djkbooks

Of course, Spain, specifically, is not to blame. But, because theft is legendary there it's not on my list of places to go.

ekscrunchy

"No me moleste," strikes me as too mild for use in that situation. That is more for your SO when he or she is taking while you are trying to concentrate on Fodor's.

We need a Madrileno here!!!

Will take any Spaniard in a pinch!

lincasanova

Dejame en paz.. no te acerques más. Apártate.. ( get away).

any of these would be good if the person just did not move once given the "look" and seemed he was encroaching on your space.

suze

I think *shouting* anything works. Shout out in English, "get away from me" will get your point across.

danon

Dejame en paz ---leave me alone

and f@$k off
works for me!

kathcoll

My friend and I were in Madrid 2 weeks ago. We had printed the tickets at home but were not sure if they would be acceptable so went to machine to print using the ticket locator and printed tickets. I thought only one ticket printed so repeated the process - only to find I now had 2 sets of the tickets.

And I lost record of one set of tickets to Jerez from Seville. Using the credit card I used to purchase weeks before, the customer service rep was able to locate ticket record of purchase and print tickets.

I guess you must have lost all records to prove you purchased as well as lost your credit cards.
Consider printing credit card numbers and overseas contact phone numbers - I keep a tiny laminated card with emergency information in my passport case which I never have in the same location as my wallet - and a copy of my passport folded up in my wallet in case the passport case is lost.

Mara

Sorry to hear this....I tried to be very aware of my belongings when I was in Spain in 2009!
I agree with Peter_S_Aus - years ago when I was in Florence and some women with babies and cardboard signs came up to me and my friend - I said F--- Off and they understood. ;-)

ekscrunchy

Thanks so much! I can say the f-word-phrase in Spanish very well but I certainly hope that things do not get so dicey!

danon

We have traveled to Spain and Italy several times and never had a problem.
I dress the same way as in my big city (only more comfortable shoes), carry the same type of handbag and wear the same (expensive) watch.
Sometimes looking less "like a tourist" might make the difference.
Who knows.

nytraveler

I don't think it'show you look (mostly) - I think it's how aware you are of your surroundings and how careful you are with your belongings.

In many cases the people who are victims are not doing enough to prevent becoming one.

lreynold1

As a latecomer to this discussion, I'll add my two cents, though others may disagree. I've lived in Spain for a total of 4 years, off and on over the years, and I go back almost yearly to walk the Camino. But I have never figured out how to acquire that "Spaniard antenna" that alerts or prevents pickpocketing.

I think that for those of us who live in an environment where we don't have to be on guard all the time for pickpockets, it's just impossible to be continuously alert. When you get on the metro, you may think to yourself -- time to be alert -- but you can't sustain it. It's just not a part of your hard wiring.

So I've decided that there is just no way I can maintain the high level of alertness or scrutiny to parallel the instinct that Spaniards have when they get on the metro or go to a restaurant. That means I have to take a different approach, and what I've done for the last five years or so is just put everything in a pouch under my shirt. Inconvenient, yes. Uncomfortable, sometimes. But I can forget about trying to be alert all the time. And that means that I can enjoy myself much more.

russwuf

once in Florence there was the celebration of the grape harvest with a street parade up to the Duomo steps..costumes ...musicians...HUGE oxen pulling a huge cart stacked with Chiante...Bride and Groom of the harvest etc. very festive...I noticed this one man every time I looked around he was behind me...I would move for a better view of the festivities and boom I would look and he was behind me....so I moved to a location with my back literally against the Duomo wall so that EVERYthing and body was in front of me and he disappeared..I surmise to stalk another mark....you have to be very wary of your surroundings...
another time we flew all the way from NC to Milan...bus to Centrale....train to Roma Termini....walk to hotel just about 4 short blocks from Termini...no trouble in any part of the way until literally 20 metres from the hotel entrance up pops from around the corner of the street 2 teenage gypsy girls with their fake flirty whistles and eye batting one waving a folded piece of cardboard....my pal thought they were prostitutes but I said no they are pickpockets dont let them touch or brush against you ...we split round into the street( no traffic) and past them...just goes to show that you can get almost to the end of the line and BAM there the scammers and thieves will be.

colduphere

I agree with Ireynold1. My SIL travels everywhere with us, including Barcelona this past August. We must continually remind her to watch her purse - her mind wanders off to something else.

Meanwhile I suspect everyone is a pickpocket, including a group of handicapped young adults that got on the Barcelona metro. I thought it was a ruse to distract us so I put out the high alert warning. Our kids thought I was heartless.

Egbert

Que te follan por un pulpo y te cobran! That's what I said once.

november_moon

cold - we all think you are heartless. But, it is better to be heartless than have your stuff stolen

colduphere

Thanks November Moon. While it is theoretically possible to take your comment as slightly negative, it is still the nicest thing anyone has said to me today.

Christina

It is very odd thatn RENFER wouldn't reprint them, as they were prepaid, as I understand it. So I truly don't get that (and someone above says they will print them). So I do wonder if it's because they had no ID for them.

On the other hand, no one has probably ever tried to get a train station to reprint the same tickets twice at the same station the same day. Maybe they have a setup where you can only print them on-site at the station once, to protect against fraud (or something). The fraud would be discovered on the train, of course, if two different people tried to print the same tickets and use the same seat, for example.

november_moon

Don't worry Cold - I meant it as a compliment. Sometimes my own mother thinks I am heartless.

lyb

That's really too bad, I just spent 2 weeks in Spain in Sept and never was an attempt made on me...don't know why, but could be that I'm always very aware of my purse and camera. I also never hesitate to give a dirty look to ANYone who gets too close to me. In fact, I always look at people in the eyes and as far as telling someone to get away from me, I think it doesn't matter what language as much as the tone of your voice.

Maybe it's because I travel alone so I'm not busy talking with others or because I grew up in Los Angeles, but though I don't run around being scared, I'm always alert.

I NEVER leave my purse on a chair out of my view, IF I put it on a chair, it is within my view and the strap is wrapped around the arm of the chair a bizzilion times, or it is on my lap. For that matter, even when I got somewhere where I currently live, in Sacramento, CA..I take the same precautions. While I travel, I carry a purse that it is sometimes difficult for me to get my wallet, so it's definitely not easy for pickpockets.

I think my attitude is similar to driving, when my father taught me to drive years ago, he told me to drive defensely...always assume and be prepared for someone to come at you...not be caught by surprise.

I hope to God it will never happen to me, maybe I've just been lucky .... I can't even imagine how much it would ruin a trip.

As far as blaming Spain...come on...I know people that it's happened to in London, in San Francisco, in Paris...Vegas...I could go on and on.

november_moon

lyb - While pickpocketing does happen a lot of places, Spain is one of the places where pickpocketing is a particualar risk. There are a variety of reasons for this, but the bottom line is that it is a fairly common thing. Every place has risks and it is best to know what they are and guard against it.

It is rare to hear of someone being pickpocketed in Sacramento. It happens, but usually only to people who are REALLY careless - women who leave their open handbag in a shopping cart and then walk around the corner to get something on a different aisle, for example. In Sacramento, you can leave your handbag on a chair next to you in a restaurant and it is relatively safe. No team of pickpockets is coming to distract you while someone rifles through your bag. It just doesn't really happen. Sacramento has it's own risks, of course, but someone coming from Sacramento, who isn't aware of the particular pickpocketting risks in Spain wouldn't know to take precautions and would probably be an easy target.