10 Things You Should Do To Protect Your Assets While You Are Travelling

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I’ve been doing a bit more travel blogging lately. You may have read some of the posts on the travel section of my blog. If not, you should check out some of the highlights:

• My trip to London to review restaurants for Virgin Atlantic
• My trip to Victoria Falls to cover the 20th anniversary of the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge
• My trip to the Manyeleti in Kruger for rhino poaching awareness

I would recommend that people don’t make it public on social media that they are away from home, otherwise they could become a target. Make sure your Facebook posts are only visible to your friends.

Unfortunately it’s my job to talk about my travels publicly on social media so I started to worry about my home and my car. What if something happens while I am away? So I did some research and these are my top tips for protecting your assets while you are travelling.

1. Get insured. If you don’t have insurance yet, get some. While the tips below might help to deter a burglar or reduce the inconvenience of a disaster, the risk of something going wrong is still high and it will only increase if you are travelling a lot.
2. Befriend a neighbour. You may have a friend who lives nearby that can help out, but otherwise it’s a good idea to befriend a neighbour. Knowing your neighbours is good security practice in any circumstances, but having their assistance when you are travelling is priceless. Things a neighbour could assist with are:
   • Empty your post box. Overflowing post boxes are an obvious indicator to a burglar that nobody is home.
   • If your alarm goes off, the neighbour (if they have a key) can assist the security company to access your house and check that everything is ok.If there is a disaster like a geyser bursting or a fire, the neighbour can assist service providers to access the house.
   • If there is a disaster like a geyser bursting or a fire, the neighbour can assist service providers to access the house.
   • You could also ask them to drive your car occasionally if you will be away for a long time, so that your battery doesn’t go flat.
   • Water your plants
3. Unplug electronic devices to protect them from power surges and to conserve electricity.
4. Keep some curtains and blinds open, shut others. A house that has all blinds and curtains drawn for an extended period is an obvious target.
5. Put valuables away. If someone does decide to take a look through a window, make sure they don’t see anything tempting like your computer or camera, etc.
6. Make sure the windows and doors are properly locked. A burglar will check a home for a point of easy access, such as a window or door that is not properly closed and locked.
7. Purchase a few timers that will allow you to have some lights come on in the evening and automatically turn off again.
8. Make sure the alarm is working and the battery is carrying a charge. Load shedding is putting strain on the batteries of alarm systems.
9. Let your security company know that you are going to be away so that they can be extra vigilant.
10. Don’t put your address on your luggage tag. Rather just use a telephone number.

Those are my top tips. What other things do you do to protect your assets when you travel? Share them in the comments below.

At the end of the day, I think number 1 is the most important, properly insuring your assets. There are just so many different things that could go wrong, why take the risk?

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