I almost missed my London trip. Here's the wake-up call I needed.

A Journey to London: From Anxiety to Adventure

I've just landed in one of my favourite cities in the world after flying for 23 hours. Instead of admiring the iconic red buses outside the window, I'm mouthing at my mum to stop talking to the Uber driver. I steer the conversation away from how excited we are to be in London and start making vague remarks about how good the traffic is today, to establish that I know exactly where we are and where we're going (even though I don't). When the driver offers to help take our 20+ kilogram bags up the stoop to our Airbnb, I politely decline. I'm already uncomfortable about the fact that a complete stranger knows where we'll be staying.

Being aware of your surroundings while travelling isn't a new thing, but being hypervigilant to the point where you are afraid to accept kindness from a stranger, I can admit is a little OTT. I blame my social media feeds! In the lead up to this once in a lifetime holiday, I was constantly fed videos on social media of petty crime, particularly in Europe. Phones getting swiped out of hands, pickpockets on public transport and blatant shoplifting were just some of the videos I was seeing on my feed. Despite having lived in London and travelled here countless times, I started to get nervous about taking my mum on holiday for her birthday.

What's the point of booking an expensive holiday if you're always watching your back? I worried that it would be impossible to relax. The first day in London, we left the apartment on high alert. I wore my cross body bag with extra thick straps underneath my coat and mum took her new heavy-duty phone strap on its first outing. In hindsight, we must have looked like the suspect ones, slinking around in huge coats, whipping out our phones to take a quick photo and staring down anyone who dared enter our vicinity.

Flash forward three weeks, and mum and I are laughing about this while standing at one of the busiest intersections in the world, Piccadilly Circus. Our experience has been the complete opposite of what we thought it would be.

Paige at Piccadilly Circus. Image: Supplied.

We've spent a good chunk of the holiday walking the streets, catching the London Underground and talking to strangers and not once have we felt unsafe. I have, however, noticed a few things about London that have changed since my last visit 6 months ago. There is security everywhere in central London right now, inside shops and just walking around posh areas. It also feels like there are a lot fewer e-bikes on the roads this time, which thieves were using to steal phones out of the hands of tourists.

This doesn't mean you should let your guard down and go waving your valuables around. I had a chat with a security guard at Whole Foods Market just off Piccadilly Circus, and he said that petty theft was still an everyday occurrence, but it's not a reason to delay your holiday or feel unsafe.

Tips to Prevent Petty Theft

Here are some practical steps you can take to prevent becoming a victim of petty theft:

• Be aware of your surroundings and trust your instincts. If something doesn't feel right, move away.
• Do not use your phone while standing on the side of the road, i.e. at a bus stop.
• Pay particular attention to your belongings when in confined spaces, i.e. while at a tourist attraction or on public transport.
• Store your valuables where you can see them in front of your body using a cross body bag instead of in a backpack or in coat pockets.
• Avoid times and places where you could be travelling alone, i.e. sitting in an empty cart on the train.

It sounds like a lot when, in reality, these are things we tend to do instinctively in everyday life.

Preparing for the Trip

I also did the following to prepare for my trip, which made me feel a lot more at ease:

• I left all of my designer handbags and expensive or sentimental jewellery at home.
• I packed an older phone as a back-up just in case.
• I activated Face ID for all my apps, not just my home screen, so in the event that my phone is stolen while I'm using it, the thief wouldn't be able to get into my banking apps, email or social media accounts.

After those first couple of days in London, we were able to relax, and we actually loved not being on our phones because it meant that we were fully present during our holiday. We also noticed that if you give off good energy, people can be incredibly friendly and when you mention crime most Londoners laugh.

"Don't they have deadly snakes and spiders in Australia?" they'd always ask us. We do, but they're not as scary as getting your phone stolen!

Feature Image: Supplied.