Loading…
22
Pro tip: the $9 hostel locker beat my $60 money belt in every way
So last June I did 3 weeks in Lisbon and Porto and I was all proud of myself for buying this $60 money belt before leaving. Wore it under my shirt the first day and by hour two I was sweating through it and it kept riding up my ribs every time I sat down for a pastel de nata. Meanwhile the hostel I stayed at in Alfama had lockers for 2 euros a day, and I started just locking my passport and extra cash in there and carrying like 20 euros in my front pocket. Way less stress, way less sweat, and I actually stopped guarding my stomach like I was hiding something. The money belt also made this crinkling sound every time I moved and I swear a guy at the tram stop kept looking at me. Ended up leaving it in the hostel free bin on day 5 and nobody took it, which tells you everything. I get that lockers are not there when you are on a night bus or whatever, but for city days they crushed it. Has anyone found a money belt that does not turn into a swamp, or am I just built wrong for those things?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
mila39514d ago
nobody took it, which tells you everything" is the funniest part of this whole post. But what you're really hitting on is a pattern I see all the time: people buy gear for the trip they imagine instead of the trip they take. The money belt is sold as this magic anti-theft device, so you assume it works, so you never test it before you go. Same thing with those giant padlocks for hostel lockers, the ones with a cable, where every hostel on earth has a normal lock and the cable one just takes up space in your bag. Same with packing cubes for a two week trip. The stuff that actually works on the road is almost always boring: a locker, a front pocket, a ziplock bag. Nobody markets that stuff because there's no margin in it.
10