Growing up in South Africa, we learn to be cautious and extemely vigilant about safeguarding our belongings and ourselves. When I was in London, it took me a good few days to get used to not having house alarms and to stop picturing every second person stealing my bag. Haha. Now I know I am over-paranoid (even by home standards) but the one advantage of this was that I didn’t actually stress lots about safety because its second nature to me.
Plenty people are investing in these anti-theft bags you can buy with metal in the handle so it can’t be slashed and RFID protection, that sort of thing. These bags aren’t cheap. I don’t think that they’re necessary, but I will also say that if you think worrying about your belongings is going to negatively impact your trip and you have the money, then you could buy it for your own peace of mind.
Funnily enough, the times I was most scared for my belongings was in the airport. I watched my bags like a hawk. My parents told me once long ago that they had left their luggage on a trolley and sat at a restaurant to eat when another lady casually tried to walk away with their trolley. “Oh sorry, thought it was mine” apparently. Not a chance was this happening to me. Keep your bags close to you at all times just in case. You’d hate to start your holiday with something going missing.
With regards to the Tube and trains etc. in London, it does get very busy. You will often be cramped, especially if you travel at peak times. This means that it’s pretty easy for someone to dig in your bag without you realising what’s happening, because you just think its people jostling around you. Just keep your hand lightly over your zip or whatever, and it will be a significant challenge for someone to get past you without you noticing.
This is a good general tip for whenever you’re waking around in a busy place. Make sure you always close your bag once you’ve put your wallet back in.
Cabbies were a cause of concern for me while on Contiki. Always have your hotel name, address and possibly a number on you. Have the sheet your TM might give you, have it on your phone, have it written on your arm, or whatever else you can think of. The cabbies do not always know where your hotel/hostel is, and this will make your life much easier, especially when you’re drunk. Try not to catch a cab by yourself – firstly, its expensive; and secondly, its not worth taking the chance you get lost or get a dodgy driver or something. You are responsible for yourself, so be sensible. On the subject of cabbies, ask your TM (or a tourist info place if you’re travelling alone) what you should expect to pay for a cab ride from certain places. Sometimes cabbies drive in circles when they know you’re a tourist to raise the meter. If you see its going higher than it should, you know you’re getting scammed. How you deal with that is up to you though.
Now all of these were general tips that I would have applied at home. But there was a wealth of travel-specific safety tips that I needed to read up about. Looking up these things works one of two ways. Either it makes you feel more secure, or it makes you more paranoid (same with safety tips your TM might give you). When it came to gypsies I was terrified. After my first gypsy encounter I was far less scared. I was scared because I’m not really used to scams as a form of crime, and this is essentially what the gypsies do. There are a number of tricks they use, but if you’re aware of them, they are pretty easy to avoid. [Side note: I actually read about a lot of these on the Lonely Planet website the other day after typing this up. Funny how that works].
COMMON GYPSY SCAMS:
1. Tying a “friendship bracelet” on to your wrist. This is one of the scarier ones as they can get really up in your face. Stop them before they get it on your wrist. Once its on, they hound you for money. Just pull your arm away if they’ve managed to get it (they’re sneaky like that), while saying “no” (in the local language) and keep walking. Should work.
2. “Sign this and this for such and such”. Firstly if you fall for this, you’re silly. Why in the world would you sign something if you don’t know what it is. Especially something given to you by a person on the street. Simply, don’t sign anything. Just keep walking.
3. This next one is one of the easiest ones to fall for. The gypsies approach you holding something (a phone or ring for example). They then tell you you dropped it and they want a reward. From what I can understand this works in two ways. Either you actually think its yours, or else you check to see where yours is – so you pat your pocket where your iPhone is. Its there. So you tell them its not yours, push past them and keep walking. And when you check again, your lovely iPhone is gone. Why? Because you showed them EXACTLY where you kept it, and they most likely nicked it as you pushed past.
The good news is that if you figure this out soon enough and call them out on it, they may actually return it to you. That’s the thing about gypsies – they seem to try avoid trouble as much as possible.
If you’re buying from a gypsy or a street stall, bargain with them. I know some of the Aussies said that this was a new concept for them, but its pretty easy to grasp with some fake confidence. Walk around a bit and compare the prices of what you’re looking for. When you pick a stall, have half the amount you’ve seen it for on you, and another few euro in your pocket or loose somewhere – eg: you’ve seen the bag for 30€ at all the places. Have only 15€ on you and another 5€ somewhere. So now when they say “30€” you tell them you only have 15. They will generally say no and so you turn to leave. They will then generally call you back and raise it a little bit. Then you can be like “oh I might have an extra 5 here somewhere” and pull that out. Cheaper bag for you, sale for them. The trick is to not let them see that you have more money than you’re offering on you. If they let you walk away then just go to the next place. You can obviously try this trick with much bigger differences in price, especially if you have time to stand and argue. Also make deals with souvenir shops that if you buy lots of things you get a discount. The only thing I found that this didn’t work for was hoodies as they seem to be pretty standardised. If you’re looking for sailor hats in Venice, the side street shops are cheaper. We got ours for 4€ each, everyone else paid between 7-8€.
When all else fails, just don’t make eye contact with the gypsies. Walk straight past with a purpose, firmly saying “no”. Especially at the Sacre Couer. Or else skip around going “It’s a gypsy” in a funny accent. At least you’ll have a laugh.
But seriously, don’t stress too much. Be vigilant. Don’t leave your bag lying around. Don’t leave valuables near windows. Lock your suitcase when you’re out for the day. And if anything does happen, your TM will most likely know how to address the problem.
Safe travels everyone!
Megan's Travel Adventure 