nakita
Full Travel Member
Posts: 12
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Post by nakita on Jan 11, 2003 9:10:01 GMT -5
is theft a big problem in europe? Ive heard from friends that pickpockets made them paranoid, esp. with cash/cameras/etc. What are your experiences?
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Post by nitsansh on Jan 11, 2003 15:55:50 GMT -5
Only thing I had stolen in Europe is food from the fridge. It was at Helsinki stadium hostel, FWIW.
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Post by Kim on Jan 11, 2003 17:52:39 GMT -5
7 months in Europe and we never had anything stolen. That said, we did take the usual safety precautions. I carried my camera in my daypack that had the zipper locked.
Cash, wouldn't carry a ton of it around and if you do-use a money belt. Keep a little out for the day.
Always take your valuables with you when you leave the hostel or even go to the showers in the hostel.
Use small locks for all the zippers on your pack and daypack.
Kim
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Post by Patrick on Jan 11, 2003 19:13:46 GMT -5
I've never had anything stolen either.
If you're really paranoid you can use a moneybelt for cash. Just be catious and alert when you're in crowded areas. For example, if it got really crowded in the subway in Italy or something, I would just walk with my hand in my pocket for a couple minutes to make sure my wallet was still there until there weren't swarms of people around me.
Shouldn't worry too much, just use common sense you would anywhere else with valuables.
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kena
Senior Travel Member
Posts: 64
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Post by kena on Apr 23, 2003 12:20:15 GMT -5
I'll be going to Italy this summer and I wonder what kind of daypack I should get.
My backpack doesn't have a removable daypack. And anyway, I know I wouldn't be comfortable using a backpack when touring cities, especially if I had to wear it in front to deter pickpockets. I'd prefer something more "urban" looking.
I thought about bringing a courier style pack, which is what I use when doing touristy stuff in my own town. My bag doesn't zip though (it has a velcroed front panel and a mostly symbolic strap underneath), so I planned to sew a kind of liner with a zipper.
Half the bag would be easily accessible (for stuff like a sweater or water bottle, which don't have any interest for a pickpocket), and the valuable stuff (camera and money for the day) would go in the locked liner part.
Does this sound like a good idea?
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EricaT
Full Travel Member
Posts: 14
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Post by EricaT on Apr 23, 2003 15:19:21 GMT -5
That sounds like a great idea! My pack has a daypack with it, but I'm not too keen on using it. Wearing it on my front would look dumb and also attract attention, as if I had someting very valuable in it. I'm going to start looking for a courier type bag. Hopefully with a zipper already, because I am not good at sewing at all. ;D
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Post by CuriousToronto on Jun 4, 2003 18:59:09 GMT -5
So does that mean most of you have not used money blets in the past?
'Cause I gotta tell you...........I'm not too fond of the idea!
Truth is the thought of something underneath my clothing to make me sweaty and sticky.................not appealing in the least.
I was thinking for the just in case categories I would buy one of those ones that go on the leg.
Any thoughts?
Other than that I was just planning on locking the day bag.
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Post by LHR02 on Jun 4, 2003 19:39:00 GMT -5
On this I am most adamant.......only a fool will travel, anywhere, without a money belt! Under your pants/around your waist is best (and yes, it does get sweaty even in winter travel) but at the least an around the neck thing. A bit of sweaty discomfort is small price to pay for knowing your flight tickets/rail passes/passports/
big' money is safely by your skin. Not meaning to criticize you CT....but going without this is foolhearty and reckless. But, JMHO of course....although I sincerely doubt you find any 'serious' traveler who will not agree.
ging
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Post by Kim on Jun 4, 2003 22:46:08 GMT -5
Yeah, I wouldn't go without a money belt. Your daypack can get stolen in about 2 seconds, the only place to keep things safe is in one, under your clothes.
Have used a neck and waist one, but not a leg one. I suppose as long as it's under clothes, it doesn't matter what kind.
They can get sweaty but you get used to it.
Kim
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Post by 4DTravel on Jun 5, 2003 9:21:40 GMT -5
If I'm travelling solo then I usually use both a moneybelt AND one of those things that wraps around the calf of your leg. The moneybelt thing isn't actually worn as a moneybelt, (Strapped around my waist) it's pinned to the inside of my pants in the small of my back. As I get more and more comfortable in a particular city/neighborhood I'll drop some of the precautions. (I'll also usually have a "throwdown" passport and a "throwdown" moneyclip and creditcard)
Having said that, I've never been picpocketed(?) although I DID watch as a group of gypsies descend on a friend of mine and pick HIS pocket. We were in Prague, walking down some dark side street at night, drinking hot wine.
It was the usual (I suppose) routine: a group of them, a couple of men, a couple of women (who initiated the contact - at first we thought they were prostitutes - but then they became just a little too "touchie-feelie") and several children (for their small hands I suppose).
I figured out what was about to happen (when I felt the hand of the woman "assigned" to me brush the outside of my pocket) and yelled to my friend to watch his money - I then turned to see where he was. He was surrounded by the whole family. We're both 6'8" and it reminded me of the National Geographic films when a pack of lions is attacking a larger animal trying to pull it down.
We never felt in any DANGER and the group/gamg of them just melted away into the darkness - with his $40 - from his jeans pocket.
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Post by Kim on Jun 5, 2003 9:35:06 GMT -5
Holy crow.. the part that stuck out of this story for me was that you are both 6'8!
Seriously, I do carry a bit of cash on me as well, like you do as you don't want to be going in and out of your money belt. If $20 gets pickpocketed, it sucks but it's not the end of the world. If everything (railpasses, plane tickets, passport etc.) gets taken.. well, that's another story!
Kim
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Post by CuriousToronto on Jun 5, 2003 10:14:33 GMT -5
After the sight-seeing with the boyfriend part of my trip is over I'll have to settle in to my life in Paris. I know people talk endlessly about the gypsies in the metro of Paris but I'm pretty sure that none of the residents of Paris go around wearing money-belts. And I'm pretty positive I won't either....................at least when I'm living there! I guess I'll wear a money belt on night trains and in the places I'm more likely to get jumped. Certainly not wearing one in Gimmelwald though! Oh and by money belt I mean the thing that goes around your calf. For someone, like me, who wears thongs so you won't ee an underwear line the notion of wearing a money belt underneath my clothing is bizarre................But I'll give in anywayz. Having lived and traveled in Central American (Guatemala and El Salvador) where I never got jumped, robbed, hijacked or anything else................well the notion of gypsies running around every corner in Europe. It's strange! I mean I would assume that Central America would be ever SO MUCH MORE ghetto and dangerous than Western Europe! And what happens to all those middle aged tour group type people. I'm pretty sure they don't wear money belts. Just to be safe though I think I'll wear one whenever I have a big-ass backpack with me! Sigh............  |
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Post by Kim on Jun 5, 2003 13:52:45 GMT -5
Yeah, the tour groups do wear money belts.. but stupidly enough, on the outside of their clothes! I mean, really what is the point!
If you are living there and won't be carrying your valuables on you, no, there is no point of wearing on. I am talking about when you are travelling with all your valuable things on you - railpasses, plane tickets etc. You never want to leave them in a hostel.
There aren't gypsies around every corner, that's for sure! But they are there and they work in packs and it only takes one minute for you to lose everything.
We never had any problems whatsoever, but then again, we did have the money belts. OK, being honest here, the boyfriend carried the valuables as he is better with that stuff!
Kim
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Post by nitsansh on Jun 5, 2003 14:28:33 GMT -5
I always wear money belt when I travel abroad. I never wear it in my own country. There's really no excuse for that... I could be hundreds of miles from home, and if I get robbed... how would I get home?
The belt isn't actually in direct contact with my body - I wear it OVER my underwear and INSIDE my pants. The only time that I take it off is when I take a shower... yes, I even sleep with it... after short time you get used to it and it doesn't bother you...
Only once I wore a leg safe... and I had good reason to do that... all the money I took for 3.5 months trip, 2400$ if I recall correctly, was in cash when I left Israel, and only when I arrived to London (my first stop) I converted most of it to travellers cheques.
The reason for this was that in those old days there was 15% tax on purchase of foreign currency in Israel... I managed to avoid the tax, but could only get cash... so this trick saved me 360$, which was about 18-days trip...
My wallet, in Israel and abroad, is allways in the FRONT pocket, so it's very difficult to pick-pocket it... on occasions that I like to take extra precautions, I put my hand in the pocket and "feel" the wallet... well, so far nobody ever tried to steal it... thieves are going for the easy targets... if you make it hard for them they'll look for another victim (and be sure that these profesionals know how to idetify the easy targets).
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karlhoh
Full Travel Member
Posts: 24
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Post by karlhoh on Jun 5, 2003 17:12:41 GMT -5
These days I only use money-belt mostly for my plane-ticket home and a spare credit card. With ATMs everywhere, there is no need to carry around large amounts of cash or traveller's cheques anymore. Back in the days before transnational ATM-systems, I used to carry one belt under my pants and one around my neck, plus a wallet in my backpocket, so there would be something to give to pickpockets or robbers. Back in those days, I also used to padlock my backpack, too, so noone would steal it. But who would steal a practical but ugly backpack with cheap clothes? So far, I haven't had anything stolen in any way.
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