During my trip to Italy last month, I met a person who had to hand over 50 Euros on the spot for not validating her train ticket. The next day, I watched as a conductor asked for tickets, saw they were not validated and made that couple pay as well.

Remember to validate your train tickets before getting on the trains! (Except you don't have to validate tickets where you have a reservation.)

Kwren: absolutely!

Speaking of trains, while getting on our train from Rome to Milan, a man was standing in front of the car and took our luggage and put them above our reserved seats. He then asked for a tip and proceeded to leave the train quickly. This service is not part of the train company nor the train station but is tolerated. It borders on being a scam and I was rather annoyed that I got caught up in it.

schuler, had the same experience in September on train Florence to Rome. It happens so fast, as I guess scams do. I was about to lift my bag up to get on the train and my husband was behind me about to do the same with his bag. This man literally just took my bag with me saying no, got on and put it up on the rack. That was helpful, but it is like a scam because he then stuck his hand out. My husband only gave him a euro, he did not look happy and said it was not enough. DH told him that was all he was giving him and he left. On another trip, I think it was around Cinque Terre, 5 or 6 young boys were at the bottom of the many steps at the rail station and trying to take luggage up. Had to just really get aggressive to keep control of my bag. If I had thought they would actually take it up and not run away with it I would have been glad to pay them.

Just thought of another little scam where we were gullible and it was stupid of us. At the Trevi Fountain I was holding up my iPHone taking a pic of me and DH. This guy said let him take it for us and I was thinking he might run with my phone, but I gave him my phone and thought I was ready to snatch it back. : ) Well, he did take our pic, gave me my phone, thankfully, but THEN said let me take your pic with my camera. We told him no, thank you. He had a Polaroid, took pic anyway and then naturally wanted money for it. And, of course, whatever DH gave him he felt he should have more. Not a major scam but I would much prefer someone say I will take your pic for x amount, etc. I am still horrified when I think I actually put my phone in his hands. Yipes!

I didn't take your comment about avoiding restaurants where you see a lot of Americans as a criticism of their behavior.

My experience is that the food often isn't as good at places that try to draw tourists. That said, I've eaten at places with the menu in three or four languages where the food is good, but if I want really good food, I ask my hotel for recommendations.

As for the same experience with luggage as Schuler and violet. As we, a couple of senior women, were about to lift our luggage onto the train, a young woman took the luggage and lifted it for us. Then she held out her hand and asked for 5 euros. We laughed and gave her one euro, though we really didn't feel obligated to give her even that. We didn't just fall off the turnip truck, you know.

This reminds me of when we were sitting by a canal in Amsterdam and a young beggar asked us for a contribution. We gave him a euro, but he said that wasn't enough. Once again, we laughed at him. The guy really had his nerve.