Robbery On the Rise Everywhere, Especially When Traveling Abroad

WSJ-TV

LAST WINTER MY CAR WAS BROKEN INTO AND MY PURSE STOLEN. I was at a  park hiking with a friend early on a cold Saturday morning. The robbers had been staking out the parking lot in a black SUV with tinted windows (so the police told me) and watched for dumb, carefree women like me who nonchallentally stowed their wallets etc in the back floor under a blanket before getting out and disappearing on the trail with friends.

I made myself a total sitting duck. Hopefully I won't let it happen again. After I hiked away, the team of vandals smashed one of the back windows with a big rock and I'm still vacuuming pieces of glass out. What a mess. What an inconvenience. Since then, there have been countless articles in local newspapers about the growing crime robberies in cars at state and metro parks---specifically in parking lots after hikers have hit the trail.

Think  I've learned my lesson not to take a purse with me, or if I do, to take only what I'm willing to carry in a pack, or stow in a secret compartment before leaving home. Still there are no guarantees. The video above on pick pockets abroad reminded me what a masssive inconvenience getting robbed is no matter where you are. My sister got her purse snatched with her passport and wallet with all kinds of credit cards and money when she arrived in Madrid several years ago.  Spending your vacation at the American embassy  trying to reconstruct your identity is not my idea of a fun vacation.