10 Gifts to Get the Safety Conscious Traveler

If you, or the ones you love, are bitten by the travel bug, you know that travel can be fun, adventurous, stimulating, educational, and mind-broadening.  You also know that travel safety plays a key role in making it all of these things.  If you don’t feel that you and your belongings are secure, then travel won’t be nearly so much fun as it could be.

Any time of year is a good time to give travel safety gifts to your kids, parents, siblings, or friends who are off on an adventure.  At this time of year, though, when you’re wracking your brain for ideas for Christmas gifts…ones that actually will be appreciated and used…we’ll give you a few ideas that will make you the ‘thoughtful and caring’ one to those on the receiving end of a travel safety item in their stocking or under the tree this Christmas.

Christmas Gifts That Aid Travel Safety

1. Hidden Money Belt

In previous articles, we’ve advised against ‘flashing cash’ in public. This advice is especially prudent when you’re traveling.  Flashing cash can be an open invitation to pickpockets and other thieves, who know all too well how to separate you from your hard-earned cash and other valuables.  A good rule of travel safety is to use a money belt to stow your extra cash or credit cards.  A money belt lies flat against your body, around your waist, so it is not visible to prying eyes.  What a great Christmas gift for the safety conscious traveler…and that should be all of us!

2. Neck Stash 

Instead of, or in addition to, a hidden money belt, the neck stash is another great gift that will provide the traveler with peace of mind while they are out and about.  Your cash, credit cards, and passport can be ensconced safely inside a neck stash which then hangs conveniently around your neck and is stuffed under your shirt.  A neck stash makes you less of a target for a ‘grab and go’ thief than does a handbag slung over your shoulder or, worse, a wallet carried in your back pocket.

3. RFID-blocking Passport & Credit Card Sleeves

They’ll love you for this one! Get them RFID-blocking sleeves in which they can store their credit cards and/or passport.  There are readers out there that can be used to skim information from your credit cards and passport – and you won’t feel a thing…until later!  Your identity can be stolen and a fake passport or counterfeit credit card produced using your personal information.  This is definitely an inconvenience for you, but also can be a nightmare as you fight your way through all the red tape, paperwork, and phone calls it will take to fix this, not to mention the valuable time you will spend to get your identity back. Certainly not the way you want to spend your vacation!

4. TSA Safety Locks with SearchAlert

What a great travel accessory and Christmas gift idea!  Most times TSA agents put a card into your luggage to indicate they’ve searched it….sometimes they don’t.  A TSA safety lock with SearchAlert will allow TSA agents to open and search your luggage but, with SearchAlert, you will know that someone has been through your things – whether they leave a card or not – as the indicator changes from red to green when the lock has been opened.

5. Colorful Luggage Tags

Another great gift idea! This gift will protect your identity from prying eyes and will help the airline find you more easily if your luggage is lost. These colorful luggage tags will also help you easily spot your luggage as it tumbles onto the conveyor belt. You can even personalize these tags with a picture of your pet or a funny message. Wouldn't you love to find these in your stocking Christmas morning?

6. VPN

This stands for ‘Virtual Private Network’. A Christmas gift that is sure to be greatly appreciated – you can sign up your loved one for a service that will provide public wi-fi/hotspot protection while they travel. If they use public wifi without it, their computer security may be compromised, allowing a hacker to access important personal details such as banking information. With a VPN, your computer is connected to a secure server, and any activity on your computer is encrypted, making it very difficult to be hacked by would-be thieves.

7. Travel Insurance

Things can happen that you aren’t expecting.  Something as innocuous as a sprained ankle can turn into a major expense if you don’t have the proper travel insurance in place before you leave home.  You can imagine, then, how much more expensive a more serious injury could be! What if someone at home becomes seriously ill while you’re away and you need to return mid-trip?  A wonderful Christmas gift idea for your loved one would be a monetary amount ear-tagged just for travel insurance.  That should give them the ‘warm and fuzzies’

8. Safety Whistle

This would be a welcome little addition to any safety conscious traveler’s Christmas stocking!  Hopefully, they’ll never need it….but you just never know, right?  Better to have it and not need it than to be in a situation where they wish they had a whistle to attract attention and they don’t.

9. Travel Scarf

A scarf that contains a secret zip-up pocket to store your passport, phone, credit cards, cash and hotel key? Now that’s a great Christmas gift idea – for both the ladies and the gents on your list (they come in unisex styles). You can get a light-weight one if they are traveling to the tropics or a heavier one for colder climes.  Now they can enjoy a little ‘hands-free’ time instead of toting a handbag or knapsack.

10. International Calling Card

Or a roaming cellular service that allows your loved one to ‘call home’.  This may be more for your own peace of mind rather than for travel safety on the part of the traveler

Travel tips:

• Consider separating your cash and credit cards when you travel.  Carry some cash and a credit card in a money belt perhaps, and another portion of it in a neck stash.
• Carry with you the contact information for the local American embassy or consulate – in English and in the local language.
• Always be aware of your surroundings. Don’t be so absorbed checking your cell phone or chatting with your travel mate that you suddenly find yourself in a less than desirable situation.

Written by Emma Ghattas