Travel Security

Been to some diverse parts of America these past twelve months.  Pittsburgh about a year ago.  Then Florida's Atlantic Coast as the winter solstice approached.  Two drives to NYC.  A Me session in the Poconos for two nights.  A week's travel to San Francisco and environs in early summer.  And most recently four day trips to the farthest reaches of my home state and a day of amusement at one of America's most respected amusement parks, with a couple side ventures to places nearby.  For all these visits, I had no serious concerns about my safety or the contents of my pockets, from wallet with cash, cards, and documents to keys or cell phone.  A pickpocket could have caused great disruption but prudent precautions would suffice.  On the beaches, my possessions except for $10 and phone stayed in the car or in my hotel room.  At the waterpark, I got a locker.  My appearance looked like anyone else's appearance, only clothing with home team logo giving me away.  And even there, people relocated as permanent residents often keep their hometown loyalties, so a White Sox cap or a Celtics T-Shirt would not expose somebody as a traveler.  Expensive photographic equipment probably would announce a tourist, though for all the places I've been, I didn't see many.  To be sure, while a tourist myself in the City by the Bay, the tour buses and ferries had visitors from every part of the world, but the population of SF is also from every part of the world, creating some uncertainty as to who is really a transient.  And everyone speaks my native language.  

Undoubtedly there are professional thieves in America, some taking what is not theirs as their source of income, those descendants of Dickens' Artful Dodger perhaps, and others unemployable by in urgent need of money for one of several destructive habits.  But in America, we think of criminals as violent people who in one way or another do not look like everyone else due to some element of suspicious appearance or mannerism.

With a stay in Paris on the horizon, security concerns seem very different.  I've been abroad twice before.  First I took a tour of Israel, one where a bus took the group from city to city, never staying in our hotel more than three days.  I think of Jews as fundamentally honest people, not folks who would break into your room or distract you to remove the contents of your pockets in front of an historical site.  I stayed a few days in Jerusalem beyond the tour.  They know who the Americans are but don't seem to prey on them.

About five years ago I cruised the Adriatic, starting with a few days in Venice.  I did not think much of thievery.  Certainly the cruise ship enabled possessions to be locked, staff who entered a room risked everything for themselves if they pilfered a passenger's possessions.  It was a cashless situation.  My ship ID hanging from a lanyard could be swiped for anything that would generate a charge.  That left only the ports as vulnerable places, and I experienced some.  In Venice, St. Mark's Square had crowds and European pickpockets making their living off them.  We rode a water transit which had tourists crowded with natives.  But I did not think a lot about getting victimized and ultimately did not.

Paris seems a whole other matter.  Again, we are on a tour, so I expect considerable time on a bus, yet we are not venturing far from the city and its attractions.  Museums, towers, cathedrals all attract crowds.  Moreover, many visitors tour independently.  Just the right environment for groups of pickpockets to cooperate with each other.  One chooses a target, the other distracts, the first swipes.  And so the online guides warn us.

They know who the Americans are.  We wear baseball caps with our home team's logo.  We have T-shirts with slogans or images of our hobbies.  We carry big wallets in our back pockets.  Much of the contents of my wallet I will not need.  Some euros, but not a lot.  A credit card.  An ATM card to get more euros.  I will need my driver's license to drive to the airport and home, but not while in Paris.  Library cards, park admission cards, discount cards for the stores I shop, those can stay home.  Medicare card and supplement and Rx plan I probably could just put away once I get to the hotel.  Same with keys.  Maybe take one flash drive and enough small bills to tip drivers.  And the cell phone.  But eliminating the appearance elements of an America, that's hard.  I suppose I can take a few plain t-shirts or the ones that picture the ninja turtles, but leave the team IDs home.  But that wouldn't be an authentic me.  And while I only plan to take a few shorts, there are advantages to cargo shorts with extra pockets.  Same with trousers, even though I plan to have less in my pockets in Europe than I customarily carry at home each day.

At the advice of the online guides, I purchased two cross chest carriers, one for my new camera and its accessories, the other more all-purpose, a rectangular nylon one, water-resistant, with pockets for the cards I might need, sunglasses, perhaps phone.  Distribute one card someplace else, and euro bills in two other locations with an Eagles Money Clip.  My wallet, perhaps, or a pants pocket, or maybe not even take the wallet outside the hotel.  Copy of passport in my cross chest bag in case somebody needs to ID me.  Unless somebody looks visibly Jewish with a kippah or other attire, France is not a place where violent encounters are likely, but apparently theft is.  I'll take reasonable precautions.