Traveling to a developing country? Bring a lock from your home country. One that isn’t the standard dollar-store-made-in-China variety. (If you’re reading this in China, I don’t know what to tell you…? But feel free to give us your opinion in the comments section). Those budget friendly locks seem to be exported all over the planet. Or perhaps just my bubble version of it. I’ve come across them in Canada, the U.S. and Thailand. I’ve spotted them in The Philippines. I see people from all over the place using them on their travels. Locks that look like this one in conjunction with cheap locks made locally (in developing countries where there isn’t a large selection) are a horrible choice, unless of course you don’t mind potentially losing your gear.

My logic on this one is this. Anyone who is adept at picking locks would hone that skill by practicing on locks. Pretty simple, no? I could be wrong, but I suspect they’d practice on the locks that would reap the most goodies – locks that most people use or at the very least, the ones in their immediate environment, or the only ones they know exist. In developing countries, at least the ones I’ve hit, there doesn’t seem to be a large selection of metal defenders to choose from.
The following beauty was given to me by a Canadian friend who is proficient at picking that which you may think is guarding your possessions. It’s sort of an art for him. He’s one of those masters who, if I remember correctly, orders locks from catalogues just to unravel the puzzle within.

Note the protective cover.
I completely forget the specifics of the conversation when my friend handed me this baby guardian as a going away gift, but I’ll take liberty and sort of half make it up, half relay that which slammed home in my brain:
It’s your stuff. Protect it.
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