Keep your travel money safe from thieves

Never keep all your travel cash in one place when traveling, not even in the in-room safe. Here are our best tips to keep your money.

Hotel room safes quite often fail, and hotel staff can access it. You're best off to spread your money around your clothing, wallet, safe, and some more unusual places.

Unusual places to hide money

• Shower curtain rod. If there's a shower curtain in the bath room, take down the shower rod and hide some cash inside the tube
• The toilet. Put some in small zip-lock baggies and drop them into the bottom of the tank
• Pull up a small corner of the carpet in the rear corner of the closet and slide some bills under it
• Cushions. If there’s upholstered furniture in the room, you can remove the zippered cushion cover and make a slit in the foam rubber cushion. Put some money inside the slit
• Curtains. Remove some stitching on the bottom of the drapes and slide some cash in the fabric pocket
• TV and telephone. Bring a small screwdriver in your luggage. Then you can remove the bottom of the telephone and unscrew the back of the TV to put some bills inside
• Drawers. As you should always pack some duct tape, you can always tape a zip-lock bag to the bottom of a drawer or other piece of furniture

Safely carry cash with you

Money belts are a pretty decent option if you're traveling to a city. You need a belt to hold your pants up anyway, so stashing money into it makes sense. Alternatively, a neck wallets is pretty comfortable, and leg money belt let's you strap money safely to your thigh. I'd get one in black.

Out of those, the leg money belt is the most secure. Pickpockets are used to tourists using money belts and neck wallets, so will literally cut them off you given a chance. A more ruthless thief would just rob you.

The most unusual product for keeping money safe may be the Brief Safe, a pair of men’s briefs with a secret pocket where you can stash bills, documents, and other small valuables. Apparently, you "can secure your cash, documents, and other small valuables from inquisitive eyes and thieving hands, both at home and when you're traveling." Just to make sure no one nicks these, there are 'special markings' down the front and back... You can even add a realistic stink to the Brief Safe with Doo Drops ($9).

Yes, these are real products! Just don't put them in the wash.

And while you should never put all your money in your wallet, there should always be some. First of all, this is the money you'll use to pay for gelatos and coffees, but also what you'd hand a mugger. Just remember to take out your credit cards and similar things you walk around with at home in case it's stolen. You can always put in some expired cards to fool a thief.

Theft happens when you're traveling, but with some precautions, the damage is minimized. Don't let it put you off, just take care and spread your money around!

If you have some tips on safeguarding your travel cash, share them in the comments below.

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