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The single most important item I pack on my travels is my portable safe: my Pacsafe Travelsafe 12L.
For years, I’ve been recommending this product to every traveler I know. Budget, luxury, mid-range, family, solo, everything. I’ve urged everyone coming on our Central America tours to buy one for themselves.
And yet so few travelers have a portable safe. It blows my mind; I honestly think everyone should own one of these.
I use my TravelSafe to keep my valuables safe in my accommodation, whether it’s a hostel, a guesthouse, a hotel, or a rental.
Yes, hostel dorms almost always have lockers. (I’ve stayed in more than 70 hostels around the world and only three of them didn’t provide lockers in the dorms.) And nicer hotels often have safes.
But those hotel safes are often tiny — I can barely fit in more than my passport and Macbook Air.
And what about guesthouses, Airbnb rentals, and hotels that just don’t have safes? What would you do if an unscrupulous employee, another traveler, or someone off the street broke into your room and saw your expensive items lying around, plum for the taking?
Yes, in a perfect world, nobody would break into your room and steal your things. Most travelers are kindhearted, most accommodation wouldn’t want the bad publicity. But robberies still occur on the road, perpetrated by both locals and fellow travelers. For that reason, we must protect ourselves.
Enter the Pacsafe TravelSafe
The Pacsafe TravelSafe is a mesh-lined black bag anchored by a cord that you can fill, close, and lock to something sturdy in your room.
I keep all my valuables in my TravelSafe: my passport, laptop, DSLR camera, external hard drives, sometimes credit cards. I only take them out when I need to use them.
Because of this, I don’t have to carry all my valuables with me whenever I leave my accommodation. Only when I’m in transit.
How to Use the Pacsafe TravelSafe
Step 1: Put your valuables into the TravelSafe.
Step 2: Pull the cord tight, pulling the bead through the keyhole.
Step 3: Pull the cord into the smaller hole of the figure-8-shaped keyhole, keeping the bead pulled through it.
Step 4: Wind the cord around the item you’re locking it to. (This railing is just used as an example; see below for where you should lock it.)
Step 5: Line up the larger hole in the keyhole and the loop at the end of the cord.
Step 6: Put a lock through the larger hole in the keyhole and the loop at the end of the cord.
Step 7: Close the lock.
If you follow these steps, the bag will be completely closed and locked to whatever you locked it to.
What Should You Lock Your Pacsafe To?
The best thing you can lock your Pacsafe TravelSafe to is a pipe in your room. Pipes are sturdy and they can’t be destroyed without causing a lot of flooding in the process. If a would-be thief is an employee of your accommodation, he won’t want to risk hundreds of dollars worth of damage.
If you don’t have a pipe, lock it to the base of your sink. Same reason as a pipe.
If you don’t have pipes or a sink, lock it to the sturdiest thing in the room. In this case, I locked it to my wooden bedframe while winding it through the metal box spring as well.
Is a Travelsafe 100% Effective Against Robbery?
No. Nothing is 100% effective. If a professional thief is determined to steal from you, he will have the equipment to steal from you, no matter how many precautions you take.
However, the vast majority of thieves in the world are opportunistic, not professional. They burst into hostel dorms or guesthouse rooms and grab whatever’s easy: passports hidden beneath pillows, phones left in their chargers. They grab what they can and get out before they’re discovered. Breaking into a safe? Not worth the time or hassle.
Keeping Your Belongings Safe In Your Accommodation
I’ve been traveling full-time for more than four years, and although lots of bad things have happened to me on the road (I’ve been pickpocketed, mugged, shipwrecked, etc.), I have never had anything stolen from my room. (Knock on wood.)
Most people I know who have traveled that long have had something stolen from their room at least once. Even on my current trip in Central America, I’ve already heard several stories about stolen phones.
I’m sure I’ve lucked out this long because I’ve always been so careful, and a big part of that has been using my TravelSafe vigilantly.
Here are some other ways to keep your belongings safe:
Never leave your valuables unattended in a dorm or shared accommodation. Even if you’re using the bathroom for just a minute, don’t leave your laptop out on your bed.
Stay with your phone while it charges. If you need to go somewhere, use a portable charger and take it with you, or lock your phone in the Travelsafe while charging. I use the MyCharge Peak 6000 ($59.99 on Amazon).
Don’t trust strangers to watch your things. While it’s tempting to ask a Starbucks neighbor to keep an eye on your laptop, it’s safer to take your laptop with you and ask the neighbor to hold your table instead.
Which PacSafe TravelSafe Is Right For You?
Pacsafe TravelSafe 12L — This is the one I use. It’s big enough for a 15″ laptop, DSLR camera, and a few other bulky items, including my purse. $88.55 on Amazon. Note — this is currently unavailable. I recommend you look at the TravelSafe 25 instead.
Pacsafe TravelSafe 5L — This will fit a small laptop and flat items. If you have a camera larger than a point-and-shoot, you should get the 12L. $69.98 on Amazon.
Pacsafe C25 Stealth — The Stealth is a slightly different model that can fit around a small camera bag. $79.31 on Amazon.
If you’re a photographer with lots of camera bodies and lenses, or otherwise have a lot of valuable gear, consider investing in a 55L Backpack and Bag Protector instead. It works the same way as the TravelSafe; you just wrap up your entire bag in the cage. $68.51 on Amazon.
MasterLock Combination Lock — Whichever safe you use, I recommend picking up a few of these locks because it’s smart to have extras. I use these locks because they’re TSA-approved and you can set your own combination.
Trust me on this — you don’t want to wait to buy a portable safe until you get robbed. Get into the habit of using one on your next trip.
NOTE: This is not an advertisement and I was not compensated for this post — I just love my TravelSafe and wanted to write about it. However, this post does contain affiliate links. If you choose to buy through these links, I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you, which will help reduce the increasing costs of running this site. Thanks!
Hi, I’m now definitely going to get one of the backpack protector but just wondering if you can have it on your bag and locked up ready to go when you put your luggage through check-in? Great post by the way, super helpful!
Thanks for posting this! I am preparing for a solo trip to Belize, and wondered if a portable safe of some kind existed. You have helped me tremendously.
can you cut the bag itself to retreive whats inside any given way? ie. plyers?
Ditch the master lock and put something decent on there!!! Utter garbage that can be defeated with minimal tools. It’s a $5 lock at best protecting thousands worth of equipment! Put an Abus or an American Lock on there and it’ll be a great bag 🙂
Hey! I’m about to start a RTW trip and I am really unsure as to whether to take one of these things. Firstly, I won’t be carrying a laptop or a fancy camera, just my iPhone 5s, plus obviously my passport and cards/money etc. So I’m thinking the only time I would use it is if I wanted to go to the beach where I couldn’t properly supervise my valuables, or if I didn’t want to carry all my cash and cards everywhere – though I expect not to be carrying much cash at any one time.
How thick is the wire? Is it just thick metal? And is it bulky/heavy when empty? I know what you mean about opportunists but I can’t help thinking it would just attract attention to my valuables that might have otherwise gone unnoticed. (I don’t mean I would leave things unattended, I just mean it screams STEAL ME). Do you think since I am not carrying that much I should just keep it on me?
Also how much can you rely on the security of the hotel/hostel safe?
Thanks very much in advance!!
Whatever you choose is up to you. Are you traveling in hostels? If that’s the case, nearly every hostel has lockers for you to use. I choose not to use hotel safes as they usually can’t fit all my stuff and they’re easy for the staff to get into. This is my layer of safety.
Regarding your questions, it’s pretty light to carry and the wire is pretty averagely sized.
Please just don’t be the traveler who leaves her phone under her pillow and gets upset when it’s stolen. That happens a LOT.
Great write up..
I am using the new skyblue 16 liter travel safe n my current trip and the peace of mind I have is really great. This model is a bit bigger and I just learned they have a 25 liter available now with backpack straps.
Really great product..
Hey Kate,
Thanks for the great product review and tips! I will be traveling alone in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and England here in a few months and just wanted some further tips on securing my stuff. Most nights I will only be spending one night in a hotel so I will have my passport/laptop/camera and other valuables with me. I will be using a rental car to get around but I was wondering about keeping things in my rental car while making stops en route to my next hotel and what to keep on my person or using the Pacsafe in a rental car? I didn’t have problems the last time I was in Europe but just wanted to make sure I was being safe and smart with my valuables. Thanks for all your advice. It’s nice to know I’m not the only young female who enjoys traveling by myself! (Despite everyone’s objections/astonishment) 🙂
I count being in a car as being in transit so I would keep my valuables on me. You can also choose to lock them in your trunk but the choice is yours.
Got the same safe. Although never got anything stolen in a decade of travel (at least 6 months out of every year) with just locking the zippers on my backpack (and that’s from Nepal to Cambodia, Burma and beyond).
Two things about your setup: 1). A TSA lock?! Especially a combination one! All I can say is that really nobody ever wanted to steal your stuff. Honestly, *you* could pick that lock with a half hour of practice. Yea opportunist thieves but that one … your weakest link by far is that “lock”.
2). Security by obscurity. Locking that thing out in the open just says “I really left all my valuables in the room”. If I was going to steal anything it’d be your bag. Leave the hostel, stop by the hardware store, get a small bolt cutter for $10, come back and get your bag. It’s obviously an expensive item and there’s definitely valuables in it.
Get a decent lock. Lock the bag out of sight. Leave your backpack with a zipper lock and a cheap phone or something as a decoy out in the open. And really … probably nobody was really going to steal your stuff anyway, all this considered. 😉
Cheers for the tips.
Was looking more in to this and now considering taking it a step further with some custom work and perhaps sewing the Pacsafe cage 55/85 product on the inside of a bag pack. And make it a part of the bag. Like a large version of the TravelSafe. That way it is easy to lock all things inside the bag all the time. Being it on the move or locked to something when placed. I see a lot with the cage on the outside on the bag, but I looks complicated to do and you cannot easily get to your stuff. It also screams valuables inside!
Anyone done something similar or have ideas for other products?
I don’t think you need to do that because Pacsafe makes so many products with the mesh sewn into the fabric as is.
I bought my Pacsafe a long, long time ago when I was completely broke, but nervous about my things being stolen from cheap hostels I knew I would be staying in. It wasn’t cheap, but the peace of mind it gave me made it worth every penny.
I have never regretted buying this!
Thanks for sharing this with your readers, yet another useful tip from my favorite blogger. 🙂
Totally agree with the comments above about not attaching it to a sink pipe. I know this because our sink at home regularly blocks and it’s a 2-minute job to uncrew the pipe to unblock it! Plus having a bag like this chained to the sink is just advertising to anyone who walks in that that’s where all your valables are.
I am wondering how to keep things safe at pool side at a resort? I never take valuables to the pool but I need my glasses, camera and room key? I went for a swim in Costa Rica and my glasses where taken? Any suggestions?
Hello,
Great tips on where to link your bag up! I have one of these bags. I don’t usually like packing my things in it to get where I’m going. Do you have any tips on how to compress the bag down into something manageable to pack into my normal travel bags?
Just bought one.
We usally stay in hotels (less than 1 day) with safe/aircon/free wifi and Airbnb if over 3 days.
Always whole venue.
I thought this was a good idea for airbnb from your article.
Cheers
Mike