Travel in Europe Tip: How bad is theft in Europe?
Answer:
It can happen to you.
I have heard from my friends who traveled to Europe about their encounter of theft. I have read online people's stories about pocket pickers in Europe. It was not real until it happened to me.
It was around lunch time when I visited Royal Palace in Madrid during my June trip to Spain and Portugal. I was carrying an open bag on my right side and looking at my cell phone. Suddenly I felt someone was doing something in my bag. I turned my head to my bag and saw a hand pulling tissues from my bag, I looked up at a young women and asked her "what are you doing?", then she put the tissues back and sneaked away. I was then going through my bag to see if any important things were missing, luckily nothing was stolen. That was the first encounter of theft in my first ever trip to Europe!
The thief was not really leaving Royal Palace, I saw her with a few other people in the crowds, probably looking for next victim.
I did some online research after that incident, it seems nothing will be done for theft under 400 euro. It happens a lot in busy tourism cities.
I reflected on my behavior that day, apparently I was not guarding my open bag while looking at my cell phone, thus I looked like an easy target to thieves.
What are the ways to protect ourselves while still enjoying Europe? A few simple ways.
It can happen to you.
I have heard from my friends who traveled to Europe about their encounter of theft. I have read online people's stories about pocket pickers in Europe. It was not real until it happened to me.
It was around lunch time when I visited Royal Palace in Madrid during my June trip to Spain and Portugal. I was carrying an open bag on my right side and looking at my cell phone. Suddenly I felt someone was doing something in my bag. I turned my head to my bag and saw a hand pulling tissues from my bag, I looked up at a young women and asked her "what are you doing?", then she put the tissues back and sneaked away. I was then going through my bag to see if any important things were missing, luckily nothing was stolen. That was the first encounter of theft in my first ever trip to Europe!
The thief was not really leaving Royal Palace, I saw her with a few other people in the crowds, probably looking for next victim.
I did some online research after that incident, it seems nothing will be done for theft under 400 euro. It happens a lot in busy tourism cities.
I reflected on my behavior that day, apparently I was not guarding my open bag while looking at my cell phone, thus I looked like an easy target to thieves.
What are the ways to protect ourselves while still enjoying Europe? A few simple ways.
- Always wear bags in front, especially bags with ids, cash and credit cards. Always pay attention to the important bags, use hands to cover them. This leaves no chance to the thieves to open them easily.
- Wear money belt for ids and money. This is probably the best way to protect the ids and money from being stolen. With that said, it might not be that comfortable to wear in summer, and not very convenient to get cash out. The workaround is to put small amount of cash in another bag for easy use.
- Leave ids such as passports in hotel. Before going to the busiest tour spot in town, it is a good idea to leave ids such passports in hotel, it will be even better if the hotel has safe, unless there is a need to show passport during your outing. Some museums or attractions might check passport for security reasons or age for discounted tickets.
Despite my first encounter of the theft in Royal Palace of Madrid, I found it is generally safe to tour Europe.
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