Never lose sight of it for a second
One of the ripest opportunities for theft is not when you leave your iPad in an internet café or become a victim of a burglary. Sadly, it’s often when your iPad is just inches from your eyes. However, if you’re not looking at it when you should be, a criminal can easily snatch it, amalgamate into a busy crowd, and become untraceable. The solution: unless you’re using it, put it away in a secure place and guard it like your treasure.
In 2015, the BBC released a new series entitled ‘Thief Trackers‘, which revealed just how easy it is for thieves to steal items like smartphones as soon as the owner takes their eyes off the device.
Do consider the practicalities
Do you really want to be climbing mountains carrying a big iPad in your back? Would you want to carry it on a really hot day in Pompeii? Often, travel experiences can be more enriching when we carry as little as possible, because then our mind can concentrate on the scenery around us, rather than our devices. Also, while it’s always nice to have lots of pictures of yourself and all the sights you’ve visited, when it comes to creating life-long memories, there’s only one lens that can really do that job: your eyes.
Make sure you have adequate travel insurance
If your iPad is stolen and you don’t have sufficient insurance to cover it, you won’t be able to make a claim. Make sure your travel insurance package protects you in the worst-case scenario, and check that it is applicable to all the countries you will be visiting. For example, Avanti Travelcare offers a variety of travel insurance packages that are recommended for different types of travelers. If you travel frequently, you should seek annual multi-trip travel insurance cover, but if you only take on trip per year, it might be best to choose single trip travel insurance.
Find out if you can store it at your hotel before and after check-out
Many hotel receptions are happy to store your luggage and valuables for a few hours, either before your check-in time or after you check-out. Unless you intend to use your iPad for taking photos, don’t carry it around and increase your risk of becoming a victim of theft. In some countries, it may be advisable to store your valuables in the hotel’s personal safe as opposed to your room. You should check this with your hotel in advance.
Back up your data
Clone your computer’s hard drive so you’ll never lose any files if your iPad gets stolen. This may seem like a tedious and time-consuming process at first, but would you rather lose all your personal information and thousands of holiday photos to a thief?
Don’t ask a stranger to take a photo for you
No matter how friendly someone appears, allowing a complete stranger to hold something as valuable as an iPad is asking for trouble. There are a number of tricks that thieves will perform in an attempt to get hold of your iPad and ‘claim’ that they want to take a photo of you when actually their mission is to grab it and run off at the earliest opportunity. This could be anything from accidentally spilling coffee on you, to offering a return of the favour if you have taken a photo of them with their camera. Just say ‘no thank you’, ‘no gracias’, or whatever the phrase in the local language. Of course, many thieves and pick-pocketers who target tourists will often have a basic level of spoken English.
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Laura Reeve is the Marketing Executive at Avanti Travelcare, who specializes in travel insurance for those with pre-existing medical conditions, and are one of very few that have no upper age limit on their policies.