Personal Safety While Traveling

If you spend any time at all perusing travel web sites and message boards such as Trip Advisor, Fodor's, Rick Steves, Lonely Planet, etc., you know that two of the most discussed topics are pickpockets and tipping.  (More on tipping in a later post.)

It's a sad fact of travel today that professional pickpockets of every age (including young children and the elderly) are active in most major cities.  You can run into them anywhere, particularly on mass transit and at key tourist sites.  These are crimes of opportunity, so your best defense is to minimize their opportunities by (1) being alert to your surroundings, (2) only carrying the valuables you need for the day, and (3) securing your cash and credit cards in a fastened inside pocket or money belt.

A healthy dose of skepticism is a valuable, if uncomfortable, asset for the modern traveler.  It's not natural for me to assume the worst about a stranger so this is an attitude I wear consciously, especially when I travel alone.  Like many others before and since, I was targeted on a crowded bus in Italy.  I foolishly left my cheap, old cellphone in an outside pocket of my bag for all to see.  Someone did and they took it; fortunately for me my lesson was learned with an item that wasn't valuable and was easily and quickly replaced.

Rick Steves has a good, short article on the topic on his web site:  Rick Steves Article