Common Tourist Scams

One of my favorite stories about being abroad is the time I got pick pocketed in Prague. Basically this girl was trying to talk to me in Czech and next thing I knew, my phone was no longer in my pocket.  Now I may have been a few adult beverages in at that point but I quickly knew something wasn't right and was able to get my phone back.  

Unfortunately one of the things you will likely have to deal with whilst travelling is avoiding scams.  I've come up with a combination of personal experience and things I've read online of common tourist scams around the world.  A lot of the European ones happen in multiple countries, pick pocketing being the main thing to look out for. Of course you should always be aware whilst travelling but still try and enjoy yourself and don't be overly paranoid.

Paris, France

The Petition: This one can happen in a few ways.  The simplest is someone will approach you asking to sign a petition.  They will make sure their clipboard is blocking your view from looking down whilst a partner walks by and pickpockets you.  The petition isn't actually for anything.  Tried to me.

The other version is someone claims to be deaf/blind/mute and their petition basically says (in French) you will pay them by signing the paper.  Saw it happen.

Kids: This happened to me multiple times within my 24 hour stay in Paris (luckily nothing was stolen). Basically a large group of kids all of a sudden swarm making lots of noise and try to steal from your pockets.  It's amazing how quick those kids are.

Dropped Ring:  Basically a stranger approaches a couple and says one of the pair dropped an expensive looking ring.  Obviously the couple will say the ring is not theirs but the stranger will give it to them anyway. Time to pay up.  Read about this online.  Apparently it's very common.

Bracelet:  Scammer asks if the victim wants a friendship bracelet and no matter the answer will tie cloth or plastic wristband very tightly around the wrist.  Since it's on so tight and can't be removed, money is demanded. Read about online.

Extra Hotel Charges:  I imagine this happens everywhere but I received a massive charge from the hotel I stayed at because they claimed we cleared out the mini fridge.  I don't think we even opened the fridge.  I got my money back after threatening to contact the credit card company.

Barcelona, Spain

Street Games:  These seemed to pop up and suddenly disappear everywhere on La Rambla. The games usually consist of find the 'something' under three cups and win money. It's always rigged and you will not win.  The main person has others in on the scam posing as players who may "win" and pretend to be audience members, cheering people on.  Even if you don't play, you are prime pickpocket target by watching.  Saw it happen.

Dancing Puppets:  There's a lot of people on smaller streets selling paper cutouts, usually in the form of a popular cartoon character.  The cutouts seem to be magically dancing to music.  Nope.  There's a hidden string making the characters move to the music.  Saw it happen.

Public Transit:  Pickpockets love the trains.  They get on when a cart is full and place themselves right next to the door.  After a quick slip of the hand, they run out at the next stop as the doors close.  Saw it happen.

Pigeon Poo: The scammer tells you a pigeon pooped on you.  Luckily they happen to have water and paper towels ready to go.  While scrubbing the nonexistent stain, your wallet goes missing.  Read about online.

Italy

Train Ticket Help: This was fascinating to watch.  While waiting for our number to be called to buy tickets, my sister and I saw three guys clearly trying to scam people.  One was at the automatic ticket machine appearing to help tourists buy tickets so they wouldn't have to wait in line. There were two other guys closely watching everything and observing where wallets were being kept once it came time for the tourist to pay.

Thailand

Paying for Friends: This one is popular in many places.  The scammer will approach a lone tourist, befriend them, and want to go for drinks.  They take you to a bar/club and order drinks that cost an exorbitant amount of money without you knowing (the business is in on the scam). Sometimes the scammer will simply leave before the bill arrives or "pay" for half, leaving you with the other.  If you refuse to pay, some very large bouncers will escort you to the nearest ATM.  Read about online.

Everything is Closed:  Cabbies will tell a passenger the place they want to go to is closed (it's not). Instead, they offer to take you to their friend's store so you will spend money there instead.  Read about online.

Not Using the Meter:  Also involving cabs, the driver will quote a price and not use the meter.  This always results in paying substantially more.  Always use the meter (or an Uber which is way cheaper).  Read about online.

Hollywood, USA 

Free CD:  Want to be "music artists" hang out on Hollywood Boulevard and either get you to listen to their new demo CD and then give you a copy or just hand you a copy straight out. It seems to be free until they demand money for it.  Needless to say what is on the demo is probably not worth the $20 they want. Apparently many times the CDs they give are actually blank.  I had a CD shoved in my hands, quickly tried to give it back, and the person was not happy.  If I recall I actually had to throw it in with the rest because he wouldn't take it back.

Characters: Not so much a scam but just be aware those mildly creepy people dressed up as superheros will want money if you take pictures of/with them.

New York City, USA

Buying tickets on the street: Especially around Times Square, people will approach you offering very cheap tickets to some sort of show.  Although some are probably legit, the scammers will lie about what the ticket includes.  Someone unsuccessfully tried to sell me tickets to a comedy show after lying about the headliner.  The guy also called the theatre where the show was supposed to be and had me talk to a guy who in no way shape or form sounded like he worked at a comedy club.

What's the best way to avoid scams?  Unfortunately the easiest way is to be a little rude to strangers. Especially in Europe, most people who start a conversation with "do you speak English" is going to scam you.  Also, always keep an eye on your belongings and never put anything valuable in your pockets.  If you want to learn some more,  Scam City is a fun show where the host purposefully gets scammed.  It's quite interesting.

- - - - -

In other news:

• The Olympics are great
• Rock climbing will be in the Olympics for Tokyo 2020!
• I'm going to Cairns in Queensland at the end of the month to swim on the Great Barrier Reef and do other tbd things

That's all for now.  Bye.

The Voting Dilemma

I've mostly avoided political commentary on here.  As Rafiki would say, "it is time."  

I wrote the majority of this quite a while ago and wasn't going to post it but after the train wreck that was the Republican National Convention last week and the, let's just call it interesting, DNC this week, it felt relevant.

I'm a strong proponent of voting.  I absolutely love that voting is compulsory here in Australia.  One of my biggest pet peeves in the US is people complaining about a political issue and when asked if they voted, they say no. No vote?  No complaining.  Not voting is really just out of pure laziness which is incredibly sad when there's places around the world where people don't have the privilege of having a say.  Since I was 18, I have voted in every federal and state election and have continued to do so living abroad.

Then there's the US federal election of 2016.  Come November, whether people like it or not, the United States is going to elect a new president.  Unless something shockingly unpredictable happens, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will become, arguably, the most powerful person in the world.

But what do you do when you don't support either candidate?

Now yes, I'm only one person.  I'm a registered voter in Oregon which has been a blue state since the 80's.  In all reality, my single vote really isn't going to do much.  If I were in a swing state, one vote can mean a lot more. Regardless, I reckon I'm not the only one who is feeling this way.  With what I imagine millions of others are thinking, do I/we vote for someone we don't want to win?  

Trump photo by Michael Vadon, Clinton photo by Gage Skidmor

Bernie Sanders had/has a massive following and people (understandably) became incredibly devoted to him. It was Bernie or Bust!  If Sanders didn't win the Democratic nomination, people were vowing not to vote for Hillary Clinton.  As I am not a fan of Hillary Clinton for a multitude of reasons, I have gone through the internal debate of whether or not to vote for her.  A vote for a candidate should mean you support the majority of their policies as well as believing in them as a person who can do the job honestly and with integrity. Unfortunately, my vote for Hillary Clinton would not be representing these things.

Is voting for Clinton the lesser of two evils?  I don't consider Hillary Clinton to be necessarily evil (although I might not be able to say the same about her second-coming-of-Hitler opponent) but I strongly disagree with a lot of her actions and the way she got the nomination.  A vote for Hillary is instead, primarily, a vote against Trump; I'd be voting for Trump to lose. Once again this brings up the question of is this right?  No, it is absolutely not.  

Yes, people can write in Bernie Sanders on their ballots.  There's no doubt in my mind he will get a lot of votes in November but realistically, it won't be anywhere near enough to win the election.  My fear is writing in Bernie will split the votes.  If the Democratic Party is dividing their votes whereas the Republicans are all polling for one, you do the math. Basically that equals inevitable World War III. So why not support Jill Stein? First off, I don't know much about her besides the few articles I've read and it would essentially have the same effect as writing in Bernie.  Unfortunately the US has a two party political system and Stein has pretty much a 0% chance of winning.

Taking that into account, I've seen a lot of comments/articles online of staunch Hillary fans and converted Bernie supporters saying if "Bernie Bros" don't vote for Hillary, they will be handing the White House to Trump.  No.  Just no.  No candidate is entitled to a vote. Let me repeat. No candidate is entitled to a vote. 

Like I said, a vote should be for someone you support and can agree with.  Hillary has catastrophically failed at appealing to a lot of people and that is no one's fault but her own (although isn't it convenient that all of a sudden she's coming up with Bernie-esk policies). The election is essentially a job interview and she failed to convince about half of the first-round hiring committee she should get the job.  If she loses the election, it's her own doing.  

So why not just forgo voting this year?  Like I said earlier, this isn't an option.  Not participating in the electoral process is almost criminal in my mind.

Come November, or whenever my ballot becomes available in Australia, I will be voting against Donald Trump.  Since this isn't Survivor and we can't vote people off the island (although with a Trump presidency many will be forced off the island), unfortunately the only way to effectively do this is to vote for someone else.  

Will I be voting for Hillary?  Yeah, probably.  That said, people need to stop belittling others and calling them "ridiculous" for not wanting to vote for someone purely to go against another.  Yet again, that is not why you should vote for a candidate.

That's all for now.  Bye.