A travel wallet is one of those items you never realize how much you need until you need it. You want to be able to find your passport or boarding pass quickly when you are boarding a plane. When you are in a crowded area, you want to protect yourself from pickpockets and thieves. A travel wallet can help you stay organized and keep your valuables safe while you are on the move.
The Travel Wallet: Five Seriously Good Reasons You Need One: A travel wallet is one accessory that is invaluable when you travel. When you are on a trip, a travel wallet will keep your passport and travel documents organized and safe.
Let’s take a look at all the options and figure out which travel wallet has the best match for your needs as well as your style.
Five Seriously Good Reasons You Should Get a Travel Wallet
Let’s look at five seriously good reasons you need a travel wallet.
- Easy Access to Documents
- A Place to Carry Multiple Currencies if Needed
- A Secure Place to Keep Credit Cards and Hotel Keys
- Design With Function
- Keeps you Organized When You Travel
1. Easy Access to Documents
When you travel, you need your travel documents to be on you and accessible when you need them, at quickly. Travel wallets are usually thinner than everyday wallets, but some are designed to hold more than one passport. Whatever style you choose, your travel wallet will be easy to find and let you get to what you need quickly and easily.
2. A Place to Carry Cash if Needed
Yes, it is the twenty-first century and most of us carry very little cash when we go about our daily business. However, you may find when you travel, credit cards are not enough. What about tips for the valet? What about the little handmade trinket from the street-side vendor. Having some sort of cash in small bills when you travel is always a good idea. That gets complicated though when you travel to a different country. Keeping multiple currencies organized is a must if you want to stay organized, keep enough of the right kind and amount of cash on hand, and if you don't want to be pulling wads of crumpled bills from your pocket.
3. A Secure Place to Keep Credit Cards and Hotel Key
Most of us live off our credit cards. Thieves and pickpockets are always lurking around tourist spots and crowded places like subways. Having a place to keep those credit cards safe or hidden away is a crucial feature and a seriously good reason you need a travel wallet.
- A travel wallet can be hidden under your clothing making it difficult for pickpockets to find it.
- Slots for your credit cards keep all your credit cards visible and secure so that they don’t fall out of your travel wallet when you open it.
- Keeping your credit cards in one safe place makes them easier to get to them when you, and only you, need them.
Also look for a wallet that has RFID blocking technology. RFID scanners can scan your purse or pocket and pick up your chip information. Wallets with RFID blocking lining are common now and are effective at eliminating that threat.
Pro tip: When you travel, it is a good idea to take only the cards you need for your trip and leave the rest at home. There is no need to carry your library card to a foreign country!
4. Choose the Design With Function in Mind
Try to understand what your needs are and the purpose of your travel wallet. Here are some things to consider:
- Lightweight and Simple - Looking for a simple wallet to hold your passport and a couple of cards, look for something streamlined.
- Stylish and Chic - If being trendy is your thing, there are many designer wallets now available to help accessorize your look.
- Multipurpose - Traveling with your family? Need to hold multiple passports and the travel itinerary? Carrying different currencies and maps? Wanderings has a long travel wallet that may meet your needs.
5. Keeps You Organized When You Travel
A travel wallet helps get you organized so you can find what you are looking for when you need it. Some travel wallets hold just the essentials like an ID and some money. Other travel wallets help keep you organized by having a place anything else you may need when you travel such as your passport, cash, and credit cards, hotel key, itinerary, directions, travel visas. Other travel wallets hold not only your passport but all the rest of your family’s passports as well.
Whether you want to keep everything in your travel wallet or just the essentials you need while you travel is up to you. What type of travel wallet you need depends on how you are going to use it. Keeping yourself organized and sane is a seriously good reason for buying a travel wallet.
Are travel wallets a good idea?
It may be obvious, but travel wallets are designed specifically to help you when you travel. Your everyday wallet or purse contains so many things that are important to you, but not necessarily needed when you are hopping from airport to airport. While you may like keeping them in your day-to-day wallet, do you really need to carry receipts from your dry cleaning or pictures of your nephew (even though he is incredibly adorable) when you are touring the Louvre or wandering through Copenhagen?
Travel wallets are a good idea because not only do they keep your items organized and available, but they also keep them safe. A travel wallet can be a money belt that is hidden under your shirt. Some travel wallets can also have RFID technology which some people claim prevents hackers from reading your credit card information through your wallet.
As with anything when you travel, you should use a little caution. Take only what you will need when you travel. Once you have reached your destination, put things you don’t need like your passport or extra credit cards in a safe or lockbox.
So are travel wallets a good idea? The answer is yes!
Do you really need a travel wallet?
There are few things that are worse than standing in line at customs and having to dig through your travel bag for your passport. Why not just keep everything on your mobile phone, you ask? Well, sometimes technology fails you. If your mobile phone dies and your boarding pass and your hotel address were on your mobile phone, you may not have that information available when you want it. If only you had printed out the confirmation and kept it in your travel wallet, you’d have that information available in your travel wallet when you needed it.
- Need to show your passport? Voila! Open your travel wallet and boom, there it is.
- Need to pay the taxi or Uber driver who drove you to your hotel? Look! Your credit card is right here in your travel wallet.
- Worried about pickpockets? Keep stuff like your passport and credit cards close and secure while you are moving, hidden away from the Artful Dodger’s gang.
Simply put, a travel wallet is one organized place to keep all your essential travel documents and cash within easy access for you and hidden away from thieves. So yes, if you want a more relaxed travel experience and fewer stress-related headaches, you really do need a travel wallet.
What to Look For in a Travel Wallet
A travel wallet offers so many options, its hard to know where to begin. Let’s start by taking a look at what to look for in a travel wallet.
- Traveling in Style
- What Is It Made Of
- A Place to Store Your Passport
- A Place For Extras
- A Place to Keep Your Mobile Phone
- What is RFID and Why Would I Need It?
1.Traveling in Style
Traveling in style can mean different things to different people when we are talking about travel wallets. Some people want a travel wallet that is functional as well as having a little pizazz. Others want a basic travel wallet that has only what they need at the moment.
If you want to keep thieves and pickpockets away, a travel wallet hidden away from prying eyes might be the style for you. On the other hand, if you want a more stylish look that can go from runway to dinner on the town, maybe a travel wallet that looks like a purse is what you need.
- Just the Basics
- Hidden Away
- All Aboard
- Bigger and In Plain View
- Smaller and Usually Out of Sight
Just the Basics: You carry only what you need to get from point A to point B. Those items would probably be:
- Your credit card
- Your ID
- Some cash
- Your passport if you are going international
Hidden Away: What you carry on you is limited to where you are carrying it. We are talking about a slender money belt hidden under your shirt or maybe a small pocket travel wallet hidden around your leg holding just a credit card and an ID. Most travel wallets that are hidden on your body are small in size and hide comfortably.
All Aboard: Traveling with a family presents its own challenges. Having to keep track and find everyone’s passport can be a headache-inducing nightmare. A family-style travel wallet keeps all the passports together and easily within reach.
When you are thinking about the style of your travel wallet, you also want to consider how the travel wallet will be carried. Size is a big consideration. When you are traveling, you are limited to a small amount of space. The size of your travel wallet will depend on where you keep it when you take a trip and what you will be carrying in your travel wallet.
Bigger and In Plain View
The travel wallets listed here are big enough to hold a passport and other documents as well as credit cards and money. While some can convert to being hidden, most of these travel wallets are meant to be seen.
- Document Travel Wallet-If you have papers that you will need to access while you are traveling, a document travel wallet is a good option. Usually longer in length, a document travel wallet will keep all your papers neat and uncrumpled.
- Family Passport Travel Wallet- A family passport travel wallet is longer in length to accommodate two to three passports or more. Because of this, and the fact that many family passport travel wallets may also have more places to carry items like boarding passes, this style of travel wallet may be a little bigger and thicker than other travel wallets.
- Wristlets - A practical way to hold on to all your belongings, a wristlet travel wallet has all the same features of a small travel wallet but with a strap that goes around your wrist. A wristlet style travel wallet is also a good choice for after you get to your destination. Just slip your mobile phone and your room key in your wristlet travel wallet and you are ready for a night on the town.
- Clutch or Purse- This is a bigger style travel wallet in a more familiar clutch or purse style. The clutch or purse style travel wallet has the slots and compartments you need for your passport and credit cards. Some also have RFID technology and can fit your mobile phone. You can also slip in whatever else you need for your trip through the airport that will make your life easier.
Smaller and Usually Out of Sight
These travel wallets are smaller and ideal for keeping your money and credit cards secure and hidden. But this style may not always be as easily accessible, and some are not big enough to hold a passport.
- Money Belts-A money belt fits around your belly much like a fanny pack but you can hide it under your shirt. You can wear it upfront or slide it around to the back. Its bigger size allows you to carry everything you need but safely hidden away.
- Travel Security Belt Wallet- A belt wallet or travel security belt has a secret compartment built into the belt to hide your money. There is usually not much room for anything else. A good feature to look for in a travel security belt is how easy it is to take off and put back on quickly when going through airport security.
- Neck or Pouch Travel Wallet- This style of travel wallet hangs hidden under your clothes or jacket. The neck or pouch style travel wallet can hold everything you need from passports to lip balm.
Some neck or pouch style travel wallets are designed specifically to fit snuggly against your body and hidden from sight. Others can be worn outside your clothing like a crossbody bag, but with the features of a good travel wallet.
- Leg Pouch Travel Wallets- A leg pouch style travel wallet fits around your thigh or shin or ankle. A leg pouch travel wallet has compartments for your id and credit cards, but some can carry much more. Room for your mobile phone and possibly your passport as well are expected, but there are even some leg pouch travel wallets that are gear bags designed to wear outside your clothing.
You can use these leg pouch style travel wallets for not only traveling but running and bike riding too. The designs go from simple and plain, to a fancy garter style travel wallet.
- Shoulder Holster Travel Wallets-A shoulder or holster style travel wallet fits under your arm and over your shoulder. It fits next to your body, hidden under your shirt or jacket. Some designs have more room to carry more of your personal effects, while others are slim and close-fitting.
- Wrist Travel Wallet- A wrist travel wallet is different from a wristlet travel wallet. A wrist travel wallet fits snuggly around your wrist and is slim enough to be hidden under your shirt sleeve rather than hanging off your wrist like a wristlet. Again, these can vary in size depending on what you need.
- Taxi Wallet- A taxi wallet is a thin bifold wallet that you can keep your credit cards and ID easily available when traveling around town. Taxi wallets come in a variety of styles and materials but the overall feature is that they are small and hold just a few things. A taxi travel wallet can simplify your life and make it easy to find what you need at a moment’s notice.
- Bra Travel Wallet-You can wear your heart on your sleeve, and you can wear your travel items on your chest. Hanging from a loop around the bra strap, a bra travel wallet keeps what you need close to your heart. Some bra travel wallets are super soft and made from silk. Other styles are lacier and use Velcro to attach to the bra itself.
- Underwear Travel Wallet- Available for men and women, this is the ultimate way to keep your possessions hidden and close to you at all times. This travel wallet is made into your underwear. It has a zipper or Velcro pocket to hold your passport, cash, and whatever else you need when you are traveling.
What is it Made Of?
A travel wallet can be made from anything a regular wallet can. You want to look for a material that fits the purpose you need.
- Leather-Leather is the traditional choice for well-made wallets. As well as being durable, a leather travel wallet can add style and class to your look.
- Fabric- Travel wallets can be constructed from any number of fabrics. You can choose from rip-stop nylon to RFID blocking fabric or even silk for a hidden bra style travel wallet. Your choices are limited only by your requirements and your budget.
- Metal- Some travel wallets are a hard metal case. This is great for protecting your credit cards from getting damaged and some may even provide RFID protection. One of the cons of a metal travel wallet is that they are usually not big enough to carry more than just a few credit cards and a little cash. If you need more from your travel wallet, a metal travel wallet may not be for you.
- Waterproof- For those travelers who will be participating in water activities where they want their travel items close and secure but also dry, there are a number of travel wallets that are waterproof. The design for these waterproof travel wallets can be made of water-resistant nylon. The travel wallet can also be incorporated into a water-tight plastic pouch.
A Place to Store Your Passport
Most travel wallets have a place to store your passport. Let’s look at why that might be a useful feature in a travel wallet.
- A place to keep your passport handy is extremely helpful when you are traveling outside the country, and you need to get through customs and on airplanes quickly.
- Some hotels require a passport when you register on arrival. Having it available at your fingertips makes registering quicker.
- if you are traveling with a family internationally, a family-style travel wallet that can keep everyone’s passport in one place will make your life much easier.
A Place For Extras
- Enough Card Slots: Most people have more than one credit card and you will need a place in your travel wallet to keep all the ones you need on your journey. Also, you may want to keep your ID on you as well. Depending on what else you need to take along with you, you’ll need a place to keep everything securely in your travel wallet.
- A Key Holder: You may need a key holder in your travel wallet for a hotel key (if they actually use a key) or to keep your house key ready for when you return back home. A travel wallet with a key holder can be very convenient at times.
- A Place for Paper and Pen: It may seem old-fashioned, but you never know when a pen and a piece of paper will come in handy. Your mobile phone may not always be available, and you’ll want to know the name of that restaurant that the local guide suggested. Having a pen and a slip of paper in your travel wallet will make sure you get to that fabulous meal.
A Place To Keep Your Mobile Phone
Are you on your phone all the time? In today’s world for most of us, our mobile phones are a necessity in our everyday lives. Keeping your mobile phone next to your other travel essentials is a great benefit in a travel wallet. You should make sure to think about how you will carry and get to your mobile phone when you consider all the different types of travel wallet options.
Some travel wallets offer a charger that is built right into the travel wallet itself. This is an especially useful feature. No more having to worry about whether you put your charger in your bag or where it is. This makes keeping your mobile phone charged and available when you need it, that much easier.
What is RFID and Why Would I Need RFID Blocking Technology in my Travel Wallet?
RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification.
An RFID credit card is a contactless credit card. You don’t need to insert it into a chip reader or swipe it. You hold it up to the reader and it reads the information from there, much the same as you can do from your mobile phone with certain apps. You can tell if you have an RFID credit card by the symbol that looks like a sideways Wi-Fi symbol.
Passports have had a microchip embedded in them since 2007. The idea behind having a chip in your passport is to increase security. The chip has only the same contact information that is on your passport. If someone were to alter your passport, the chip would show the correct information.
RFID-enabled credit cards and passports can be read without having to take them out of your wallet. Because of this, there have been concerns that thieves or hackers with the right technology can access your credit card numbers and contact information. To prevent this from happening, some travel wallets have RFID blocking technology built into them.
Conclusion:
A good travel wallet that has the features and style you want and need can make your journey much easier. Your travel wallet can be carried on you in plain sight. If you want to keep all your travel documents and your money close to you and safe, you can choose a travel wallet that is worn under your clothing, hidden from prying eyes. You also can choose a travel wallet that is a more minimalistic version of your daily wallet that you can carry in your pocket or your travel bag.
There are a lot of options to consider. The five reasons presented here should help you determine if a travel wallet is a good idea for you.