Have you ever been robbed while traveling?
By TrvlArrngr
@TrvlArrngr (4045)
United States
April 27, 2012 7:07am CST
This past weekend I was escorting a small group of my employees on a familiarization trip of London. We arrived Saturday afternoon, checked into our hotel and then went on the London Eye and walked to Trafalgar Square for lunch. I put my pocketbook under the table next to my foot. When I got up to leave after a delicious fish and chips meal, my pocketbook was gone. We walked a few blocks to the local police station who said they could not help me without ID - I had nothing since everything was in the bag. By the time I got back to my hotel they had charged all my cards.I spent a few hours calling all of them all. I had to depend on my staff to pay for things. I didn't have any makeup or even a comb for my hair. It was traumatic! I had to wait until Monday to go to the US Embassy for an emergency passport and that took about 5 hours. From there I spent 2 hours at a different police station. Missed my flight home on Monday and had to stay over another night. Luckily my hotel gave me the room for free. The only thing I got to see were the 3 police stations, the embassy, and the ferris wheel. So disappointed and so sad. I lost so much - cash, passport, drivers license, makeup, eye glasses, keys, blackberry, etc. Deep Sigh. Has this happened to anyone else? How did you handle it?
1 person likes this
5 responses
@else22 (4317)
• India
28 Apr 12
Yes,only once,but not on bus or train.Someone had picked my pocket at my destination.Actually I had taken my younger sister to a city for an operation.When I reached there and took my sister to the doctor,I suddenly found there that someone had picked my pocket and my purse was not there.I can't tell you how embarrassed I got then.
@TrvlArrngr (4045)
• United States
28 Apr 12
How awful! Especially when asked to show the insurance cards and ID.
@waazula (116)
• China
28 Apr 12
I also had gone through a traumatic experience of being stolen. That was two years ago I were waiting for the train but i went there several hours ahead, then i went to the nearby park to sit on a big stone and rest. I put down my bag beside me but didn't take it in hand, just a few minutest when i looked back, my bag was gone. My purse, camera, cellphone, bank cards, ID card, jade necklace, and train tickets had gone...
I even couldn't find the police there.
It was a nightmare for me and I don't want to recall this. It took me a long time and a lot of troubles to get new ID card and bank cards. Now I'm very cautious in every trip and take my bag in my hands anytime. Also, I'm not taking all those important things together in one bag.
Let's learn from these hard lessons and hope such things will never happen again.
@TrvlArrngr (4045)
• United States
28 Apr 12
I am going through that now - trying to get new cards issued and replacement license etc. It is a major pain.
@hgwyneth (120)
• Philippines
27 Apr 12
It's really a traumatic experience. Instead of enjoying your trip, you did nothing but to see police. I thought London is a safe place to travel around. It's really a nightmare. Anyway, I haven't experience and hopefully it wont happen. I don't know what will I do if so. Many of my friends experience so not only once but thrice. My niece even experience being pointed with a sharp knife on her neck and she was traumatized. She avoided travelling alone.
@puccagirl (7294)
• Israel
27 Apr 12
No, I haven't, but my friends were robbed once when we were travelling together, in Dublin. Me and one of my friends went into buy something in a store, and our other friends waited outside and got robbed. We felt very bad about it of course, since they got robbed while waiting for us. They reported it to the police, but nothing ever came out of it I'm afraid...
@TrvlArrngr (4045)
• United States
27 Apr 12
I doubt anything will come out of my report either. I guess we have to be grateful we were not hurt. It is just costly to replace everything and spend all that time getting replacement copies of all your cards and documents.
@honest_efforts100 (1607)
• India
17 Oct 12
Traveling makes us enjoy the life as it is. Still, this is not the reason to travel unprepared. Store all your documents, cash etc., in a safe place, like a wallet, or inside a safe in a hotel room. It not a joke, losing documents can be quite uncomfortable. Belive me, it happened to me a lot of times. But I"m much more responsible these days.
