External hard drive stolen in Paris

Parent Cafe
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<p>I deeply empathize with you NYUmom.</p>

<p>Just came back from Paris. Beautiful city-Bad experience. Within seconds of boarding the train to Brussels…ruck sack got stolen (with passports). Had kept the bag on the overhead rack–within sight. As soon as the train pulled out- realized the bag was gone. Went through a lot of ‘trauma’ because had to lodge police complaint, report theft to our country’s embassy, get emergency passport/documents to travel back home. All this when we were thinking that we were lucky to be ‘safely’ returning home from Paris!</p>

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<p>momof2inca,
Thanks for sharing - that must have been quite upsetting when it happened - and glad that your homeowner’s insurance was able to help in that case.<br>
mathmom,
Maybe in a three star restaurant it would have been ok, but for some reason, he was carrying it around with him - maybe he was either coming back from or going to edit. There was a certain level of complacency on his part.</p>

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<p>anxiousbear,
Do you mean that the sack was on the overhead rack, and it was stolen right from there while you were on the train? Hopefully, at least you were able to get your passports replaced, but still - your other belongings, etc. That’s terrible!</p>

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<p>Tourists in Europe are easy targets since they are easily distracted–by scenery, ambiance, and the stress of travel. I am in Europe at least once every year. Ive lived in Italy and traveled to Paris at least 10 times and I have never been the a victim of theft.( I have however alerted other travelers to impending thievery.) Open eyes and common sense are all it takes
to avert this type of mini disaster.</p>

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<p>Please do not make sweeping generalizations about entire nations based on anecdotal evidence of one or two occurrences. Do we like it when non-Americans think we are all gun-crazy lunatics based on seeing one or two American films?</p>

<p>I have lived in Europe off and on for the last 27 years. My family and I carry backpacks, passports, wallets, external hard drives, laptops, cell phones, iPods, etc. etc. and in the last 20 years we have never had a theft incident (my passport was pickpocketed 25 yrs ago, but I didn’t have my wits about me). We have lived or traveled widely in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, England, Czech (Prague, etc.), Hungary, Switzerland, Slovakia, and Slovenia without incident.</p>

<p>On the other hand:
Several months ago, my daughter left her cell phone on a public bus in London. Within an hour, the person who picked it up called us and gave us her home address to retrieve it.</p>

<p>My son lost his expensive sound-proofing headphones in Germany. They showed up at the school office weeks later – the ‘finder’ had tracked down the bus route.</p>

<p>My other son left his backpack on the Tube (London subway). He retrieved it at the Transport for London Lost Property Office. (If anything ever ‘goes missing’ in London, you should always check there first).</p>

<p>Never ever EVER put your passports, credit cards, etc. in a bag off your person. I’ve written about this before. That’s why most hotel rooms have mini-safes. Make copies of passports and credit cards, keep them in a safe place. Scan them and email them to yourself, so you can get copies just in case.</p>

<p>Travel wisely, and with eyes and mind wide open.</p>

<p>A.M.</p>

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<p>We were tent camping in Switzerland. My husband left his wallet on a rock near the check in office. I told him he could kiss it goodbye. Later that evening we were approached by two young Italian women who had spent a good hour going from campsite to campsite looking at my husbands picture and the campers faces so they could return the wallet and the 300 euros therein. We invited them to dinner and later they even visited us in California.</p>

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<p>My D is going abroad in September, I’ll have to make sure she’s careful. You might want to have your S check his credit records in case there was any personal information that could be used to get credit cards or loans in his name.</p>

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<p>While overstated generalizations are uncalled for, so is the use of anecdotal evidence to undermine known facts and known statistics. Should one wonder why the U.S. Embassy in Paris makes the effort to post a statement on its web site? Could it be a result of more than a few occasional cases?</p>

<p>Reporting facts objectively is not an affront to the local countries where the growing problems of thefts and organized petty crimes by young foreigners (and citizens) are often reported in the daily press. </p>

<p>One can take a romantic --and naive-- view of the perils of traveling abroad. It so happens that travelers tend to lower their guards when traveling in areas filled with other tourists. A fact that is hard to ignore. </p>

<p>There are extremely honest and less honest people all over the world.</p>

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<p>Pickpocketing and thievery has always been present in Paris and any other major metropolitan city. Anywhere with distracted and careless tourists makes a great target for thieves. </p>

<p>Honestly, it’s good to learn a lesson like that relatively early on in life. I had my wallet stolen from me on the metro when I believed I was being fairly vigilant. I since learned that fairly vigilant is not enough and you basically have to be clutching your things to you at all times.</p>