Every year I drag out the dreaded money belt - I despise them. Thankfully my husband I have an unspoken agreement that because I carried two children in my womb, he gets to wear the money belt. It works out nicely and I feel it's a fair trade.
The money belt debate is alive and well on many travel forums - some people swear by them and others swear at them. They do serve a purpose though, I'll begrudgingly admit, so we employ one when necessary. In my opinion a money belt is like a safety deposit box and should be used as such; it is not to be used in place of a wallet. If you need to lift your shirt to get out 10 euros for some gelato that money belt isn't helping you. It is helpful, however, to store large amounts of cash and/or passports while in transit. Keep some money in your pockets - not so much that it will ruin your trip if it gets snatched, but enough to buy the incidentals and things you'll need for the day.I carry a purse - call me crazy. The funny thing is I'm not the only one who does - as I can see by the millions of other ladies walking around everywhere we go. I don't keep much money in it - and certainly not our passports - but aside from some cash I carry our camera, pen, paper, maps, etc. I refuse to be paranoid. In any city (including my own) I pay attention to my belongings and hold my purse to my body when in crowds or using public transportation. Seems like common sense to me. Sure, the guy in the multi-pocketed fishing vest in downtown Paris may feel secure because he doesn't have a bag to lose, but he sure looks ridiculous.
Our money belt is used when we leave home with lots of cash. We use ATMs and our visa as much as possible while traveling but in many European places (small towns in particular) you can't use a credit card. To make life easier we take some cash with us - an amount that we definitely don't want to lose. This is put in the money belt and strapped around the torso of my husband. We both have a smaller amount in our possession that is easily accessible, and we take some out at the beginning of each day to replace any that we've spent. We tend to keep our passports safe in the apartment or hotel that we stay at - if we don't feel they will be secure we add those to the money belt too. By the end of the trip when the cash has dwindled the money belt gets retired. Some people may call us crazy but it works for us.
So there it is - our deepest darkest money belt secret. Oh, and about my purse - I always wear a cross-body style purse that lays flat against my body. I also download our pictures each day 'just in case', but that can be done because we take a computer with us. If you didn't it would be wise to have a few different memory cards that you switched out now and then - not necessarily because someone steals your camera, but what if you accidentally drop it into a canal? Yikes.
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