By Carl Weiss
It’s that time of year when
thoughts turn to going on vacation for a week or so in order to get away from
it all. In years gone by, most people
wouldn’t give it a second thought while packing their bags about being extra
vigilant before and during their trip.
Sure, they might tell a friend or neighbor to pick up the mail. Perhaps they would suspend delivery of the
newspaper. But that’s about all the
thought that they’d give it.
Now that we life in the
digital era, a little extra effort needs to be taken before heading for the
airport, unless we want our trip to be ruined before it even begins. In fact, savvy travelers not only use the
Internet to shop for the best travel deals, they also use it to check out their
intended destination from the comfort of their homes.
The Problem with Paris
 |
| Image courtesy of britannica.com |
How would you like to travel
to the City of Lights only to find out that the most famous Parisian tourist
destination of them all had gone dark?
That’s what happened on May 22, according to Fox News.
PARIS
– The
Eiffel Tower closed to the public for most of the day Friday as workers
protested a rise in aggressive pickpockets around the Paris landmark that
attracts thousands of visitors daily. The walkout came a day after Paris
authorities announced that crime against tourists in the French capital had
dropped this year thanks to reinforced police presence and video surveillance.
The
tower didn't open Friday morning because the staff was concerned about petty
crime around the site. Clusters of tourists streamed beneath the tower, unable
to reach its viewing platforms. It remained while staff and management held
meetings about security measures, then reopened in the late afternoon,
according to the company that manages the site. The tower is normally open
every day of the year, but sometimes closes briefly for bomb threats or
strikes.
Tower
employee Denis Vavassori of the CGT union said the workers want a permanent
police presence." It is a growing problem. There were always pickpockets
at the Eiffel Tower but now we are really facing an organized group," he
told The Associated Press.
Parisian pickpockets…Sacre
bleu! While many people read about this
news item, there are hundreds of other travel calamities to which the traveling
public is completely unaware. In a
recent article in the Huffington Post, travel writer Charlotte Alfred pointed
out the 10 Countries that have the highest murder rates. While you would expect destinations such as
Colombia (#10) and El Salvador (#4) to make the list, what might come as a
shock to many is that the islands of St. Kitts (#8) and Jamaica (#6), along
with Belize (#3) also make the top 10. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/10/worlds-highest-murder-rates_n_5125188.html
For a Free Copy of Carl's E-Book, Fill Out the Form Below.
Danger Afloat
Of course, danger doesn’t
only lurk on dry land. In an April 2014
blog posted by cruiselawnews.com, maritime lawyer Jim Walker points out the 10
Most Dangerous Cruise Destinations in the World. His list includes such places as the US
Virgin Islands (#8), Antigua (#7) and the Bahamas at #1.
“We
have been warning about crime in Nassau ever since we started this blog in
September 2009. In October of that year
two vicious robbers robbed a group of 11 terrified cruise passengers from a
Royal Caribbean ship at gunpoint in Nassau.
Two months later, 18 cruise passengers were robbed during excursions
from Royal Caribbean and Disney cruise ships.
We
receive more complaints about crime in Nassau than all of the other ports in
the Caribbean combined. Armed robberies,
sexual assault of teenagers and young women, and the murder of a tourist makes
this port a dangerous place to take your family. The US State Department has issued multiple
critical crime warnings for the Bahamas.”
Speaking of the State
Department, at the time of this blog, there had been 36 travel warnings issued
by them since the first of the year, including this update concerning Mexico:
“Millions of U.S. citizens safely visit
Mexico each year for study, tourism, and business, including more than 150,000
who cross the border every day.
Nevertheless, U.S. travelers should be aware that the Mexican government
has been engaged in an extensive effort to counter organized criminal groups
that engage in narcotics trafficking and other unlawful activities throughout
Mexico. Crime and violence are serious problems and can occur anywhere, and
U.S. citizens have fallen victim to criminal activity, including homicide, gun
battles, kidnapping, carjacking, and highway robbery. While many of those
killed in organized crime-related violence have themselves been involved in
criminal activity, innocent persons have also been killed. The number of U.S.
citizens reported to the Department of State as murdered in Mexico was 81 in
2013 and 100 in 2014.
Gun battles between rival criminal
organizations or with Mexican authorities have taken place in towns and cities
in many parts of Mexico, and have occurred in broad daylight on streets and in
other public venues, such as restaurants and clubs. During some of these
incidents, U.S. citizens have been temporarily prevented from leaving the
area. Criminal organizations have used stolen cars, buses, and trucks to
create roadblocks on major thoroughfares, preventing the military and police
from responding to criminal activity.
The number of kidnappings throughout
Mexico is of particular concern and appears to be on the rise. While
kidnappings can occur anywhere, according to SEGOB, during this timeframe, the
states with the highest numbers of kidnappings were Tamaulipas, Guerrero,
Michoacán, Estado de Mexico, and Morelos. Additionally, according to a widely
publicized study by the agency responsible for national statistics (INEGI, the
National Institute of Statistics and Geography), Mexico suffered an estimated
105,682 kidnappings in 2012; only 1,317 were reported to the police. Police have
been implicated in some of these incidents. More than 130 kidnappings of U.S.
citizens were reported to the U.S. Embassy and consulates in Mexico between
January and November of 2014.”
While we are all
looking for a little excitement, dodging narcoterrorists and crooked cops is
probably not what most of us have in mind.
A quick scan of other hotspots includes an update on the aftermath of
the recent Nepal earthquake, as well as a reminder concerning Hurricane and
Typhoon season. (Due to El Nino, the
Atlantic basin is expected to see a 70% lower change of Hurricanes this year,
while on the flip side the Pacific is predicted to be anything but, expecting a
70% greater percent probability of typhoons.)
The link to the State
Department’s website is http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings.html
You have been warned!
Loose Lips Sink Trips
Really?
Let me point out to
you the fact that in the world of cybercrime, crooks no longer need to cruise
through your neighborhood in order to case likely suspects. All they have to do is connect with your
social nets. A blog by crime reporter
Ben Parsons reported a case of a burglar that taunted a victim by logging onto
their Facebook page.
“The
crook said he planned to pawn their belongings and signed off with “regards,
your nighttime burglar”.
Victoria
Richardson, 42, whose web page was hijacked the day after the break-in, said
the invasion of privacy made the crime doubly painful.
The
home she shares with her husband Dan, 35, and their children in Marine Avenue,
Hove, was raided between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
An
iPhone, a Nintendo DS games console, a handbag containing a purse, cash and
debit cards and a black Toshiba laptop were all stolen. The next day someone logged on to the social
networking website Facebook under Mrs. Richardson’s profile and started leaving
illiterate taunts - claiming they had left the television behind because it was
not good enough for them.
One
read: “on my new laptop”. The next said: “listening to music on my new phone
feels so good.”
They
then wrote: “i have the laptop , phones ok but a bit scratched itll do tv was
rubbish so i left it ,ds was a bonus now to the porn shop i goto , thank you
toshiba is my favorite make”.
The
final note read: “regards your nighttime burglar”.
Lesson learned, I hope. If you do
want to share your travel memories with friends and family, be smart and wait
until you return to do so. Your
insurance agent will thank you.
Also, be smart when it comes to avoiding problems while away. Never flash a lot of cash or wear expensive
jewelry. The only people you are likely
to impress are those that make their living robbing tourists. (A friend of mine who is with the police taught
me years ago to carry the bulk of my cash in my socks.)
It’s a wild and wooly world out there.
If you don’t want your vacation to end in the police station or even
worse the ER, then you need to take care before you find out the hard way about
the perils of getting away from it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment