Paris Pickpocket, so good you can’t even get upset!
4February 2, 2014 by kittynh
I have had incredibly good luck with living and travelling in Europe. I had never been the victim of a pick pocket or robbed, so it was rather a surprise when during a visit to Paris I had my wallet stolen. It was my first day, and I was off to my favorite museum. I left my hotel near the Gare de Lyon and took the metro to the Gare d’Austerlitz.
I enjoyed a happy day of museum visiting, and only on returning back to my hotel did I find my wallet was missing.
Paris, you take the good with the bad! Also that darn bag isn’t coming next visit!
I do have a few tricks I’ve learned over the years, so I was shocked I had actually been robbed. Lesson one, if you see a sign warning you of pick pockets, do not then go look to see if your wallet is safe. Pick pockets stand near these signs because most tourists do indeed check to see if their wallet is safe. Then the pick pocket knows where your wallet is.
Also, I learned, you keep your room key and some money somewhere else than your wallet. I lost only a credit card and four dollars US money. I also lost my drivers license, which I usually do not carry with me to Europe. My mistake and there is somewhere out there a terrorist or international drug smuggler with my name and sadly having to use my drivers license. It was a horrible photograph, and I hope if they are ever caught the judge takes into account they have already been partially punished by having to try to look like that photograph.
It says “London” on the outside and is leather. it’s not even black!
I also blame the nice bag I was carrying. I travel on a budget. I wear all black because I can pack for 2 weeks in a carry on if everything is black. However, someone gave me a very lovely expensive leather travel sling bag, and I was rather proud for once of looking like a cool traveler.
The bag is not only leather, but has all those cool inside pockets with zippers. It was, I thought, secure strapped across my body. Instead, it was a challenge.
I have never even opened this inside zipper pocket where the cigarette and calling card were found. Very impressive!
When I returned to my hotel room, I looked for my wallet and found nothing, however I did unzip a pocket I had never even looking into. Inside I found a new cigarette (I don’t smoke) and a small calling card. I was informed by the staff at the hotel that rival pick pocket gangs leave calling cards, and the cigarette probably identified which member of the gang had done the actual lifting of the wallet. My husband and I were truly impressed, as that inside zipper pocket required a truly professional pick pocket to reach. We weren’t upset at all, a cancelled card and the poor pick pocket only got 4 US dollars. I imagine the card and cigarette cost might have cost more.
I carry what I do need in another pocket or safer place. Rick Steves, travel guru, once wrote that you should always have a wallet with a small amount of money in it for thieves. It’s your way of having something to give. In case of a robbery, most thieves will be happy with a wallet. I never carry enough that even if everything is gone it will ruin my holiday. Also, I’m on a budget, the poor pick pocket didn’t know I was going to lunch at McDonald’s that day, mainly for the free wifi! Hey, dinner was going to be fancy, and I wasn’t paying the wifi fee at the hotel!
Paris, it’s a wonderful city, even when you are robbed.
I didn’t even report the robbery. I imagined the pick pocket at the end of the day with his or her gang, pulling out a horrific looking drivers license, a credit card without a chip to make it work in some places in Europe, at least for renting bikes, and 4 dollars. It was a far worse day for the pick pocket than it was for me.
The hotel staff agreed it was “The bag”. It’s beautiful, and will be used again one day I am sure. But it’s only fair I truly represent myself to the professional pick pockets of Paris. I don’t have anything worth stealing in there. Next trip, my usual beat up old backpack. If they want to rob that, fine, a leaky water bottle, a half pack of gum, a beat up guide book (I don’t have a phone that works in Europe, so I go old school for directions), and the 10 Euros for lunch is probably residing in my left sock. Or not. Hey I’m not making things too easy!
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Yankee Skeptic 
Reblogged this on Two Different Girls.
I would like to ask what you would do in case you got your wallet stolen in a foreign country. Does the embassy give you some money, if you really got all stolen? I am a student in Paris and met a woman on my way home tonight. She told me that she had got her wallet stolen today, and she contacted the embassy to remake her passport so that she will be able to return in her country, but she didn’t have any money on her and asked me for some because she was very hungry. I didn’t have much money because you know I am a student, so I proposed her to go to the supermarket and I bought her a meal and drink. I helped her because I couldn’t do otherwise in this case, but I wonder if I was fooled. If she was really in trouble, I did something good; if not, shame on her. But I still want to know more about the situation, so, does the embassy give you money or at least some food in this case?
the embassy is the place to go. But I think her accepting a meal and drink proves she’s legit. The con artists when I lived in France and Belgium, NEVER wanted food. In fact the begging children you see (especially in Brussels) will often throw the food at you if you buy them a meal. I used to laugh as the parents would make the children beg on busses and trams, but the children obviously would not dress the part. The kids all wore leather jackets and new expense sneakers. SO, if they take food, it’s a good sign! (also never fall for a begging child, the only true beggars in most of Western Europe are those with addictions. The Gypsy groups keep their children out of school to beg. They really are doing well financially, avoiding children at all is important. They distract you, while their parents rob you!
maybe read Morris Berman’s bk Why America Failed can offer some interesting historical narratives regarding the failed empire?