We have been lucky to never run into a pickpocket during our travels, always use a money belt and other precautions, but some of these stories are just amazing. I wonder if there is a nice mouse trap one could leave set in a conveniently open, and otherwise empty, purse. That would certainly add some fun and excitement to the trip now, wouldn't it?

I just returned from Spain and was amazed at how many times I could have strolled off with someone's purse or camera bag.

We were walking down Darro Street in Granada and it narrows to a small, one-way street with a very narrow sidewalk. We walked by one sidewalk cafe where the woman had hung her purse on the back of her chair, just dangling in the sidewalk lane . . . I could have just casually taken it and walked on and she would never have noticed. Or, it would have been quite easy for a car or moto to grab it as they went by, it was that close.

Another was inside the Alhambra . . . a guy had sat his open camera case down (with another camera/lenses inside) and walked away to take photos . . . he never looked back, never turned around . . . we stood and watched him for at least 5 min, he never paid any attention . . . I could have taken his bag, too!

In the Boqueria market in Barcelona, we saw two guys running with a purse . . . we assume it had just been stolen. The people at a table near us had put their bags on a chair behind them, what were they thinking!

It's amazing how careless people are . . . don't be one of them.

Sandy (in Denton)

You want a story about <i>carelessness</i>?

In Nepal, a pretty safe place, my daughter knew a man who actually fell asleep on a bench alongside a street with a $3,000 camera resting on his chest (the camera belonged to his boss). Needless to say, that was just a little too tempting. When he woke up, the camera was gone.

When traveling, I always carry three fairly bulky items (can't be put into a pocket) that I'd rather not lose: a good digital camera, my PDA (with translation dictionaries, interactive maps, and lots of other stuff), and my european cell phone. I use a fanny pack from the Travelsmith catelog that has a steel cable in the strap, so it can't be easily cut. I wear it in the front, not the back.

It has one of those squeeze-to-open plastic latches to hold the strap closed, but it's surrounded by a vinylized fabric cover which velcros around it to cover the latch. When I first got it, I was annoyed to find that if you squeezed in the right spot on the cover, you could easily open the latch despite its being covered! You'd have to know where the latch was under the fabric cover (about in the middle), but I assume that pickpockets become familiar with these products after a while.

I thought about returning it as unacceptable, but instead I created a small U-shaped bracket out of aluminum to cover the latch, and stitched it to the strap under the cover. It's hard to describe in words, but it keeps the latched from being squeezed to open it when the cover is velcroed shut.

On our recent trip to Provence, I kept my wallet in a zippered and then buttoned pants pocket in some travel pants, also from TravelSmith. We didn't use moneybelts. But in big cities like Paris or Rome, and in closer quarters like the Metro, we would use them.

- Larry

I carry an over the shoulder purse with a zipper, but like another poster who secures the zipper, I do so as well - with a spring-loaded hair clip. To get on my bag, someone would have to be at my hip, remove the clip, and open the zipper.
I know I'm not very viligant with my purse on a normal day(I'm the person that leaves it at restaurants, in cars, at my office...), so I know to carry something safer when I travel.

Had problems with the Gypsies in Spain, but no troubles in any travels in Italy, Ireland or the states.

Thieves don't have to laboriously unfasten your pack or bag or pocket if they can slit it. No, it hasn't happened to me, but it's been reported on other forums.

I've watched several thefts in Italy and Greece in my travels and feel secure because I carry my passport, my two credit/ATM cards and most of my money in a money belt under layers of clothing, and I carry any money I'll be using in the near future in my closed hand. That hand stays in my pocket. I don't carry any kind of purse or bag, and if I must have a backpack, I use a clear one where a potential thief sees there's nothing worth stealing.

I have a purse that I hold across my body and i chain my wallet to the purse inside....my SO has a gizmo from TravelSmith that is a small cloth pouch he puts his wallet in, and then it loops onto his belt before he puts it in his pocket. Between the 2 we have traveled in London , Paris and Spain w/ no problem. But I am paranoid by nature so that helps

When I went to Rome recently, my husband and I both used those neck pouches to carry our cash, credit cards and an ID. We still carried a backpack around for a guidebook, water, umbrella (it rained a lot), and camera, which I was able to clip into the backpack.

Worked great, and we were only ever approached once--a couple of boys had started to come up right behind my husband when he turned around. He's a big guy, and once he started going toward them, they ran.

There were a lot of old gypsy women around begging, and made me feel awful about not giving them money until I remembered what I read on this site about being distracted, or robbed once you got your money out. The only person I gave money to was the accordian player near the Pantheon! Musicians always give fellow musicians money.

A few years ago while on a bus in London, a man stood directly in front of my mother-in-law who was sitting opposite me. Everytime the bus started and stopped, he would lean closer and closer to her pretending he lost his balance. At one point, as he leaned forward, he tried to open her purse which was strapped across her shoulder with the bag on on her lap. I said something to him and he stopped, but the bus driver noticed that he did it again and stopped the bus and told the man to get off. The bus driver told her to shout &quot;get away from me&quot; if it ever happened again.

<b>Do you carry your passport?</b>

This might be a good thread to ask about carrying your passport. Four people have mentioned it, but I don't carry mine. I leave it back in my B&amp;B with any airline tickets, or, in a hotel in a larger city, in the hotel's safe. I should say that my travel is generally in western Europe (England, France, Spain, and Italy).

The only time I've ever been asked for a passport is when changing traveler's checks, and these days, with ATMs, I don't use traveler's checks any more. I do carry a <i>copy</i> of my passport's picture page, but that's it. And I do carry the passport for any travel on public long-haul transport (planes &amp; trains).

I was once stopped for a routine traffic check while driving in Italy. The two young officers puzzled over my Massachusetts driver's licence and car rental agreement, but never asked for my passport.

Why carry, and risk losing, a passport?

- Larry

Thanks for the reminder, mpprh, and thanks for all the horror stories and defense tactics.

Ann41, I have told my story (seeing a young woman's money purse grabbed when she got it out to give some coins to a begging child) more than once on this forum, but if the thought crossed your mind and kept you from being robbed then I am very happy to have repeated it.

You sure are right about musicians. Mine ALWAYS drops something in the hat. I think it's a nice tradition that recognizes music's cross-cultural bond.

justretired, in answer to your question, no I do not carry my passport around with me. I too just carry a photocopy of the main page. I leave my passport at one of my friends houses or in the hotel safe.

This is a recent thread on the Slow Talk board that relates to the question about whether to carry your passport in Itally. The opinion is divided, although according to one person who lives in Italy, it is the law there that you are supposed to have a valid ID with you at all times, and for US citizens the passport is the only acceptable ID.

http://slowtalk.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&amp;...;r=55110399511

I have a leather cross body handbag; with a long strap. and I also keep my wallet near the bottom of my handbag; and push a handkerchief over my wallet so it cant be seen or felt. I also put my keys over the purse and under the handkerchief so if anyone tried to slip out my wallet, the keys would jiggle loud enough fopr me to hear.

This did not stop me from being pickpocketed though.

I accidently wore my handbag over one shoulder and was on a busy metro. I felt a jostle and a bump and my handbag gently slip slightly behind me and thought nothing of it initially. But I moved my bag back to where it was at my side and noticed the zipper had been slid fully open and was broken. The white handkerchief was pulled back and my purse was sticking out a little out of the top of my handbag along with my keys. . I managed to catch it in time before my wallet was lifted. I think, just one more little bump or jostle, and my purse would have been slipped out. But the same thing happened to another woman and she wasnt so lucky. The pickpockets are now breaking the zips on handbags so they cant be secured.. Then they are lifting wallets. Her purse was at the top inside her handbag. Also a shoulderbag on a long strap.

I ended up buying a new handbag that is also crossbody, but with a flap and a zipper. I wear the bag so the flap faces inwards and I dont have keyrings or anything dangling from my bag at all. But I still cover my wallet with the white handkerchief, also attachmy keys to my purse and fix the keys to the inside pocket of my handbag and loop a small leather strap to that. I also have one of those swivel spring key clips that i attach to my zip and through the strap of my handbag. Ok it might take a while to get my purse out in a shop, but at least I wont have the drama of looking at a pulled back hanky and missing purse from an unzipped handbag.

leanne, this is an ancient thread, why have you decided to top it now?

My husband's wallet was stolen on a very crowded Paris metro train. He was carrying it in a front pocket. The thief jumped off the train, which was still in the station, after stealing his wallet and also another man's wallet. There was a whole gang of them working together. Nothing was done by the police or the Metro security.