Rick Steves Silk Money Belt
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Our Price: $9.94 Category: Apparel See more product details |
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Description of Rick Steves Silk Money Belt
-Materials: Spun SilkApparel reviews of Rick Steves Silk Money Belt
Customer Review: Moderate usefulness
Rating: 2 Stars
This is a good product if you're traveling to a place with high crime and are not very aware of your surroundings. I'm a little paranoid when traveling though. I assume everyone is a criminal waiting to rob so I'm always aware of what's going on around me. I used this thing for a few days during a month of travel in Europe then it spent the remaining 3 1/2 weeks in the bottom of my bag. With the use of ATMs and credit cards, there is no need to carry large sums of cash. My passport was secured in my camera bag, which never left my side, so no worry of losing that.
Build quality on the item is pretty good however for those people looking to buy it. Embarrassment factor is extremely high when you get fined for having improper tickets on the European train system and you have to reach into your money belt for extra cash to pay the fine.
Customer Review: Not good for wearing on hot days
Rating: 2 Stars
I used this product during a trip to India. The belt provided is too long. I had to have the excess belt rolled up and this made it rather uncomfortable. The bigger issue however is that there is a plastic liner but it is not sealed so this is not an ideal product for hot days - many of which I encountered in India. Having the belt so close to your body means that sweat will get on the product. I thought the plastic liner would protect the money and passport copies I had place in it but was surprised to find that since the liner is not sealed (ie, zip lock or some other enclosure) excessive sweat will get inside the liner. After a few days of finding soaked money and copies, I stopped using the product.Customer Review: Didn't survive an eight day trip to Europe
Rating: 2 Stars
I purchased this item and used it just last week for my trip to Europe. It lasted only three days before the zippers failed. We used Rick Steves' books and audio guides and loved those but this money belt was not built to last. I found that as long as you don't wear baggy pants or shorts, you can get away with keeping your valuables in your front pockets without any problems. If you think you still need a money belt you should try something a little more durable (and probably more expensive).Customer Review: holey money belt! flimsy fabric tears too easily
Rating: 2 Stars
Within a few weeks of use, my credit cards had started wearing holes in the flimsy fabric. A few weeks later, the sharp edges of crisp bills had begun doing the same in the money pouch. And the cheap clip unfastens too easily, so sometimes you feel something crawling down your leg--it's your passport and cash, about to fall into the street. Not recommended.Customer Review: Do You Really Need This?
Rating: 1 Stars
I like Rick Steves. I like his shows. I like and use his guidebooks. But the practicality of some of his products disappoints me. (Such as those suitcases that convert to backpacks, ostensibly to get you over cobblestone streets and up train steps. So unnecessary.)
As for money belts, I recommend not letting one's paranoia of "those criminal foreigners" get the better of them. I've traveled the planet -- including throughout scores of developing countries -- for many years. Back when I started, I used to give in to my fears and would buy and wear a money belt. Each time, however, I'd end up using it for only a day or two before realizing what a dork I felt like standing in front of eye-rolling merchants, pulling out my shirt, reaching down into my pants, doing the hula, all just to get at my currency.
And meanwhile, all around me, the natives are taking money out of their wallets and purses like normal people and looking at me like I'm another one of those out-of-touch-with-reality Americans.
Don't you ever stop and wonder why foreigners who shop amongst their own pickpockets, thieves and petty criminals every single day don't use money belts???
Of course pickpockets abroad are a genuine concern (I often ponder why pickpocketing as a common crime has never caught on in the U.S.) But when traveling, just use some common sense instead of making yourself uncomfortable, looking silly and standing out. Ramp up your awareness of your surroundings a bit, don't flash money, leave your Burberry at home, and keep your wallet in your front pocket and your purse under your arm. Most of all, don't act like a paranoid, narcisistic American tourist who thinks every petty criminal in a foreign country has their eye on and is out to get THEM. (I cringe when I see those kinds of tourists, which is every time I travel, the ones who usually have genuine, constant and baseless fear in their eyes. What a way to live.)
I'd bet euros to beignets that Rick Steves never wears a money belt when he travels Europe. Too bad he doesn't mind a little fear-mongering to sell you an uncomfortable and rarely practical money belt. Just keep one of his great travel guides in hand to whack any would-be petty thief.