westcoastprairiegirl

On our first trip to Paris, this was my travel purse:

On our first trip to Paris, this was Armando’s travel wallet:

Yes, a picture is missing of Armando’s wallet because it was pick-pocketed by a gang of gypsies.  I was standing right next to him as we rode the train.  I didn’t notice a thing.  In hindsight, Armando noticed a slew of people get on the train at once, as we all squished together and then the crowd left on the next stop as a young gypsy girl stood outside of the car looking in.  Armando noticed her, wondering what she was doing.  Was she getting on or off?  What was she waiting for?  She suddenly flung a wallet into the train, just as the doors were closing.  The woman next to us exclaimed that it was hers, as she looked in her purse and realized her wallet had been snatched.  In that moment Armando checked his back pocket and realized that his wallet was gone.  I didn’t see the cocky gypsy that had thrown the woman’s wallet back at her but Armando did and the story of a gypsy girl who pick-pocketed Armando’s wallet has morphed into his current version of a gang of gypsies “attacking” him for his money.

My purse was safe.  Our passports were safe.  But we made stupid mistakes.  We travel enough so we should have known better.  But we got too comfortable.  We had just returned from Nice, France where, for some reason, I had Armando carry my credit card and ID in his wallet one day while we were there.  On the flight back to Paris, I thought that I better get my cards back from him but decided to get them once we got to our hotel in Paris.  Well, between the airport and our hotel, his wallet was stolen.  So all his credit cards, my sole credit card, and all of our ID (except for our passports, thank Gawd!) were stolen.  And we normally separate and store our money in different places like good travellers do, but for some reason, all our money was in his wallet that day.  We sure made some gypsy family happy!

What a lesson learned.

So, as we head back to Paris this week, I am determined to win this time.  Next post, I will show you my DIY Anti-Theft Purse but in the meantime, check out this video and see how even watches can get swiped!

Related articles

• Travel Tip: Avoiding Pick Pocketing. (insydetravel.info)