Editing Barcelona (section)

== Pickpockets, Thieves, and Self-Defense ==

MOST VISITORS TO European and other countries don't encounter pickpockets or thieves regardless of how or where valuables are carried. In one developing North African country with a rap for rip-offs only five percent of visitors are victimized by thievery, according to a British magazine survey. In your travels you will mostly experience waitresses chasing you down with a forgotten camera, taxi drivers taking the best route, other backpackers looking out for your stuff, the correct change in your hand time after time, the shining honesty and kindness of good people.

Nevertheless, if you make it easy there are a few thieves everywhere (including Barcelona) who may steal your property, and the trouble and expense of replacing passports, tickets, travelers checks, and gear can wreak havoc on your tour. Fortunately, with common sense and an awareness of how thieves operate, risks can be reduced.

=== Dangerous Areas and Local Information ===
Every major city has an area more dangerous than elsewhere, and a time when this is especially true. It may even be safe during the day, but becomes sinister after nightfall. Such areas are always well-known to locals, so get advice from a hotel, tourist office, or waitress. Most guidebooks include warnings about red light or seedy areas, but conditions may have changed since the information was written.

Another point is that just because other travelers say someplace is perfectly safe, that doesn't make it true. It may only means they didn't encounter problems. I listened to an experienced backpacker swear how the dangers of a particular area were highly exaggerated or non-existent, when the previous day I had encountered three Germans who had been robbed at gunpoint there. 

Local authorities and tourist offices cannot always be relied upon, either, as they may have an interest in minimizing problems, so you always need to use your eyes, ears, instincts, and best judgment, along with a few degrees of body lean towards safety, away from recklessness.

=== Pickpockets ===
As you wait in line at the crowded Amsterdam tourist office continuously blaring over the loudspeaker is this warning in six languages: "Your attention, please. Watch your wallets, there are pickpockets about!" 

That tourist office is tough pickings for any would-be pickpocket, as everyone is continuously fidgeting with pockets or purses, and throwing about a great many suspicious looks. 

I have, however, encountered a number of pickpockets in my travels. While queuing in a train station I observed a pickpocket's hand stealthily slip into a purse. For some reason the snatch couldn't be made, so he slithered into another line and attempted to lift a wallet from a back pocket. (I then made his presence known, but he immediately disappeared into the crowd.) 

I have also chased hands from my pockets four times--twice while disembarking crowded buses (a very vulnerable situation1); while temporarily blinded as I descended into a dark, sleazy club from a bright street; and in a market. A travel mate had her fanny pack unzipped and wallet removed while pressed against a wall of people in a crowded market. Another backpacker in the same country had been pickpocketed three times in two months, also in markets. Said he, "They're good." 

The professional pickpocket in the developed world has a more-or-less standard operating procedure. He chooses a likely target--someone who obviously has money within easy reach, which includes back pockets and purses. If the thief cannot get the money cleanly, he or a partner will create a distraction by bumping the target, violently colliding with the target, or spilling something on the target. The wallet is snatched and within two seconds discreetly handed to a partner who quickly walks away. The money and valuables are removed and the rest dumped within a few more seconds.

Even if you see or feel what is happening, you have no evidence. The scoundrel says someone shoved him into you, you fell into him, or you were trying to rob him. 

Another tactic is to create a disturbance with the target's friend or partner, and then pickpocket the real target while he/she is distracted. 

These pickpockets look for easy marks. As long as you don't dangle your money in a purse, or dangle it in a back pocket, or otherwise dangle it on a thread ten feet behind you, they will choose an easier target, of which there are many. 

In the developing world you are a juicy target because pickpockets know you have ten, a hundred, or a thousand times more money than the average local. You are the target. There is no getting around that. But if you keep most of your money in a hidden money belt against your skin as detailed below, you'll be safe from pickpockets.

=== Money Belts--Your Best Defense ===
"Money belt" does not mean the fanny or waist pack many tourists wear outside their clothes. If you wear one of these in some areas you will immediately see "$" signs light up in some eyes. And I'm willing to bet when you see a waist pack on a tourist your first thought will be something like "Big, fat bag of money!" Imagine your thoughts if you were hungry and jobless, or a street urchin with no one to look after you.

You can probably use a waist pack in Europe without incident. Millions of tourists enjoy their convenience, and they are safer than pockets and purses. But they are not nearly as safe as hidden money belts. Criminals know waist packs are "where the money is," and no waist pack is a match for their deft hands and incredibly sharp razors.

Thus the primary achievement of hidden money belts is the "out of sight, out of mind" principle. It's almost a secondary benefit that they are impossible for a thief to snatch without your knowledge.