Post by WillTravel on Aug 14, 2005 19:28:35 GMT -5
We were talking about dodgy places on another thread. I meant to post this story, not to scare anyone but just as another example of what not to do. The link is here, but it will probably expire in a few days, so I'm copying the relevant parts.
www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050806/DISASTER06/TPTravel/?pageRequested=all
Drugged and mugged
Charmead Schella used to describe herself as a cocky traveller -- going where she wanted and wearing what she liked on her backpacking trips around the world.
But no longer. In May, 2001, Schella took a one-month backpacking trip around Russia, stopping in Moscow on the first leg of her journey. The avid traveller carried a new $3,000 camera into the admittedly dodgy hostel where she planned to spend the night.
Tucking herself into bed that night in a single room, she placed her camera and lenses under her pillow, secured her money belt around her waist and went to sleep.
The next morning Schella says she awoke with the "hangover to end all hangovers." But that didn't make sense. She was sober when she went to bed. Unlocking her door to use the washroom down the hall, she discovered her passport on the floor beside the door. Through the foggy haze in her mind, she realized something was wrong. Stepping back into her room she realized that everything was gone: makeup, clothes, shoes, the money belt she wore to bed and, of course, the camera.
There was another kicker: "The people who stole from me were really polite because they left my passport in the hall -- and wrote the serial number of my camera and all the lenses on a piece of paper so I could get my insurance claim," she says.
The police, who gave her a snazzy pair of brown polyester pants, figured Schella was chloroformed in her sleep, a procedure that could easily have turned deadly.
While disturbing, Schella, who now owns the Fat Salmon Backpackers hostel on Vancouver Island's Port Alberni, says the incident was actually a kick in the pants she needed to learn to travel light.
"It was the best trip I'd ever had because I didn't have to worry about anything after that. I had nothing left to steal."
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www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050806/DISASTER06/TPTravel/?pageRequested=all
Drugged and mugged
Charmead Schella used to describe herself as a cocky traveller -- going where she wanted and wearing what she liked on her backpacking trips around the world.
But no longer. In May, 2001, Schella took a one-month backpacking trip around Russia, stopping in Moscow on the first leg of her journey. The avid traveller carried a new $3,000 camera into the admittedly dodgy hostel where she planned to spend the night.
Tucking herself into bed that night in a single room, she placed her camera and lenses under her pillow, secured her money belt around her waist and went to sleep.
The next morning Schella says she awoke with the "hangover to end all hangovers." But that didn't make sense. She was sober when she went to bed. Unlocking her door to use the washroom down the hall, she discovered her passport on the floor beside the door. Through the foggy haze in her mind, she realized something was wrong. Stepping back into her room she realized that everything was gone: makeup, clothes, shoes, the money belt she wore to bed and, of course, the camera.
There was another kicker: "The people who stole from me were really polite because they left my passport in the hall -- and wrote the serial number of my camera and all the lenses on a piece of paper so I could get my insurance claim," she says.
The police, who gave her a snazzy pair of brown polyester pants, figured Schella was chloroformed in her sleep, a procedure that could easily have turned deadly.
While disturbing, Schella, who now owns the Fat Salmon Backpackers hostel on Vancouver Island's Port Alberni, says the incident was actually a kick in the pants she needed to learn to travel light.
"It was the best trip I'd ever had because I didn't have to worry about anything after that. I had nothing left to steal."
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