Thieves, on the road

i dont know, im scared it will make me worry about whether its going to get stolen too much to enjoy my trip.

There would be no real point in owning an item like that, unless you are going to take it with you when you travel. If I had one, I would take it with me, but keep it with me all the time when there is no safe to lock it in. Reply to this

i dont see the point of being scared thats something will get stolen. call me negative but one day you will die and so will i.... the idea is to live your life until that happens, who cares about a silly laptop, even if it doesnt get stolen it will eventually break. so who cares, do you still grieve about the your first tape recorder? just dont spend too much money on it... dont store anything personal on it like passwords, and dont keep it in a big swanky bag that screams "laptop inside" and you will probably be fine.

same goes for a camera , bring one , take fotos , and when its gone, its gone... big deal.. just try not to lose the photos with it.. thats the thing that gets most people.

the Gypsies job

i believe its a mistake to think you can tell a robber by their appearance, because the truely skilled theives sometimes dont look like thieves at all, thats how they get away with it.

the truth is ANYONE can rob your stuff if the opportunity presents itself even some posh student, so dont expect any loyalty on the road




anyway, denise, it sounds like your mother (and you) are just worried, to tell the truth my mother was worried too when i set off to ecuador this time last year but as soon as she started reading my blog she relaxed, you should start a blog too, it can be private blog just for your mom or it can be public, and you can update it just before you leave or as soon as you arrive in places, this will help put your mothers mind at rest.

Reply to this

Matty live in a town say...in Slovak Republic where there are villages and areas of Romanian Gypsies, go see how they live and even better buy a house or flat nearby and see how fast they come through ur window. ( housing prices are cheap there for a reason and it ain't small mindedness or hate that makes housing prices low) I know alot of folks hate to "Stereotype" and am sure theres good in even Gypsies deep down somewhere. But they don't think like the West does and to compare them to some rich nimfomaniac or to claim the truly great theives don't "look like" thieves......... well gypsies look the way they do because it's there culture and how they live. "Professional" thieves usually do it behind a pc where its harder to get caught, if you picture them wearing a suit, dancing the tango, and ripping off some rich dude and female then ur watching WAY too many american films, they may exist but they don't last long in one area, people who have money can go to swanky places can find people very easily.

And even though I'm saying all this I go backpacking and speak to everyone and judge individuals by speaking to them, if they lie and they nick something more fool me! But Denise and mum are right to be worried better of being worried, asking questions and preparing rather than not thinking about it.

I wouldn't say "trust" no one on the road, think thats a bit self indulgent and to be honest lame. u'll ruin ur travels if you are paranoid all the time, but get some older or 2nd hand gear to take with you, and try to keep memory cards in ur pocket so if camera dissappears u got the pics and vids! Reply to this

Bet a million squillian pounds that if you say a stereotypical gypsie family on the streets of say... Wien and they were beggin Ibet you wouldn't go up to them! and certainly not showing that you hhave money or expensive belongings. Stereotypes good or bad negative or positve 90% of the time are there for a reason and wether peeps like it or not they are more often than not true. am sure theres examples of there being wrongs ones but theres alot of right ones as well! :p Anyway about to catch a bus! 😊 Reply to this

look, when your in your home town, you can often identify possible criminals by the sound of their voice or the look they have about them. sometimes you could be wrong sometimes right, but you know what i mean..

but this is about travelling, and the further afield you go, the harder it is to tell who is who.



take ecuador for example. i posted a thread about this before so i wont go on too much about it.

but anyway....

i was concerned about being robbed, i was getting on a bus, the 1st entrance of the bus was full of teenage guys, if i got in that door i would be huddled between them, so i chose another entrance where there were mostly middle aged and old women. during the journey one of the women slashed my pants in an effort to rob my camera.... it was skilfully done ..i never felt a thing , lucky for me i caught her before she got the camera...
she didnt look like a robber, she didnt look poor. she didnt look like a junky or a gypsy... in fact i dont think there are any gypsies in ecuador at all. there are many many women who dress in colorful shawls and have babies on their back and to the "westerner " they would look a bit like gypsies, but they are not.. they are mostly farming people.. anyway this woman was not even like that.. she was dressed well with makeup, handbags and tight clothes. she and the other woman she was with were professional theives.. they left their house with the intention of robbing someone.

the world is full of professional pickpockets, burglers and even kidnappers. and dont tell me they dont exist in europe because they do. my own company here in ireland was burgled this very week and i tell you they did an extremely professional job on it.

I wouldn't say "trust" no one on the road

thats not what i said either!

.. i said "dont expect any loyalty on the road"... what i meant by this is that when you are travelling you are constantly moving, and have only enough time to form a basic bond with people. you can meet people and become friends instantly, but unfortunatly that bond is not always strong enough. if you leave something behind you and they find it, you may never see it again, thats the reality of it. you would be surprised just how low some peoples morality goes when they know they will never see the other person again.

but dont be too hard on them... how many times have you lent a CD to a friend and never got it back.. the difference here is that you are travelling and you cant afford to be careless.
of course you can make friends , and even fall in love... but you have to take care of you things and never make assumptions.

allow me to tell you another storey. when i was travelling around bolivia, my alert levels for theives were high.. and i was fine, nothing was robbed off me. when i arrived in chile the culture shock was completely different, it was like france or something, like being back in europe. i booked into a quiet and very posh hostel. and i stayed there for a few days, the staff were german students and all of the clientele were business customers. i even made friends with the staff and went out one night with them. i felt very safe there. one day i accidentaly left my mp3 player beside the computer in the lobby. i only remembered this when i was leaving and i asked all of the staff, who said they knew nothing, nothing was handed in to reception..but when i asked the driver he told me an american guy had showed him some device and asked if it was his.. he showed me the american guys passport photocopy which was in reception. i had to take a flight 3000 miles away that day, but when i got there i searched for this guy on facebook, and found him. he told me he left it into reception and had given it to a german guy... i rang the hostel and got the german guys full name..he had now left the hostel. but i found him on facebook... i asked him about the mp3 , again he said nothing was left in to reception.. when i told him about what the american guy said, he suddenly recalled, and said oh yes i left that in the lost & found box but it was gone a few days later... three weeks later i was back in santiago and i returned to the hostel and aked the staff.... nothing......

at the end of the day.... im down an mp3 player... and of course i have nobody to blame but myself... and the only question is how could this have been avoided... of course i should not have disguarded it for even a second.. but the moral of the storey is that any class of person will rob your stuff if the setting is right.....the only difference between one and another is the length that they will go to to achieve it. and the best tool a thief has is your false sense of security.

this is why i say that some thieves dont look like thieves. and rather than passing judgment on everyone you encounter, its far more constructive to develope a method of caring for your stuff and preventing it from being robbed by anyone!
you need to think like a well oiled machine because when you slip up, thats when one of your items goes missing.











Reply to this

We had an interesting indirect experience with thieves in Barcelona. I don't know if this is being a jack ass, but here's the link if you care to read it: The Dutch are NOT to be fucked with.... Skip to the end of the entry for the thievery details. Reply to this

And yes Mell I do just like talking about Gypsies! Would kill to live in a Gypsie village for a while ( obviously wouldn't take anything valuable with :p ) VIENNA ROCKS!!! ( not sure if I mentioned that yet?! 😊 Reply to this

I have been pretty lucky when travelling and never lost anything of value to a thief, though once while boarding the metro in Paris I think a guy tried to pick my pocket! The Metro car was so crowded that I was the second to last to get in the car. A short fellow jumped in behind me as the doors closed. The car was really packed and it was difficult to turn around, I feel the guy behind me trying to get into my rear pocket where a small french / english dictionary was. (I keep my passport and money in a front pocket for just this reason.) Since I couldn't turn around and give him a poke in the snout I just put my hand back and hung my thumb into the pocket. The next stop the door opened and he was gone and I didn't think it neccessary or productive to give pursuit or to call for the flicks. Besides if he was a pickpocket he was a very clumsy one or maybe he just wanted to feel my ass. If you obcess all the time about someone robbing you your not going to enjoy your journey. Just be sensible keep your wits about you and more than likely you won't have any problems. Reply to this

if they decide to pick on urself

very true, the best defense is not to attract a theif... but sometimes it takes you by suprise. i would love to hear more storys because robberies are so common... i met 100s of people who had been or knew someone who was robbed in one way or another. everything from bank card being copied in a bank machine to recieving a drink of a strange girl, later to wake up buck naked in a hotel room with no money... though it would be better to hear these stories, first hand from the people they happen to.. anyone?

They varied quite a lot where crime is concerned

absolutely, the local travellers in my home town were respected in the community.

They dont like to be called gypsies though. They like to be called travellers.

thats true, wonder if any is keeping a blog :D
Reply to this

I believe that one of the biggest things we can do not be a victim is not to act like a victim. When we walk around scared of our own shadow - we invite people to take advantage of us. We live in a very lonely world, because people do not talk to each other. We are afraid to talk to the people around us. Strangers are to be avoided, they might hurt us.

I don't hold to this. I talk to everyone. When pumping gas - I talk to the others who are pumping gas. In line at the store, I talk to those around me. It puts you in control of the situation. Reply to this