Pirate Mode, Peanut Butter and the Travel Security System We Didn't Know We Needed
TimeOut recently published a list of the most common countries where people reported lost or stolen passports. We just returned from a trip where we visited three of the top five. Would this have changed our plans had we known? No — it would just make us plan harder.
When we started planning our three-month trip, there were plenty of things keeping us awake at night. Would the eSIMs work? Would we miss a train in Germany? Would vegetarian food be tricky to find in Singapore? But sitting right at the top of the list was something much more ordinary.
Losing a phone or having a wallet stolen.
Between Instagram reels of pickpockets in Barcelona, YouTube videos warning about scams in Rome, and endless "don't do this" travel posts, it was easy to feel like every tourist hot spot was a crime scene waiting to happen.
But we were already seasoned travellers. So we did what nerds do best. We made a system.
Some of it came from risk planning before we left (here’s a link). Some of it evolved on trains, in crowded metro stations and while wandering through Europe's busiest tourist attractions. By the end of the trip, we'd accidentally built our own little travel operating system.
It had strange code names. It involved peanut butter, and somehow, it worked
Crowds gather even on a rainy day at the Duomo in Florence
Pirate Mode
This was our shorthand for switching gears whenever we entered somewhere very busy or known for pick-pocketing. Walking towards The Duomo in Florence, for example, one of us would quietly say, "Pirate Mode," and without another word we'd both zip our bags, secure our phones and become just a little more aware of what was happening around us.
It didn't mean becoming paranoid. It just meant being a little more deliberate.
For us, the Pirate Mode check list looked like this:
Bags zipped, clipped, and worn cross-body across the front.
Wallets tucked into zipped pockets.
Phones secured.
One person taking photos while the other kept an eye on our surroundings.
When we needed Google Maps, we'd stop walking and step to one side or into a shop rather than wandering down the street staring at our screens.
Looking back, Ninja Mode probably makes more sense, pirates aren't exactly famous for protecting their own valuables. Maybe rather than trying to be the pirates, we were avoiding them. But whatever we called it, it wasn't about expecting trouble. It was about turning a few simple habits into muscle memory so we didn't have to keep thinking about them.
Nerdy note
Pilots, surgeons and astronauts all use checklists because routines reduce mistakes under pressure. We figured we as tourists could probably borrow the idea.
Typical crowds in the museums of Vatican City
Our Two Wallet System
This might have been my favourite idea of the whole trip. We both carried two wallets, divide and conquer I say.
The first was our travel wallet. It held a small amount of local cash, our public transport card, the hotel key and anything we'd need throughout the day. The second was our important wallet. It held our credit cards and the things that would actually be painful to lose. It rarely came out while we were walking around. Instead, we used the travel wallet for everyday purchases and transport.
If someone somehow managed to steal the travel wallet, we'd lose a little cash, replace a metro card and ask the hotel for a new room key. Annoying? Yeah. Catastrophic? Nope. Meanwhile, the important wallet stayed zipped away deep inside our bags.
We weren't trying to make theft impossible. We were trying to make it inconvenient instead of catastrophic.
That famous kiss at the Berlin Wall
Peanut Butter
This one wasn't planned and came out of a situation in Oslo. We were walking when my partner noticed someone shadowing me just a little too closely. Maybe he was harmless. Maybe he wasn't. Either way, yelling, "That guy might be trying to steal my wallet!" didn't seem like a brilliant idea. Later, over a cuppa, we decided we needed a code word that spoke to someone sticking too close to the other person.
"Peanut butter." became that code. Why? There was a half-empty jar in our room. Completely meaningless to anyone nearby. Completely clear to us. It meant:"Let's move somewhere else." No drama, confrontation, awkward accusations. Just quietly creating some distance.
Looking back, it's probably one of the strangest travel habits we've ever developed. It also worked remarkably well.
Nerdy note
Code words are surprisingly common in emergency management and security because they let people communicate without escalating a situation.
Crowds looking at van Eyck's The Arnolfini Portrait at National Gallery, London
Don't Be the Easy Target
Bear with me for a moment. (Sorry.) There's an old joke that if you are ever in a group being chased by a bear, you don’t need to be the fastest, just don’t be the slowest. That's not proper wildlife advice, but it does capture how we thought about security. We weren't aiming for perfection, we just didn't want to be the obvious choice.
In busy tourist areas like London's West End, it wasn't unusual to see open backpacks, phones sticking out of pockets or people completely absorbed in Google Maps while they walked. If someone is looking for an easy opportunity, those are the kinds of things they're likely to notice.
We figured that simply zipping bags, putting phones away and staying reasonably aware probably shifted the odds slightly in our favour.
Morning at Sagrada Família, Barcelona
A Note on Social Media
Before we left Australia, I genuinely wondered if we'd make it through Barcelona without someone trying to steal something. That's what my social media feed had convinced me. We even went to Sagrada Família way too early in the morning because of the fear that our feeds had sent to us.
The danger is real. The frequency your Instagram feed suggest probably isn't.
The problem was that the algorithm had decided I was interested in pickpocket videos. You watch one, then another pops up. Pretty soon your feed starts looking like every street in Europe is crawling with thieves.
The reality felt very different. Yes, we saw signs warning about pickpockets. On an earlier trip to Amsterdam, there was a giant electronic message board warning us. Yes, there were places where we were extra careful. But for the overwhelming majority of our trip, we simply enjoyed ourselves. Being aware didn't stop us from relaxing. If anything, having a few systems in place meant we worried about security less because we'd already decided what "careful" looked like.
Approaching the Colosseum in Rome
Did It Work?
It's impossible to know. Maybe we were lucky. Phone theft and pick-pocketing are real risks and the impact is pronounced when you’re travelling. No system is foolproof.
But during months we travelled through London, Barcelona, Rome, Berlin, and Reykjavik (which, yes, does experience pickpockets targeting tourists), plus plenty of airports, train stations, ferries and cruise terminals in between. We came home with both phones, all of our various wallets, and both passports.
Looking back, this wasn't really about avoiding thieves. It was about reducing mental load. Once our little habits became automatic, we stopped hyper-fixating on our wallets and phones. Which meant we could spend our energy enjoying cathedrals, museums, ferry rides, local beers and all the reasons we'd travelled halfway around the world in the first place. That was the real win.
