Pickpocketed in Rome :(
Nov 1st, 2005, 10:39 AM
#61
Guest
Posts: n/a
A word about odds and statistics: plenty of visitors to US cities get their pockets picked while the "natives" never have it happen; and ditto European cities. The difference?
A number of factors including time of day (when tourists abound and when locals are in transit to and from work), the locations (locals don't collect at Navona or Times Sq.), the dress (why some of us work so hard at not looking like tourists), familiarity with surroundings and comfort with language/local (does a native Manhattanite hang looking at the subway map or a native Roman seem hesitant about whether this is his stop?).
You DO have a higher probability of being pickpocketed if you are not a local, and it's not just your imagination. It may still be a low probability, but it's worth being cautious though not necessarily full-blown paranoid.
A number of factors including time of day (when tourists abound and when locals are in transit to and from work), the locations (locals don't collect at Navona or Times Sq.), the dress (why some of us work so hard at not looking like tourists), familiarity with surroundings and comfort with language/local (does a native Manhattanite hang looking at the subway map or a native Roman seem hesitant about whether this is his stop?).
You DO have a higher probability of being pickpocketed if you are not a local, and it's not just your imagination. It may still be a low probability, but it's worth being cautious though not necessarily full-blown paranoid.
