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.

Auld Lang Syne

New Years is kind of an odd holiday if you really think about it.  Nothing magical happens between December 31st and January 1st but it somehow always feels like the end of an era and the beginning of another.

For celebrations, a group of us gathered at a friend's house to bring in the new year.  There was food, drinks, games, and good times.

2015!

2014 was one of, if not the most, craziest years of my life.  There were some extreme highs and some extreme lows.  It marked a major shift in the life that I knew and forced me to start almost completely over.  I try to keep these postings light but have a feeling this one might be a bit heavier.

So what big things happened in 2014?

• Despite going borderline insane due to being enrolled in 21 credits, I had my most fun semester at CSU of the time I was there
• Was able to have a fantastic time traveling across the country from New York City to LA (where I finally got to experience Disneyland!)
• Got to see some of Canada for the first time and made some (hopefully soon) travel goals
• Graduated from university.  That still hasn't really hit me yet
• Mentored and made a noticeable impact on a 10 year old's life
• At least for me, made what I hope to be a lifelong best friend from the other side of the world who has been through an eerily similar amount of identical life experiences/situations as me
• Lost one of my oldest friends but still think about him often
• Had to say goodbye to my two best friends and all the other people I got really close with after 3.5 years living in Colorado.  I think about them everyday and miss them terribly
• Moved back to the Northwest
• Even though the process was long, I got a job that was number one on my list
• Started writing this weekly blog which is both fantastic and frustrating.  It's great to look back at something for every week and see when I had nothing to write about or when the ideas were flowing

What will 2015 bring?  I don't really do the whole resolution thing but I do like to set some goals.  What might those be?  I don't want to give away too much so those are just for me.  

Hope everyone had a memorable year and that 2015 will be just as eventful.  I've got a feeling this is going to be a good year.

Happy New Year!  

That's all for now.  Bye.

Empire State Of Mind

Surprise!  Apparently I'm blogging again!

In case you weren't aware, I wrote a blog about my study abroad experience in Europe last year.  I kind of miss blogging.  I've started up some new blogs a few times over the last few months but haven't been happy with the content and never published them.  I decided I'm just going to go for it and see what happens.  I thought I'd start the first post out with a bang.

So I'm in New York.

It's CSU's spring break this week and I'm spending the first part of it in The Big Apple.  It was kind of a spur of the moment decision to buy a plane ticket to New York but it's a place I hadn't been and the opportunity presented itself.  I flew from Denver to New York with a layover in Chicago on Monday and met up with my good friend Vlad who was fulfilling his lifelong dream of seeing Lebron James play with the Heat in Miami a few days prior (more about him later).

Following a series of unfortunate events with Vlad's flight from Miami to New York, we were finally able to meet up and take a bus/subway to our hotel.  Our original lodging had fallen through only a few days before we were supposed to get here which stressed me out like none other but we managed to find a place to stay.  We were literally around the corner from Times Square which let us be the ultimate New York tourists.  After checking in, we walked around the overwhelmingly bright and crowded Times Square

Consumerism at its Best

On Tuesday morning, we caught a train headed down to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan.  From there, we walked up to Wall Street and Ground Zero.  The 9/11 memorial consisted of two amazingly crafted fountains dug deep into the ground where the towers used to stand.  Forming the barrier up top were etched names of those who were killed in the attacks.  Although I remember the event happening quite well, I didn't realize how big of a deal it was at the time.  I tried to imagine what it would have been like to have been in the city that day but could not wrap my head around it.

NYSE on Wall Street

Ground Zero Memorial

We then headed back to Battery Park to catch a ferry to Liberty and Ellis Island to see the Statue of Liberty.  Lady Liberty was impressive in person!  Our ferry tickets also let us go up on the pedestal but the line to get in was taking too long and we decided it wasn't worth waiting.  Ellis Island wasn't terribly exciting but it was neat to see the rooms where immigrants registered when they got off their ship.

Welcome to America

After getting back to Manhattan, our legs needed a break.  We had planned to head back to the hotel to catch a quick rest but were partially zoned out on the subway and missed our stop.  When we realized this and got off at the next stop, we discovered we were at the edge of Central Park.  Knowing that Trump Tower was close by, we walked to 5th Ave and saw all the stores that I could never afford.  After more wandering, we found Rockefeller Plaza and saw the ice rink, NBC studios, and Radio City Musical Hall.

Ice Rink

Radio City Music Hall

At this point, we headed over to the Eugene O'Neill theater to try our luck at the Book of Mormon ticket lottery.  Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), we weren't chosen.  At this point, we really needed a break so we grabbed some food and headed to the hotel for a nap.  Feeling recuperated, we set out to Times Square again to do some overpriced shopping.  Vlad had never been to Applebees before so we stopped into the one right off of Times Square which we realized was a mistake a minute after looking at the menu.  Prices were about $5-$10 more expensive than the normal mediocre Applebees food so we left.

After the failed lottery ticket attempt the day before, the two of us decided to go for rush tickets Wednesday morning to ensure we would see a show.  My sister, Megan, told me about rush tickets.  I had no idea what they were prior, but basically you line up at the theater hours before the box office opens hoping that you're one of the first 20ish people to get a greatly reduced ticket.  The seats are not ideal (think front row or partially obstructed view) but paying $30 instead of $300 is worth it.  We decided on Avenue Q.  The show's website was not very informative about the rush tickets and we showed up way earlier than we needed to but got the cheap tickets!

We then walked back to the hotel where Vlad took a power nap and we checked out of the hotel.  Our next stop was Central Park.  We walked around the park a bit and saw the ice skating rink as well as some scenic shots frequently used in movies.  It was freezing but the park was a nice break from the rushed city atmosphere. 

Central Park

At this point, we headed back into the city and met up with my uncle Mike.  He took us to a food cart where we got curry wurst which was delicious!  We walked around for a short bit and parted ways but it was great to briefly see him!

Up next was the Brooklyn Bridge.  Vlad and I caught two trains to the Brooklyn side of the bridge and walked across to Manhattan.  The architecture was amazing and you could see the green lady in the distance to the left and the Manhattan Bridge to the right.

Brooklyn Bridge

When we got back to Midtown, we got off at Grand Central Station and walked to the Empire State Building followed by some more shopping followed by Avenue Q.  Our tickets were for the front row which wasn't ideal for the singing but the show was a great time!

Grand Central Station

Almost every trip I took in Europe, there was either a snow storm or a rain storm.  Apparently that theme decided to stay with me in the US because when we got out of Avenue Q, it was pouring!  At this point we had nothing else to do so we got our luggage from the hotel storage room and trudged through the torrential downpour to catch the subway to the airport.
 
So here we sit, currently in the JFK airport, waiting for our 7AM flight to our next location.  Even though the only people who may read this probably know where that is, I'll keep it a secret until next week's post.

Granted we were really only in New York for two full days, the city surprised me, mostly in a positive way.  Everything was much cleaner and felt much safer than I was expecting.  The pace of life is definitely faster than what I'm used to/like.  The amount to do in this massive city is endless.  We hit up almost all of the major tourist sites but it would be fun to explore areas away from Manhattan.  Could I see myself living here?  Absolutely not.  Would I come back? Absolutely.

One more thing.  Vlad has been making YouTube videos about his time on exchange here in the US and they're pretty funny.  Here is his spring break compilation video. 

That's all for now.  Bye.