Jewelry completes a look. Wearing them expresses your style and accents your fashion. While you may not pack much jewelry for a quick beach weekend, one can’t deny the importance of accessories for longer vacations, business travel, and destination weddings. So, how do we exercise caution when traveling with expensive jewelry?
Table of Contents
- Jewelry and Airport Security
- How to Pack Jewelry
- Packing Jewelry Properly
- How to Keep Jewelry Safe When Traveling
- Traveling with Expensive Jewelry
Jewelry and Airport Security
To start with, let’s clear up some myths about flying with jewelry.
Don’t check expensive jewelry
The TSA recommends that you do not put expensive items in checked bags, but instead keep them in your carry-on luggage.
This helps protect your jewelry from going astray if your checked bags get lost. It also helps reduce the chances that you will be one of the hundreds of cases of theft during travel every day.
Don’t wear big pieces through security screening
Every airport seems to differ slightly on their rules regarding what you can wear through a security checkpoint. However, as a general rule, you should continue to wear small items (like rings, earrings, watches, and the like) as you move through the airport security process. You do not have to remove body jewelry or small items, but may be asked to remove large statement pieces.
It’s safer to simply avoid wearing oversized pieces to the airport at all. If you are asked to remove jewelry during the security process, tuck it inside your carry-on luggage rather than placing it loosely in a security bin. Thousands of pieces a year are stolen or lost from airport security bins.
How to Pack Jewelry
The more expensive it is, the more important it is to pack jewelry correctly and take care of it, even in travel.
Small items like earrings or finger rings may be lost. Necklaces and bracelets are prone to getting tangled and can even break when not handled properly.
You need to pack jewelry so that it is protected from other items in your luggage. They should be kept together in one place to avoid losing anything. This way also helps so that it won’t get tangled, all there and ready when you want or need it.
The internet is full of great DIY solutions, like threading necklaces through a drinking straw, or looping rings on a safety pin.
However, many of these solutions take up more space than necessary, and don’t properly protect your jewelry. They also can take up a lot of your time, in both attempting the hack or extracting your jewelry from these means.
Packing Jewelry Properly
A much better solution is to get a travel jewelry case. A good travel jewelry case keeps your items protected, sorted, detangled, and all together, so you don’t have to go hunting for individual pieces. It’s also the easiest way to travel with your accessories, from packing to unpacking.
Our solution for this is the jewelry case. This is a great option when traveling with expensive jewelry. It keeps all your jewelry together, neatly sorted and visible.
The built-in straps prevent necklace and bracelet tangling much more simply and efficiently than drinking straws. It comes with an earrings board so you don’t have to just shove your ear accessories in a single-pocket pouch to deal with later. The quilted cover is not only attractive but also protective and water-resistant.
Condé Nast Traveller loves this travel jewelry keeper, and so will you!
How to Keep Jewelry Safe When Traveling
When traveling with expensive jewelry (or any expensive items), you should be wary of loss or theft not just at the airport, but even potentially in your hotel room.
Document what you have
For insurance purposes, law enforcement, or any other reason, you should always carefully document your jewelry.
Keep receipts with digital backups to prove the value of your items. Take photographs at home and then again when you arrive at your hotel. It takes very little time to take pictures, but it can be crucial in the event of loss or theft.
Always insure your jewelry. Choose a travel insurance that will cover your jewelry or expensive items for loss or theft.
However, for particularly expensive items, don’t rely on travel insurance alone, which often has limitations and only minimal coverage. Instead, opt for an additional rider on your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, that will give you better coverage for your jewelry no matter where you are.
You can even double up coverage; if there is a deductible on your homeowner’s insurance, claim the deductible on your travel insurance.
Use the hotel’s safe deposit box
In-room safes aren’t nearly as safe as you may think.
Check with the hotel ahead of time to determine if they have a safe deposit box for guests, and choose hotels that do have this protection.
Most hotels have insurance or a guarantee that applies to their safe deposit box, but not to an in-room safe.
If your hotel doesn’t have a safe deposit box, remember that hotel staff can access your in-room safe, and that staff theft is a common problem. Instead, opt for your own travel safe, and then keep it inside locked luggage in your room.
While this method can’t completely prevent theft, providing multiple obstacles that will slow down a thief and cost them time is a powerful deterrent, and provides better protection than an in-room safe they’re already familiar with.
Keep Your Most Important Pieces on You
When traveling with expensive items, you are always at some risk of having items stolen from your hotel room. So, some experts advise keeping your most critical pieces with you, in a hidden bag on your body.
Our Ellis James Designs travel jewelry keeper has a detachable pouch that works well for that purpose. Take your essential pieces anywhere you need to. Just tuck it in your bag and go!
However, you are also always at risk of encountering a thief or pickpocket when you are out and about, and you may not be able to protect your belongings by having them with you.
While experts are divided about whether your jewelry is safest when it is with you or not, the best option is to start by choosing a hotel with a safe deposit box, and keeping your jewelry there when you are not wearing it. Protect yourself with the right insurance, so that you are covered no matter what happens.
Traveling with Expensive Jewelry
With the right combination of travel-savvy thinking, good packing and protection, and good awareness for safety and security, your jewelry can go anywhere you go.
Follow these tips to travel in luxury and style.
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What are your tips for traveling with expensive jewelry?
