Sorry, didn't mean to post my previous message. Now I do hope this gets deleted.

Because that is human nature, Capo. First timer's must be burned before they realize what happens, I was here in a bookstore and saw a thief go into a woman's backpack. She was totally unaware until I yelled out, 'Watch your backpack." S*** Happens!

My problem is not that there are thieves in the world, but whether the governments of the countries we visit in droves value our business enough to protect us to the extent they are able, no matter where we come from, or how naive we are. If thieves are targeting tourists in train stations or museums or near famous tourist sites, what's so difficult for the police to step up surveilance in those places?

Mimi, my only point was that victims *sometimes* need to take some responsibilty for being a victim. For example, if I leave my car unlocked with keys in it, it may not be my "fault" that some evildoer steals it, but it's not as if I'm a poor helpless victim who could not have done anything to prevent the theft.

I know capo, I was trying to emphasize that but i guess I did that poorly. And mary_fran, The police today have too many terrorist issues to worry about rather than our luggage or whatever.
We have so many rude things happen in our own country, don't let any poster put you off to visiting your choice.

It is the ABSOLUTE LAW in all E.E.U. countries that foreign tourists must show their passports upon registering for a hotel room. I was threatened with expulsion from a Paris hotel when I offhandedly told the desk clerk that my passport was buried at the bottom of my carryon and it would be too much trouble to search for it. He stated, "Madame, it would be too much trouble, therefore, to give you a room key." How "disappointed" made it from Barcelona to Milan without a passport is beyond my comprehension. Did she sleep on floor of the trainstations? Or did some kindly old lady offer her a free room in her spacious villa? Not all of us are gullible. Think about it. You are robbed of all your possessions--passport, camera, money, etc. and you go from Barcelona to Milan to get a new passport? This is a very tall tale.

If disappointed is an EU citizen would he/she be regarded as a "foreign tourist?" Maybe that is the explanation.

I agree with Graffen that going from being robbed of a passport in Barcelona to getting a new one in Milan is indeed very odd, but I would also proffer that I have NEVER in the past at least 10 years been asked to show a passport at any hotel in Europe, and I've been at loads of hotels in France, England, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Austria during that time.
I've also not been asked to show a passport when riding on a train that is crossing a border in the EU.
And I've crossed the France-Spain border on quite a few occasions and not only haven't been asked for a passport, haven't seen a soul at what used to be the border crossing patrol. In fact, the border station you hit when driving down the Mediterranean coast from France into the Costa Brava is so derelict the bathroom isn't even functional anymore.

I'm SO glad to see so many AMERICANS saying things like, "Why would you expect everyone to speak English", etc. It's refreshing to know that those of my countrymen who are well-traveled don't act so much like the stereotypical American.

I am originally from San Francisco, but married an Aussie and moved to Australia about 9 years ago.

Until you are away from the everyday grind in America, you can't TRULY appreciate why Americans have picked up this stereotype of being loud and dumb the world over.

I've seen it so much in my travels since moving here...Americans asking DUMB questions in the LOUDEST voice possible in very crowded tourist areas.

Why do they prey on Americans, these petty thieves? Because Americans are easy to pick in a crowd, and known for not being very smart when it comes to getting ripped off.

I don't say any of the above to be mean to Americans...as I said, I AM one. It's just that because of the way Americans live and act in their everyday lives, they can't seem to see that they are OBVIOUS when travelling anywhere in the world.

I travel with my Australian husband all over the place. We have NEVER been pickpocketed, and I believe this is because we don't draw attention to ourselves as being obvious and oblivious tourists as so many Americans do.

To the original poster, take some advice:

1) As others have said, don't put everything in a single day pack so that it can disappear all at once. Put your license in one pocket, passport in another, credit card in another, etc. Separate things so that if something DOES get stolen you don't lose EVERYTHING.

2) Try to tone down your voice, don't wear that I <HEART> Rome T-shirt while in the Rome train station or that camera around your neck. (I realize that many Americans aren't conscious of the fact that they ARE loud, but you ALL are when in Europe, so try to listen to how others talk and be a bit more quiet).

3) Make sure you have travel insurance. This is something travelers in EVERY OTHER country in the world would not leave home without...I don't know why Americans never get it. If you have a situation such as this one, there is a number you can call to your travel insurer, and they will take care of everything. Certainly makes things easier.

Finally, take into consideration how the police would act in your own country in a situation like this.

While my husband and I haven't been pickpocketed, we DID come back to our car while at the beach in Hawaii and find the trunk wide open and my husband's luggage gone!

To my credit, again, I used my brain. We were going on to Alaska after Hawaii, and my husband thought, "Why bring all these winter clothes up to the hotel room. I'll just leave them in the trunk." Of course, knowing how things walk away in the US, I said, "You do what you want, I don't want my stuff stolen."

So my husband had to buy new winter clothes when we got to Vancouver, and some poor Hawaiian thief ended up with a suitcase full of winter clothes! It was actually kind of amusing.

Once again, I used my brain. I locked all our passports and money in the glove box before going to the beach "just in case". Smart move. They didn't want to take the time to get in there, so our important stuff didn't walk off.

Anyway, the only job the police have in these situations is to take a report so that you have a record of the theft so you can claim on insurance. It's not their job to be nice or rude, it's merely to take down the details of the theft.

Finally, in these situations, try to have a sense of humour. It's already happened, so the best you can do is make the best of it.

My husband and I had a good laugh out of some Hawaiian guy with a bunch of winter clothes, and then, because we had travel insurance, went out to shop for new clothes. Most fun!

St. Cirq, I *have* been asked to show passports in many European hotels within the last year, most only interested in having me write down my passport number. They don't look closely at the passport, but the info has been requested each and every time in Austria, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Italy, UK, Denmark and Germany. I have also been asked to show my passport on trains going into Switzerland and crossing from Switzerland to Italy and also from Belgium to/from UK. It still does happen, whether or not it happens to you.
I agree with Mary Fran. I have little to no patience with the smugsters who brag "I've been there and it didn't happen to me, therefore if it happened to you it's because a) I'm SO much more sophisticated than you or b) you deserved it.
No one EVER deserves to be a victim of crime. A tourist no more deserves to be pickpocketed because he's not fluent in local language and customs than a woman deserves to be raped because she dared to walk down a street alone.
Benderbabe, congratulations for being such a perfect traveler. It must be wonderful to be so superior to most Americans.
I was pickpocketed in a Brussels train station even though I spoke the language and knew my way around. When I reported the theft, the train station noted that more than 30 people EVERY DAY were robbed and that most were locals!!! That doesn't quite fit in with Benderbabe's scenario.
Unfortunately, the problem is that in many European cities, "quality of life" crimes like pickpocketing are not considered high priority. Sometimes it's due to local attitudes, other times due to budget problems, other times it's due to a judiciary that lets these petty criminals off to commit crimes again and again--even the most dedicated police officers get jaded when they knows their efforts will have no effect in the end.
The best thing that can happen in such cases is for someone high profile to become a crime victim. In Brussels' Gare du Midi, pickpocketing/car break-ins were a serious problem until a number of high ranking EUROPEAN businessmen and diplomats (not, I may add, wearing goofy t-shirts and speaking in loud voices) were victims and made a lot of noise about it. Now the station has a very strong security presence and theft/assault incidence is WAY down.

Benderbabe wrote: I realize that many Americans aren't conscious of the fact that they ARE loud, but you ALL are when in Europe, so try to listen to how others talk and be a bit more quiet.

This is absolute rubbish. ALL Americans are loud? We've been living in Europe for four years now and have encountered many, many soft-spoken, well-mannered, well-dressed American tourists. And quite a few LOUD Australians!!

Has anyone noticed how this thread is becoming more and more like its title?

Must be some very well-read lorrie drivers over there, "thingorjus"! (And while I do admire Choamsky, he doesn't seem to realize that consensus doesn't equal conspiracy - i.e., if global corporate community shares the same mindset, it's like the Borg not a conspiracy -- and "resistance is futile"? ;) )

It was Smueller who started the credential pissing war -- "waaah, she started it, Mom!" -- using someone else's credentials to challenge mine, always a diverting ploy -- "I'm sure the teacher knows more than you do, dear."

About all a PhD is useful for nowadays is in arguments, especially in pseudo-social situations with other know-it-alls like me. Again: ;) !

Post is a troll.

Barcelona does have a crime problem.

Sh*t does indeed happen.

Unfriendly is an understatement for being mugged.

Post is a troll.

Regarding showing your passport, the only time we had to show our passport (we had to leave it) was in Rome when the front desk asked.

We weren't asked to show any i.d. on the trains.

Sorry to interrupt...back to being rude and unfriendly...

I cited David Crystal's estimate for the global usage of English because he is a recognized authority on the subject. I was not trying to assume his credentials for myself. I am, by no stretch of the imagination, an authority on language usage statistics.

benderbabe, has it ever occurred to you that if you were surrounded by tourists saying incredibly obnoxious things in Japanese (or Russian, or Italian, or Apache), you wouldn't have a clue. If you are monolingual, the only obnoxious behavior you are able to recognize, short of someone defecating on an airline food tray, is that associated with English-speaking tourists. It's also interesting that you view the police as little more than clerks, whose responsibility is the issuing of reports, rather than the apprehension of the petty criminals that give otherwise great cities like Barcelona a bad name.

Finally, Americans are loud because we live in a big country. Most people don't realize how far it is from New York to LA.

Just finished reading the Sunday paper, and there was an article out of the Washington Post, written by Keith B. Richburg. The gist of it was that young Europeans travel from one EU country to another at the drop of a hat. Richburg writes "Under the rules of the 15-country EU, people crossing borders often don't have their passports stamped and don't need to register anyplace."

Hey, if it's in the Washington Post, I might believe it; if it's in Fodor's European forum, I might not...!

Hi dln,

Did the article say if it applied to people who are not from the EEC?