Be safe on holiday
How to avoid being a target for crime
Being the victim of a crime while you’re on holiday, whether at your holiday destination or at home, can ruin a relaxing break.
But if you take some sensible precautions in advance, you can reduce the risks.
Before you go
Ask a friend or neighbour to help by:
- Closing the curtains when it gets dark
- Picking up junk mail
- Keeping the garden tidy
- Parking their car on your driveway.
Keep the house looking occupied
- Use automatic timer switches to turn your lights on and off – don’t forget the bedrooms
- Cancel milk and newspapers
- To prevent mail from piling up, use the Post Office’s “Keepsafe” service. For a small fee, they can hold back the delivery of mail for up to two months.
Don’t advertise your absence
- Avoid discussing holiday plans in front of strangers.
- Cut the lawn before you go and trim back any plants that burglars could hide behind.
Keep your home secure
- Consider leaving important documents and valuable items with other family members or a bank.
- Put bicycles or similar valuable items in the house rather than the shed
- If neighbours keep your keys, tell them not to put your surname, address or even your house number on them in case they fall into the wrong hands
- Make sure that you’ve locked all outside doors and windows, and set the alarm, if you have one.
On your journey
- Don’t put your home address on your luggage when you are travelling to your holiday destination.
- Keep valuables like cameras, jewellery, cash and passports in your hand luggage, so they are with you all the time
- Put an extra padlock on your case
- Put a belt around your case - this will help prevent it bursting open
- Don’t leave your luggage unattended at the airport; it may be removed by security staff - or a thief.
At the airport destination
- Collect your luggage as soon as possible
- Check to see if it has been tampered with: if you think it may have been, report it at once!
- If you want to exchange currency, try and have the exact amount of money ready. Don’t produce a wallet bulging with cash.
At the hotel
- Don’t keep your passport, sterling or foreign currency together
- Keep your travellers cheques in a separate, safe place, like a safety deposit box
- If you use a safety deposit box, detach the fob from the key and place the fob in the box, after memorising the box number. Then, if you do lose the key, you won’t also lose all your money!
- If theft is a problem in your hotel, then consider hiding valuables in your room. A ‘can-safe’ looks like a normal tin of food, hair-spray or drink, but the bottom unscrews to let you store small items away out of sight.
If you are worried about someone getting into your room while you are asleep
- Use a temporary door lock
- Position a personal alarm (the type with a pull string to activate it) round the door handle. Then if anyone opens the door while you are asleep they will set off the alarm.
Out and about
- Use a bag with a strap that goes across your chest
- Don’t put anything valuable in your bag
- Don’t wear an expensive watch or jewellery
- Keep cash and credit cards in a belt or pouch close to your body, not in your pockets
- Take care of your personal safety - at home and on holiday.
There is every conceivable ‘con’ going on in most busy holiday locations; from the photographer who promises to forward the picture, to the time-share sales person. Keep your eyes open and your wits about you.
And don’t forget to have fun!
This page was last updated on 03 July 2008
Email this page to a friend
Bookmark this page using:
Find out more about social bookmarking.
These sites allow you to store, tag and share links across the internet. You can share these links both with friends and people with similar interests. You can also access your links from any computer you happen to be using.
If you come across a page on our site that you find interesting and want to save for future reference or share it with other people, simply click on one of these links to add to your list.
All of these sites are free to use but do require you to register. Once you have registered you can begin bookmarking. Each of the sites works slightly differently so use the links below to find out which service best suits your needs.
Find out more about social bookmarking at Wikipedia.
