Two summers ago we were in Barcelona with my daughters high school french class. We were in a little cafe eating when another small group of girls from our group came in. They sat at a table opposite of us. All of a sudden one of our girls from the other table started yelling and low and behold she was chasing a very young girl who had pick pocketed her purse. Our normally quiet girl went into action and chased down the pick pocket and grabbed her by the arm and got her wallet back. The pick pocketer was shocked and started yelling you stupid English. We all cheered for our girl. It all happened so fast that the rest of us just sat there and watched. This was a normally quiet high school girl who stepped out of her comfort zone and into action when needed. She also had a great story to tell when she got home. Believe me, it was one of many...

Years ago for my first trip to Europe, I bought a leg safe, made of spandex. I proudly showed it to the guys in my office (cops) and they thought that it was a total waste of money.

A few days later, one of the guys while reading the newspaper, gasped and said, 'oh my gawd ...' I asked what was wrong and he said that he was reading an article that said American tourists were found all over Rome, with their legs cut off :-))

My girlfriend's lives in London, and when she and her husand saw it they asked if I would send him one as they traveled frequently.

I sent him one, and my girlfriend called me saying that one evening they went out to a restaurant with another couple, and when it came time to pay the check ... adorable Michael, put his leg out, pulled up his cuff and took his wallet out of the leg safe. He's known for his fabulous sense of humor and practical jokes, so a good laugh was had by all.

Nina

Ten years ago, in Rome on our wedding trip, my husband and I were on the Via Cavour when six or seven little boys (little urchins) came running up to us. One held a piece of cardboard. I had read about that trick before: You hold up the cardboard, and as the tourist tries to read it, he's distracted from your friends swarming around, so his wallet is easy pickings.

Sure enough, my husband was going, &quot;Gee, what does the cardboard say?&quot; (Homer Simpson expression) But I knew what was coming. The lucky part of this story is that <b>I have no dignity at all</b>, so I was <b><i>fine</i></b> with charging full-tilt at a group of small children, waving my arms and stamping my feet and screaming, &quot;You go away!! Get lost!! Leave us alone!!&quot;

I had <b>no problem</b> with doing that, but the people on the sidewalk around us looked at me like I had lost my mind, and my husband looked at me like I had lost my mind. But the boys ran off, and my husband kept his wallet, so my method worked.

It was all the more fortunate that it worked, since that was before we used ATMs while abroad, so my husband had a lot of cash on him. Now we don't carry a lot at one time.

&quot;<i>American tourists were found all over Rome, with their legs cut off&quot;</i>
Very funny, Nina66!

LOL Smalti, those kids probably talked about the &quot;crazy American woman&quot; for the rest of the day!!! Or, since Italian women can often get quite emotional they might have thought you were very Italian!

Hi, LoveItaly!

Wish I could &quot;pass&quot; for Italian in Italy, but it'll never happen!

The Paris Subway ruse above, reminds me of our experience on one--two men jumped on to the car, just as the doors closed. I just happened to see one of them toss some cards between my husband's legs. then he came around and knelt, supposedly to collect the cards. However, he began to feel along my husband's legs--for a leg safe, perhaps? His buddy was trying to get into my husband's pockets, which were full of his hands. He used his elbows to discourage the man and I used my umbrella on the other guy's head and shoulders. At the next stop, they jumped off--no richer.

We were &quot;slightly&quot; prepared for this technique. Several months prior to our trip, I had read about this particular ruse on this exact BB and had told my husband about it. He was skeptical that such a thing could happen as the poster described. Well, that event made him a believer.

This was not our first trip to Europe--but the first such event. We have always used $$belts, so not much $$ would have been lost to the guys. I always think that persons who disparrage various security belts, like to live dangerously. It only needs to happen once to ruin a trip. mhm

Not pickpocket, and I've already posted this elsewhere but in the interests of awakening others, I'll repost it here.

This scam got me last week in Florence. If something is &quot;splashed&quot; on your luggage and someone helpfully points that out to you, keep moving. I was on my way to the train station. The &quot;distinguished businessman&quot; who noticed my dripping luggage in the piazza at Santa Maria Novella offered tissue to clean the mess. While he provided distraction and I cleaned up what looked like globs of baby food, his accomplice (whom I never even saw) disappeared with my shoulder bag. There are plenty of places to get advice on securing and watching your valuables, so use the advice. It has been a pain in the rear getting everything straightened out again upon returning home. I had more stuff in that bag than I should have, but it could have been worse.

The above post reminded me of the only other time, before Paris subway, that we &quot;almost&quot; had an incident.

In Barcelona, we were going down into a Subway station, when a man ran past me. I'd felt a bump on my back as he ran by--but my purse was inside my coat so I wasn't worried. I looked up and my husband, who was quite aways ahead of me, had a dark yucky looking substance all over his sweater.

I told him to stop but he proceeded into the subway foyer. There an inocent looking guy was observing us. I recognized him as the runner. He jumped forward with tissues--to clean my husband's sweater--but this was another ruse I'd read about on a BB. I yelled at him and told him to go. He finally left--and we went back to our close-by hotel and cleaned up. The bump on my back was from the same dregs of a cup of coffee or chocolate. In both instances (the one I posted earlier and this one) we were fortunate to escape with no loss--not everyone is so lucky. mhm