Question for jon

[Daniel]

Hi, jon.

You're well traveled to say the least.

Well, I've been deep into home security videos now that I have a home to secure, and the same with personal security videos, now that I'm living alone.

I watched a video by ex-CIA (these videos are a dime dozen) last night.

I want to run what the man said by you.

He said- keep one hand free at all times. Choose ahead of time. I don't see how he couldn't have meant the dominant hand.

To be complete, he said scan the terminal on a schedule of your own making. He said look everywhere but nowhere specifically, at nothing specific, at nobody specific. Only make sure you do it routinely every x minutes.

So, his theory is that if you're in public and you have something to carry (e.g. a bag), and you are using both hands, you can easily get distracted by what you're doing, not be aware of your surroundings, and drop things on the ground very easily (e.g. a cellphone- I know this part to be true after losing 2 cellphones over the past 1 1/2 years- that you can lose a cellphone or wallet- don't want to Jix it but haven't done that).

So, when I go anywhere, my wallet and keys are in a bag in a zipped pocket, inside a zipped main pocket. My phone and reading glasses are more of a problem because I have to use them almost constantly.

I'd like to know your thoughts on all this, and what you think of doing everything using one hand while having the other free.

I don't see how I could use only one hand but maybe.

In any case, I'd like to improve. I feel like I do get distracted. I know I drop stuff on the ground, even if not recently.

So, do you have any security tips for traveling?

[Daniel]

This post is deleted!

[jon-nyc]

I’ve never thought about the one hand thing. I don’t think I do anything special except keep my wallet and phone in my front pockets when I’m in cities with pickpocket issues.

I have occasionally left things in hotels, usually a sweater or piece of clothing. But to prevent my OCD from making me check a hotel several times before I leave, I’ve developed the habit of making sure I have my wallet, passport, phone, and computer on the theory that anything else I could replace easily enough.

[Daniel]

I had never heard of the one hand thing either.

I have a similar thought about dividing what's important from what not so much.

So- wallet, phone, and keys.

I have one of those rubber things to hang glasses around your neck.

I need to stop thinking of them as being in the same category.

I'm near sighted but I could function without them if I had to and replacing them is easy.

I lost 2 phones in a short amount of time. It freaked me out.

To set up a new phone with the same number took me an hour on the phone (my neighbor's) the 1st time, and 3 hours on the phone at Best Buy the 2nd time.

The 3 hours was with no break, although the call randomly disconnected after an hour; then the 2nd call took 2 hours.

The 1st "agent" failed. The 2nd succeed. I have a feeling it's because it was a side job- he was studying electrical engineering. Even he only made it work at the last minute. Hence, the need to stand there forb 2 hours.