Traveling with Your Jewelry? Consider This...

Summer is often an opportunity for us to break away from our weekly routines, and spend time with our family and friends through travel. I’m often asked about tips for how best to travel with their wedding sets and favorite jewelry items. I’ve found a few helpful things to consider when embarking on your next adventure.

1.) Traveling with jewelry come with a higher probability of loss or worse, theft
We’re definitely out of our normal routines when traveling, so removing our jewelry & putting items in the same place every night is thrown off course. We’re now placing our favorite treasures in different spots, so the opportunity to forget where we left them increases.

2.) Jewelry can attract the wrong kind of attention
Our engagement rings can often times be the first things ill-intended people look for, believing rings (and how eye-catching they might be), will give them an idea as to the potential worth of their theft target.

3.) Packing jewelry

There are a few helpful items you can consider when traveling with jewelry.

• If you wish to take your pearls, use a pearl folder which will protect them from scratches (it’s also helpful to always store your pearls in a soft cloth or pouch for safe keeping.)

• Jewelry travel cases are also available, if you plan on bringing a lot of pieces.

• For smaller quantities, jewelry pouches are very convenient.

• For thinner necklaces, a little trick of the trade is to place half of the necklace into a drinking straw, then hook the clasp. This very much helps keep chains from getting knotted or tangled.

• One last idea is to use a seven-day pill box. They are ideal for carrying individual earrings, smaller necklaces, rings & bracelets.

4.) Keep jewelry close to you
My recommendation is to always take your jewelry in your carry-on. Wearing your jewelry on the plane would also be very secure. Never pack important pieces of jewelry in your checked baggage. Doing so puts you at much greater risk for getting your jewelry lost in transit.

5.) Double-check your insurance for jewelry coverage
It’s helpful to check your homeowners or renters policy to see what your jewelry coverage limits are. More than likely, they are capped at $5,000 or $10,000…and that is only for jewelry that has been stolen or lost at your home. You can add on a Jewelry Endorsement to most policies, which will have much broader coverage and should cover you for travel. You will need to double-check on whether the coverage will be in active if traveling outside the U.S. Having pictures of your jewelry will also have benefit in the event of loss. It can be submitted to insurance companies (and to us jewelers) to assist with replicating the lost item.

6.) Keep your jewelry secure at your destination

Most hotels now have small safes inside of each room. Better hotels will have other security services, such as holding your jewelry in a hotel safe or safe-deposit box. Consider contacting your hotel ahead of time if you will be traveling with expensive items.

Final Thoughts:
The safest route to take when traveling is to minimize what you plan on wearing. Some people decide to only wear their wedding band, and leave their engagement ring at home. Placeholder engagement rings can also be worn (they are made out of CZ’s and copper/silver), and can be inexpensive to purchase…and fun to wear!

One last reason to leave your most precious jewels at home…it allows you the opportunity to purchase fun, new jewelry designs to celebrate that special place and moment in time!