[Idyllchat] Thievery in Europe

[Johana Thornton]

One must be very careful anywhere in Europe. 

On one trip to Paris my husband was hit twice on crowded metros. Once a fellow unzipped his backpack which my husband was carrying at his side, but it had nothing in it but a water bottle and sweater. The other time a Gypsy girl had her hand in his front pocket and he was able to trap her hand, Again, nothing was taken because he only had a hankie and chapstick in the pocket. Everything goes in a neck pouch except for a bit of money to buy lunch.

In Lisbon, we were traveling with 2 other couples and were on a trolley. I had a water bottle  in a pouch on the outside of my backpack. Someone pulled the bottle out and dropped it to the floor. As we scrambled to retrieve it,someone got our friends wallet out of his front pocket.  Later that afternoon, a young man tried to hit all of us as we rode on a bus. We had bought day bus tickets and were putting them in the machine on the bus. He kept telling us that they were no good and we needed to put money in the machine. He just wanted to see where we had our money, but we were smart enough to know what was going on.

In Spain, Our friend had something which resembeled vomit squirted on his back and a man tried to clean it off. Fortunately the wife pushed him away and said"I'll take care of it." On a bus in Barcelona, a man on our tour had 3 young fellows pin his foot down and pull his sock down to see if he had money hidden there. On Las Ramblas, we saw many pickpockets working the crowds as people watched the buskers.

The one place that we have never had problems is Switzerland and have never even seen anything resembeling  a pickpocket. We even know of 2 Untourists on one of our trips, who left wallets on trains and had them returned with everything in tact. I sure it can happen there, especially in the big cities. We still are very careful and carry our valuaables in the neck pouch. And we never carry anything in our backpacks excetp food, water, umbrella and a swetaer.

Jo Thornton
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