wait for you to be distracted then pounce on your belongings. They may steal your purse if you visit the bathroom or leave your bag under your seat.
How to Protect Yourself From Being Robbed
- Research Your Destination
Travel safety begins before you get to the airport or plane. Before commencing your Vancouver journey, you need to research the common safety risks, scams prevalent, and unsafe neighborhoods in this city. You can get such information by reading the reviews of the places you’ll visit and stay. Researching those experiences should not make you anxious and terrified but prepared. You need to travel feeling confident and comfortable.
- Scan All Important Documents
In case a thief steals your bag with important documents, you’ll need a replacement that you’ll get quickly if you have some identification. That’s why you need to scan all your valuable documents such as the passport and driver’s license and upload them online in Google Drive or Dropbox. That way, you can retrieve them anytime in case of an emergency.
You may also want to photocopy those documents and share them with your lawyer, family members, or friends. That can help you access the documents if your online storage is corrupted, you’ve forgotten your password, or you’re in a place without an internet connection.
- Get A Travel Insurance Cover
When traveling to Vancouver, you need to have a travel insurance cover. An insurance cover will not only cover your medical expenses if you get sick, but it will also protect you from theft.
Different insurance companies offer different plans. Therefore, you need to choose your coverage carefully. The exact places you’ll be visiting in Vancouver and what you’ll be doing should inform the choice of your plan. Before you select a plan, you want to read what it covers to understand what you’re paying for.
Some insurance plans do not cover terrorist attacks or sudden wars. Others may also require you to take separate plans for expensive gadgets such as cameras. Others may have restrictions on the amount of money to reimburse in case of a theft. Therefore, you want to select a comprehensive cover that can cater to all your valuables in case they’re stolen.
- Keep Your Money in Several Locations and Have An Emergency Credit Card
When traveling to Vancouver, it’s advisable not to keep your money in one location. Stash your cash in several areas. While at the airport or in the plane, you keep your money and credit cards on different pockets of your luggage, on separate pockets in your body, under your clothes, or in your bra pocket. That way, even if you’re robbed at the airport, on the plane, or at your destination, you’ll have some cash elsewhere to use in your trip or vacation.
- Avoid Using Your Phone Publicly
To protect yourself from theft as you travel, you need to be constantly aware of your surroundings. Zoning on your phone may distract you and make you unaware of your surroundings. An opportunistic thief may take advantage of that to steal your belongings without your knowledge.
Once you descend from your flight, you need to continue being cautious. Walking down the street and using your phone at the same time may make it a target that’s easy to grab. Thieves may also take advantage of crowded areas to steal your phone or steal your luggage as you’re distracted on your phone.
- Keep An Eye On Your Luggage Always
You always need to keep eye contact with your luggage to prevent you from learning theft lessons the hard way. Taking your eyes from your belongings for only thirty seconds is enough to give an opportunistic thief time to steal your items. Worse still, turning your back against your belongings could also make them stolen. Therefore, if you don’t have your luggage in your hand, you want to ensure you always keep it in sight to prevent your sunglasses, purse, phone, or even drink to be stolen.
- Lock Your Bags
Whenever possible, you want to lock your bag as you travel. If you have a purse or bag that isn’t lockable, zipped, or doesn’t have a flap, don’t travel with it. An opportunist thief who finds out that your luggage isn’t locked may try to steal from it. If you don’t like to use a lockable bag or purse, you can buy anti-theft backpacks.
The Bottom-line
Every day some innocent travelers are victims of theft as they are traveling. While this is a huge concern that you need to worry about as you travel, it should not deter you from visiting Vancouver. By following these safety tips, you can handle or avert any theft cases.
