The Darker Side of Travel - Part 2

My second travel 'incident' (robbery) occurred in Madrid. We were travelling with a company called 'Busabout' at the time because it was a way of experiencing a large part of Europe without having to find our own transport. 'Busabout' is a hop on, hop off bus network, largely aimed at young people and although we were a bit older than most, it was convenient.

Anyway, we were in Madrid for the second time because our travel agents in their infinite wisdom had told us that we didn't need a visa to travel to the Czech. Republic when in fact we did. (I believe these visas are no longer necessary.) To get a visa while we were travelling we had to go to the Czech. Republic Embassy in Madrid, drop some forms off, and return again over a week later. Thus the second visit.

We were staying in cheap and nasty accommodation in a dodgy part of the city (as was much of the accommodation 'Busabout' arranged) and were on our way to visit one of the large parks in the area. As always we tried to be security conscious, i.e. watch out for dubious characters, locks on our day packs etc. but once again the unexpected happened.

My friend was walking slightly behind me and was stopped by two ladies carrying flowers. One of the women was heavily pregnant. They offered her a flower and were telling her to go to some festival that afternoon. They indicated they were working for the city. My friend was trying to find out what the heck they were on about. I stopped walking and waited for them to go, but then they started asking if we had any foreign coins they could swap for one of theirs as a souvenir. It was the wrong question to ask me. I collect coins from other countries so I could empathise with the request, and I knew I had a couple of foreign coins in my purse. (Stupid, stupid, stupid....) I took off my day pack, unlocked the padlock and got out my purse. I remember a local walking past shaking his head but at the time I just wanted to get rid of them. I opened my purse looking for the coin when she swooped.... She rammed her hand into my purse, pulled out the only note there (a large note) and they disappeared like a puff of smoke. She actually left her very small denomination coin behind!

Once again we had been duped by the unexpected. We walked on to the park while I was verbally berating myself for being so stupid. I threw her coin into the bushes and stormed around for the rest of the day, angry with myself for being taken in again.

Now looking back on the two incidents I realise that we were relatively lucky after all. Both incidents were about taking money or possessions. Luckily we had not been hurt as many people who are robbed are, and the possessions could be replaced. The moral is that when you're travelling you can't be ready for everything that might happen. You can be careful but that's all. Many thieves make a living out of travellers - and dreaming up unexpected ways of divesting you of your possessions is what they spend their lives doing.