I travel a great deal also. Most of the time I am traveling alone.
However, the two times that my wallet was stolen, I had another
person with me.
The first crime was perpetrated in an outdoor market in Oaxaca, Mexico. My adult daughter and I were holding hands, so as not to
be separated in the crowded market, as walked around,looking at the lovely Mexican artifacts.
Suddenly, we were surrounded by two men and an old woman. The men pushed between us, while the woman jostled me off balance, grabbing me while apologizing profusely. The trio then disappeared in the flash of an eye, leaving the zipper of my purse open, and my wallet gone.
Fortunately, I had left most of my cash and my passport in the hotel safe. But the thieves did get over $400 in American and Mexican cash, my driver's license, insurance cards, treasured
photos and two credit cards.
After having our day ruined by spending three hours in the Oaxaca police department (as a police officer laboriously typed up the report on a 50 year old Underwood manual typewriter) and calling
the US to inform my husband about the credit cards, DL and Insurance cards which he needed to cancel, I vowed that I would never again
be careless enough to have this happen to me a second time.
About six months later, after arriving at Charles De Gaulle airport early in the morning, after a sleepless nine hour flight, EH and I entered an elevator, to access a different level of the airport.
We were each dragging a wheelie, with a flight bag on top, and my purse (the same one I had been carrying in Oaxaca) was hanging from my shoulder.
There was an attractive young man and woman on the elevator when
we entered. They were carrying flight bags and appeared to be travelers. As they exited the elevator on the second floor, the
man jostled me slightly. I didn't think about it til we got off
on the third flooor, and EH noticed that my purse was unzipped.
With a sinking heart, I immediately saw that my passport case was gone, together with our passports, credit cards, $500 in American and French money, plane tickets, and all of our pertinent hotel and plane reservation documents.
We immediately went to the police station located in the airport,
and told our tale of woe to an English speaking gendarme. After
the policeman completed the report, he called the American Embassy
in Paris so that we could report the lost passports. Just as EH
was telling someone in the embassy what had transpired, another
policeman came up to us, carrying my passport case. It had been spotted in a garbage receptacle, and turned into the police!
Miracle of miracles, every credit card, passport, ticket and reservation was still in the case. Only the money was gone. We considered ourselves extremely fortunate. This once more bore out
EH's contention that, "It's much more important to be lucky when you're unlucky, than when you're lucky!"
The zippered purse that I had been carrying in both of those burglaries, was the same. It was a large, leather, box shaped bag,
with a zipper that started on the bottom of one side. and went all
the way across the top of the purse, and down the other side. It had been one of my favorite purses.
I bought a new purse in Paris, and left the old one in our hotel room. The new bag, and every bag that I've purchased since that
time (over ten years ago) has a wide flap on top, which closes OVER the zipper, and can be well secured, with some kind of locking device. There is no way a thief can get a hand inside the purse.
I've had no problems since that time.
I do suggest that when buying a new purse, or carrying an old one, that due caution is used in regard to how securely the purse closes, so as to foil potential pick pockets or wallet thieves. Do NOT carry
purses that have no protective flap over the zipper closure.
~Babe~
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--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, HRDiane@... wrote:
I travel solo probably 10 days a month for business and pleasure.
One thing I learned a long time ago is to always have a purse or
bag that zips all the way shut. No one can just reach in or bump into me and lift it.The purses also have chain straps mostly to avoid a cut&run type offensive move...........