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| The Traveler's Pub Message Board |
Backpacking Europe Getting Around |
In general, Europe is very safe. It feels safe, safer than in the US. Its not uncommon for young
teenagers to be riding subways in the middle of the night in major cities, bad things don’t seem
to happen to them often. Violent crimes are much more rare in Europe.
You will have to worry about the petty crimes though. For example, pick pocketing. I was
once in Barcelona (notorious for pickpockets) and meet a group of four people, three of which
had been pick pocketed.
I’ve also been scammed a couple of times. One a particularly embarrassing time because I feel,
even to this day, a gullible fool for allowing it to happen. Once in France, traveling with my
girlfriend, we met an overly friendly Frenchman who was trying to get us to let him help us by a
metro ticket. I got a bad vibe from him right away but dismissed it. He managed to get us to
give him something like $100 USD for a couple of single trip metro tickets, which are worth
only a couple of bucks. I still feel like an idiot about it, but he managed to get us to let him buy
them on his credit card and convinced us that they were week long tickets. I’m really not an
idiot, guy was just good. People do these type of things for a living, don’t get into a “can’t
happen to me” mentality. More importantly, when it does happen don’t let it give you a bad
taste for a people or place, and don’t let it spoil your trip.
teenagers to be riding subways in the middle of the night in major cities, bad things don’t seem
to happen to them often. Violent crimes are much more rare in Europe.
You will have to worry about the petty crimes though. For example, pick pocketing. I was
once in Barcelona (notorious for pickpockets) and meet a group of four people, three of which
had been pick pocketed.
I’ve also been scammed a couple of times. One a particularly embarrassing time because I feel,
even to this day, a gullible fool for allowing it to happen. Once in France, traveling with my
girlfriend, we met an overly friendly Frenchman who was trying to get us to let him help us by a
metro ticket. I got a bad vibe from him right away but dismissed it. He managed to get us to
give him something like $100 USD for a couple of single trip metro tickets, which are worth
only a couple of bucks. I still feel like an idiot about it, but he managed to get us to let him buy
them on his credit card and convinced us that they were week long tickets. I’m really not an
idiot, guy was just good. People do these type of things for a living, don’t get into a “can’t
happen to me” mentality. More importantly, when it does happen don’t let it give you a bad
taste for a people or place, and don’t let it spoil your trip.
| Safety |
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