The Biggest Luggage Safety Tip Rick Steves Has For Riding Trains In Europe

Nothing throws a wrench in overseas travel like having your luggage stolen. It's something that most frequently happens when you can't carry your things beside you or in hand, such as during train travel. Practiced thieves can strike in seconds — now your bags are here, now they aren't! — and, if your eyes are distracted by scenery out the window, you might not even know what's happened until they're long gone. Luckily, travel expert Rick Steves has a brilliant suggestion for how to avoid such a mishap.

"I don't lock my bag," admits Steves on his website, "but to be safe, I often clip my rucksack straps to the luggage rack." If you know Steves, you're familiar with his packing mindset around keeping your bags light on vacation. However, backpacks and small bags are the easiest things for a thief to snatch, given that they're smaller and lighter. Why would they bother with a big, bulky, heavy hard case that's mostly full of clothes when a shoulder bag or purse is more likely to contain money, travel documents, and valuable electronics? Steves humorously paints the scene playing out once you've followed his advice: "When a thief makes his move in the darkness of a train tunnel, and the bag doesn't give, he's not going to ask, 'Scusi, how is your luggage attached?'"

The idea with this is to create a barrier around theft. Not foolproof, but just enough to make your bag less appealing than an easy target. Best of all, there's no locks, keys, or other fancy gear needed — just a quick clip. Basically, it's more about making your bag "not worth the trouble" rather than turning it into an impenetrable puzzle.

Many of Steves' top travel advice centers around avoiding bringing bulky luggage on your trip. "In all my decades of train travel, I've never checked a bag," he admits. A serious flex by a serious traveler! That said, he does advise always keeping your things within sight or within reach when traveling by train. "Simply carry it on and heave it up onto the rack above the seat or wedge it into the triangular space between back-to-back seats."

To Steves, boarding a train is like entering a thieves' den. While he doesn't think you should treat every stranger like a possible thief, he does believe you should treat every train like it's harboring at least one of them. This motivates his justification for taking simple precautions, like getting to know the people seated in your car or near your bag, if possible, to establish trust and glean whether anyone might have ulterior motives. And, in return, you can try to do your best to keep your eyes out for the next person's things, too.

If you've followed Steves' advice on choosing the best luggage for your trip, carabiners are great for clipping around bag straps. Similarly, you could also tie a knot around the straps using a scarf, bandana, lanyard, or even the sleeves of a light jacket. Anything to create a minor obstacle that might make your belongings more difficult to snatch quickly. Better yet, this works not only on the luggage rack, but can also be done on the arm of your chair, or even your own arm, should you wish to take a nap but remain vigilant.