Whether you dropped your wallet, were pickpocketed, robbed or like in my case, had your debit card eaten alive by the ATM, not having your money is never a good feeling. In fact, it’s a scary feeling especially if it happens to be while you’re traveling.

You can’t control other people’s actions, but you can control yours and take all the necessary precautions that in case you are pickpocketed or robbed, you don’t lose all your valuables whether it’s your cash, passport, credit cards or ID.

Here are some tips on how to protect your travel essentials from being stolen or lost and what to do when you find yourself in a situation without any money

 

Don’t Keep Cash All in One Place

Call me paranoid, but if you are traveling with lots of cash, know exactly how much you have on you, split it up and hide them in different places. The first time I traveled alone during highschool, I hid my money in my bra and shoes while sitting on the airplane. I was THAT paranoid and rightfully so.

Depending on your itinerary for the day, keep just enough cash on you that will last you for the day’s activities in your wallet. When you are going shopping you don’t want to attract attention by counting out a wad of $20 bills out of your wallet. Instead, have with you two coin wallets and designate one for your day’s spending like shopping and the other for food and transportation expenses.

The rest of your money should also be split apart. Buy or make a light-weight money belt to wear underneath your clothes while traveling en route to your next destination. This shouldn’t be money that you’ll need frequent access to. If you’re in a public place you don’t want it known that you’re hiding money under your clothes.

If you’re just out exploring for the day, then leave your money behind in your hotel room’s safe or locked in your personal locker at your hostel.

 

Bring More than One Credit Card

Traveling with two or three credit cards can potentially save you a lot of problems. If one gets misplaced, lost or stolen you will have two more to fall back on. With that said, you should not keep all of your cards in one place. Leave one in your suitcase or carry on, one in your wallet and one in your money belt.

As soon as you realize your credit card is missing, call the card company and let them know. If you are staying put in one place for long enough, you may be able to get a new card sent to you expedited to your hotel or rental accommodations. Also, don’t forget to notify all you banks and credit cards about using them abroad before your trip.

 

Be Quick at the ATM

Do whatever you have to do quickly at the ATM and don’t linger because you don’t want to be an easy target, but also be quick for another reason. Here in the US, most ATM machines will release your debit card right before it prompts you to enter your pin number and will stay there until you pull it out of the machine. In much of Europe however, if you do not retrieve your debit card almost as soon as it releases your card, it will take it back and will NOT release it. The bank does not have the ability or permission to open the ATM if this happens. Your debit card at this point is forever gone. This happened to me in Fethiye, Turkey. I bank with Chase and in Turkey there are not any Chase bank branches so I wasn’t able to get a new card re-printed.

I left my checkbooks at home because they’re useless while traveling so I had my sister write a check from my Chase account and deposit into my credit union account because I happened to have my credit union debit card with me as well. Lesson learned.

***UPDATE: While in Vietnam, we had our debit card eaten up by the ATM machine. We called our bank and they mentioned that usually the ATM will shred the debit card, but to check back the next day. THANKFULLY, the ATM we went with happened to be in from of its bank and not a random ATM. We walked in, informed a teller of what happened and had the security open up the ATM and had the debit card returned to us unshredded. I cannot tell you how lucky and grateful we were since we already knew of this possible risk.

Just to play it safe, if possible, I recommend using an ATM that is in front of a bank and is part of that bank so there is the possibility of unlocking it and retrieving your card.

The process included showing the teller our passport to prove that the debit card belonged to us and filling out a form.

Make Photocopies of Your Important Documents

Photocopies can save you a big headache. Make several photocopies of your passport (the page with your photo and passport number on it) leave one at home with your family, one in your suitcase, email yourself a copy and one with your travel partner.

If your passport is ever lost or stolen, you can take the photo copy of your passport to your country’s embassy and request for a new passport to be made within 24 hours. The embassy can be a life saver in several cases, so know where to find or contact yours.

You should also make photo copies of your credit cards, front and back, so that if you do lose your cards, you will have all of the information the credit card company will need readily available.

Take these Steps Now

1. Write down all the phone numbers of each credit card company you are carrying with you.

2. Write down the phone number and address of your embassy for the countries you will be visiting.

3. Download Skype to your phone and add credit for emergencies. Skype also allows you to make free 1-800 calls which can be extremely handy in certain situations just as long as you have wifi.

4. Find out your credit card issuer’s policy on sending a new credit card if yours has been stolen or lost while overseas.

5. Enroll with the The Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) so in case of an emergency all the consulate can help you get in touch with friends and family and can also assist you in legal, medical, or financial difficulties while traveling.

 

If you do lose all of your money, your credit cards and ID’s, take a deep breath and stay calm.

1. Inform your bank that your cards have been stolen. Ask if they can send you a replacement card immediately.

2. Call a friend or family member and ask them to wire you money via Western Union. Western Union allows transfers online and over the phone now and there are Western Unions all over the world. If you are an American Citizen, you can contact the ACS which will help you get in touch with your friends or family in case of an emergency.

3. Wire money to yourself and pick it up from a money service station like XOOM or Western Union. You will need your ID/Passport to pick up money!

4. Request a temporary passport if it’s been stolen by contacting the US embassy. A new temporary passport can usually be issued within 24 hours.

 

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