Jewelry in the Med.

[katiebeth]

We are booked on Celebrity's Millennium sailing from Barcelona to Venice in June. We are really looking forward to this cruise and have gathered a lot of great information from these boards.

 

One bit of information that is a little disturbing is the issue of pick-pockets. Based on the comments on these boards, it seems to be a real problem in Spain and Italy.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations for the type of wallet/money holder to carry? I assume backpacks are not recommended. I always travel with a backpack, so may feel a little "out of sorts" without one.

 

Also, what about jewelry? I assume that it is not wise to wear anything of value. I always wear my wedding ring and a nice watch, but am considering leaving them at home. I may substitute costume jewelry instead.

 

We cruised Northern Europe and the Norwegien Fjords a couple of years ago and never felt "at-risk". However, it sounds like the Med. may be different.

 

Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Nancy

[Hlitner]

Katiebeth, I think this is one of those situations where a basic truth has gotten terribly exagerated. Yes, there is a problem in many of the tourist areas of Western Europe with pickpockets/purse snatchers. Many of this criminals are gypsies who freely roam all over the EC. The good news is that they want your valuables, not your life, and will seldom physically harm their victims. We also have this problem in our country except the pickpockets in the US will often harm their victims. Ok, so what to do. The bottom line is that you should use common sense, always be alert to your surroundings (good advice anywhere) and take some reasonable precautions to discourage pickpockets. As an example, my wife wears her purse across her chest and she uses a large diaper pin to pin together the two zippers (this makes it almost impossible for someone to simply reach inside her purse. Men should never carry their wallets in a back pocket, and its a good trick to simply put a large rubber band around your wallet and keep it in a front pocket or in a security holder under a shirt (you can buy these anywhere they sell travel stuff). There are other good practices such as not to carry more credit cards than you will need, etc etc. My wife and I have traveled throughout Europe and Asia for over 20 years, and have only had 3 attempts (Bologna, Arles, and Istanbul) to pick our pockets (all failed). Actually some of the biggest problems are on certain roads in Europe where gangs of gypsies will try to distract tourists so they can steal everything out of their car. In some areas of Italy and Spain this is such a major problem that my wife and I often have to leave one of us with the car in a rest area while the other goes to the rest room or to buy food. This actually can become funny like the time a family of gypsies kept eyeing our car at a highway stop just outside of Barcelona. At one point, whiule my wife was inside the restaurant, I sat on the hood of our car and waved and they waved back. A minute later a Spanish police car stopped next to my car and the officer (in very good English) warned me not to leave the car unattended. Some of the gypsies can use very ingenious methods to distract potential victims such as handing you a baby (usually a doll). The gypsy woman that tried to pick my pocket in Bologna a few years ago, did this in the middle of the day in a busy part of town. I saw her coming from a distance (she was not very good) and waited until she put her hand in my pocket (it was an empty pocket). I than started to smack her on her arm with my umbrella and her hand got stuck in my pocket. After a minute she managed to walk off in a huff! We didn;t stop laughing for an hour and the people who saw this happen where all laughing at the inept gypsy. As to jewelry, just use a little common sense. We were in New York this weekend and saw a jewelry store that had a sale on "Travel Jewelry." My wife explained this is now the term for fake stuff you can wear on a trip.

 

Hank

[Andee]

I havn't felt unsafe or at risk in either Italy or Spain.

 

I always wear my wedding & engagement rings. For other jewelry, when we travel, I often wear silver, because I figure that a thief won't want it because it isn't worth much.

 

I wouldn't bother with cz or fake gold because I don't think a thief will have a jewelry loup with him to examine it--he'll just take it, and I don't want him thar close to me.

[Keith1010]

I would be careful of your money no matter where you travel but ever more so in certain cities, particularly places like Rome and Barcelona.

 

When we are in port, I will take one credit card with me off the ship and some money and I will wear it in a wallet pouch that I wear around my neck and under my shirt.

 

I will hold my wife's ID in my pouch and that way she doesn't need a purse. In those cases where she does take a purse, she will hold it close to her and if we are walking together she will hold it in between us.

 

I think these are good precautions to take in many cities around the world, including certain cities or area in the US.

 

In terms of jewelry, when we leave the ship we leave most of it back on the ship.

 

I always tell people to be street smart (eg., observe the surroundings around you) when you visit cities that you are not familiiar with, again, whether inside or outside the US.

 

Keith

[tom_uk]

Like other posters, I haven't had problems in either Spain or Italy.

 

Having said that, it so happens that when I'm travelling I always wear trousers from a company called 'Rohan'. Not really because they're secure, but because I like their style & comfort. Very light polycotton trousers, with lots of zip-up pockets, and my wallet and everything of value stay in there. I'm not saying that the sole reason I've not had problems is due to the clothing, but I can't help feeling it might help.

 

If anyone's interested, here's the url for their website:-

 

http://www.rohan.co.uk

[fern]

Katiebeth. You have no need to worry more about pickpockets.etc. in Europe than you would in an city.

All you need is to use commonsense as you would in any strange town or city.

If you are worried pick up a local language free paper and carrry that . That even scares "timeshare touts" away. They quickly move if they think that you speak the local language!!!

[LuvCruzin2]

We have found by being aware of your surroundings is the very best recourse in preventing pickpockets. Whenever I carry a credit card, cash, or anything of value, I wear my TravelSmith pants with a zippered interior deep pocket inside the regular pocket. With them being deep, the items in them do not show. It would be virtually impossible for anyone to steal items of value because they are deep and zippered shut. Not only are the pockets great but the fabric doesn't show wear, always looks nice, dries very quickly, and allows for museums, churches, etc.

 

We have had several pickpocket attempts without the thieves having any success, until our last trip. We have traveled all over the world and to Europe more times that we can count and have seen gypsies at work. In Madrid, by being alert, we avoided the typical mayo or mustard trick. Just yelled loudly and the young kids scattered!

 

Our last trip to South America resulted in the only "successful" attempt to pickpocket. A young kid materialized out of nowhere as we were going around a corner, reached into my companion's pocket so quickly that we almost didn't see him, and retrieved a dirty Kleenex, hotel plastic room card, and 8 US$ in Pesos. Fortunately my companion had the wallet in the opposite FRONT pocket with hand on it.

 

Keith1010: We do much the same as you only my companion wears a money belt with a copy of our passports, a few $s, and a credit card. We also carry credit cards with different numbers just in case one of the cards is lost or stolen. That way we still have access to funds.

 

One totally unexpected story from friends convinced me to never wear my diamond or CZ that looks like diamond ring. Traveling in Costa Rica, their bus was stopped by a couple cars that kept passing then slowing down then passing. The thieves finally were able to board the bus and took all wallets, purses, cameras, and jewelry. Our friend had CZ and was more than willing to part with it. However, the credit cards were a different story as they needed to spend some of their valuable trip time contacting companies.

 

I have a special gold wedding band that comes out when we travel. That way I feel a bit safer and definitely not flashy.

[luvnorway]

Have read the excellent advice in previous posts concerning how to conceal the valuables you have to take with you when going ashore in a port (Ship's ID, Credit Cards, LOCAL currency), but don't understand why anyone should be worried about wearing jewellery when the simple solution is: Don't wear any! All you need to have on is an inexpensive watch.

Avoiding being pickpocketed is like deterring someone from breaking into your house - you may not be able to take preventative measures that are 100% guaranteed, but you can easily make yourself a less attractive target than most of the other tourists around you. Even the gypsie kids are looking for an easy mark, not a challenge!