Pickpocket tips
 

What are your recommendations and what do you carry with you and how do you carry it as a tourist in Rome, Naples and Palermo?

Are smaller backpacks a safe place to keep things while walking around? Would anyone just cut it off my back and run?? What about inside jacket pockets? Are purses with metal straps a good idea? I like to be free when I walk around. How and from where are items taken from tourists?

I was aware to be alert on a trip to Florence, but when I was abruptly confronted by a gypsy woman and children with a box in my face, I was completely bewildered and off-guard. It was amazing! Fortunately, a local pedestrian shouted them away and I didn't lose anything but my faith in my vigilance.

Also - why do some of you recommend packing cubes? Don't they take up even more space?

I would keep anything of value on my person and only carry things that can be easily replaced like guidebooks, maps, and water bottles in a backpack or purse. I would carry only the bare minimum of value - cash for the day, ID, and a credit card in my pocket and then maybe back up cash, my ATM card etc. in a secret pouch like a money belt or something. Leave everything else in the hotel safe.

This way if my bag was snatched, I could just buy a new one and replace the contents - a slight hassle, but no big deal. If I were pick pocketed, then the thieves would only get a little money and one credit card or ATM card that can easily be cancelled. I'd have another credit card and ATM card (preferably to a seperate account) at the hotel so I wouldn't be without access to money. Again, not a huge deal and nothing to spoil my vacation.

Hi L,

>Are smaller backpacks a safe place to keep things while walking around? <

No backpack is a safe place to keep anything.

((I))

I'd never put anything of value in a backpack. You simply can't keep control of things behind you.

I'm w/ J_Correa. I use a money belt for most valuables (inc. Passport) and a small wallet for "walking around" cash and 1 credit card and/or ATM card.

I don't lug a lot of stuff around everyday so don't usually use a daypack. A small camera, map, and a few other things usually easily fit in my small or medium sized handbag.

But if you like a daypack - use it for "stuff", not for anything valuable or important.

Regarding the packing cubes- I was just putting mine away from a recent trip. I think they work best if you travel light, which I do. One set (one large and two small) just fit within the confines of my carry-on bag, which is all I ever take regardless of length of trip. I use one for "bottoms" (skirts/pants 3 rolled, another for tanks and t-shirts (5-6 rolled) and the last for underwear/bras/sleepwear (washed in hotel sink every other day). Then I still have room for my toiletries bag. I seldom unpack anymore. Something is either on my body, in its cube, or hanging up to dry! I find this system really keeps me from taking too much in the first place (if it doesn't fit, it can't come!), as well as organized on the trip- no wasted time packing and repacking or forgetting something. I machine wash and air dry the cubes after I return from a trip and I've had them for over five years (Eagle Creek is one good source). As far as Rome and Sicily, I've been to both with no problem. I do have a very lightweight backpack for a shawl/rainjacket, guidebook pages for the day, water bottle, small first aid kit...that's about it. But I don't keep my wallet in there. But I like it because I figure it's like a decoy and pickpockets would probably assume that my wallet IS in there! Instead, I don't use a wallet at all. If there is no room safe in the hotel, I wear my moneybelt under my clothes and never access it during the day. I keep a small amount of cash (for the next food purchase or admission money)in a front pocket. I replenish that as needed in a bathroom stall from a security pocket. For travel I get my clothes from outdoor stores with a bunch of these security pockets- Visa card in one, more cash in another, etc. I like the feeling free feeling, too, when walking around and I find it makes me way less paranoid about always having a grip on my purse, etc. I've started wearing less jewelry, and I have an old watch. I think the advice about blending in makes us less of an obvious target. Lastly, I've started trying to get really good directions/studying maps before arriving at my destination. If I know I will be turning left out of the train station and walking several blocks, I can set off looking purposeful and not be rummaging for and looking at a map in the train station! Rather than ever being able to be vigilant every second, taking these precautions would seem to minimize the loss should the unfortunate occur and you become a victim.

Where a neck pouch - they are pickpocket proof. And I would recommend the defense against gypsys I saw practiced by a German woman in Paris - slap the $@##$ out of them!

The only thing that saved DP and me from the onslaught of gypsy children at the Trastevere flea market (Rome) was the following.

The majority of our cash and valuables were in a money belt. We kept only the amount we thought we'd need for that excursion, in our shirt pockets--and then used a safety pin to keep the little hands out.

We were surrounded in an instant and a woman held up a large piece of cardboard and newspapers to shield us from onlookers. Hands were all over us, as we yelled and shoved.

Anything that had been unsecured in our pockets would have definitely been gone. We emerged shaken, but with all of our belongings -- and a good story to tell.

Personally, in questionable areas, I wouldn't use a backpack --unless I could carry it in front of me.

Luckily, I'd been forewarned on this forum and in guide books about the pickpockets at the Trastevere market (which frankly, I wasn't that impressed with anyway). But FYI, other than at that flea market, I felt very safe in Rome, but I still carried my cash in a front pants pocket, secured with a safety pin. It just seemed like a wise precaution.

With this being so common at the Trastevere weekend flea market, I wonder why the police fail to protect tourists . . . Surely, they must know who is perpetrating these crimes on a regular basis.

www.tilley.com for pickpocket resistant clothes

Always photocopy your passport and carry some form of picture ID that you leave in your hotel/hotel safe. When my hubby's passport was stolen, Spain required a photo ID- luckily, they accepted his Sam's club card :), really!

Just one (rather, two) person's experience: When we travel, U.S. or Europe (though never been to Naples or Palermo), DH carries a credit card and cash in a neck pouch. Yes, it's embarrassing when he has to pull it out of his shirt to pay for something, but it's been secure thus far. I'm a small woman, and haven't figured out any under-clothes hiding place that doesn't show or gouge me in the stomach when I sit down. So we carry a bag (not a purse, so we can trade off carrying it) that has a strap to carry crosswise across the body. It's the size of a small backpack. In the very bottom (under guidebooks, journal, water, sweater, etc.) I put a small wallet with two credit cards and some cash. Our passports are in a zippered inside pocket of this bag, which has both a zipper closing (zipper pull to the inside of my body) and a flap covering the zipper. The flap has snaps on the bottom to hold it closed. We've never had a problem with this arrangement, and while I like to think we're observant, I can guarantee that we're not vigilant 100% of the time. In addition, this bag can be converted into a backpack, which is nice on occasion, such as in small towns or when we're walking in the countryside. Oh, and I do try to carry a small amount of cash in an accessible location - enough for coffees and postcards, but not enough that we'll be upset if it's stolen.

I just bumped the "Is Crime really that bad" post, which has a lot of tips.

I tried the neck pouch, but it was uncomfortable, plus when travelling in the summer time, it is pretty visible since clothing is thin, a lot of shirts don't have collars, etc. My husband found that one of those pouches that attaches to a belt and then is slipped inside the pants - basically sits behind the front pocket - worked well. I have a little flat sleeve that I made of thin fabric with a velcro closure that I can pin descretely inside my clothing. It can hold credit cards and money. If I need something from there, I can slip into a bathroom and get it out. It is small and can be secured anywhere that makes sense based on what I have on.

Threads like this depress me.

First, I can't imagine what it might be like to travel anywhere when one is so worried as are some who join in discussions of this sort.

Second, if the easy marks are made wise, then the difficult marks like me might become targets.

My secret? I behave pretty well as I do at home -- no extra security measures but, more important, no disengagement of the brain. I stay alert to the situation around me, and probably look alert. When I see how other visitors behave, so many of them are clearly off-guard that pickpockets and other casual criminals must feel that they have gone to heaven. Why would they bother with me, who seems to be taking notice of them, when there are so many who are looking at church spires or preoccupied with getting the photograph of themselves at the castle?

Further, I probably look as if I have nothing of value, which is near enough true.

I found that the light weight travel vest from Magellin's is perfect. No need to carry a purse, it has lots of pockets..which I also close with a saftey pin, and it would be hard to figure out which pocket anything might be stored in.
I also have a travel purse with a long strap that I can "bandoleer" across my chest, and it also has a waist strap like a fanny pack. It would be hard to cut both straps and get it off. I also wear the straped purse (and/or vest) under my jacket, and just on top of my T-shirt of blouse.

oh rats.. here I was thinking that you were going to GIVE us tips on how to pick a pocket or two...

ala Fagin!

Yes, I am with Padraig: having lived in Italy recently, I really think this degree of "caution" is verging on the paranoid.

First, I am wondering how recent are the experiences of those posters who were swarmed by Romany children with cardboard in Rome and Florence? That is a tactic that has been pretty effectively squelched by the authorities in the past 3-4 years. I am not suggesting that no pick-pocketing EVER takes place just that you do hear more fear than fact on forums like this.

Be sensible. An exposed bag/backpack is not a good place to keep your credit cards and passport. An inside money belt/envelope works better. Don't flaunt your wealth ie. big displays of gold and you ae less likley to attract attention. Personally, I decided to do without a hand-bag/purse years ago, in favour of inside pockets. Never had a problem.

LJ - Good point - I was about to mention my "I was swarmed in Rome but saw them coming" story. Then reflected that was last century. Have been to Rome three times since then wihout any problem.

Where to keep your passport safely has always been a big question for me. If the hotel has a safe, do you keep it there or on your person in a hidden pouch? If the hotel does not have a safe then where?

#1 choice for passport safety- Hotel safe and, failing that, #2, on my person. And needless to say, wherever this document is, the copies should be somewhere else...like scanned and in your e-mail's "Things to Save" file.

Passport and credit card go in your money belt. We only carry around 100 dollars and it goes in my front pocket.

Thats it, you don't need to do anything else.

Oh yeah, carry your camera around your neck.

Have fun