I read through a few safety related posts, but most were about backpacking or trains. Is there one specifically on how to secure your stuff when travelling by car? Do you have any tips?
I have been on two ~5 week road trip style journeys in the USA without problems and just came back from one in Europe (Italy, France, 3 wk). All my luggage was stolen from my locked car in southern France.
I distribute passport, money credit cards and their copies between my wallet and luggage. Usually the bag with camera equipment is always on me or the first thing i take from the car to my hotel rooms. i tend to leave the passport in there or hide it in the room. people are 50:50 about always taking it vs. leaving it in the room it seems.
In this case I was changing hotels, so all my things were in the car while I stopped on the side of the road to take pictures for 15 minutes. That was enough time to empty the car and no other tactic than "having it all on you" seems to help in that case.
The only alternative I see is always checking into the next hotel and no stops in between, then track back to actually enjoy travelling, but that is just crazy talk. i need the freedom to look around and stop where i like it. that's why i travel by car in the first place.
any practical tips or experiences are very welcome! (and so are of course pointers to other threads or sites)