 1 reasons for travelling - why travel?
 2 THE MOST POWERFUL REASONS TO TRAVEL
 4 credit cards and dangers
 5 Apartment Hotels
 6 backpackers
 7 backpacking - dangers
 8 Safety While Traveling (on the Bus, Train, etc.)
 9 Scams
 10 Fraudulent Travel Clubs and Vacation Packages
 11 Telemarketing Travel Frauds
 12 The National Fraud Info Center
 13 CRIME
 14 Top Ten Ways to not become a Victim of Violence Abroad
 15 What To Do If You Are Robbed or Attacked
 16 theft
 17 Pickpocketing
 18 Security for Women Travelers


\1 reasons for travelling - why travel?

Third World Traveler and Responsible Travel in the Third World

Why we travel to the Third World We visit Third World countries to see and meet people different from ourselves. They live in places unlike our own communities with values at variance from those we have grown up with. They touch us with their openness and honesty and with the simplicity of their lives. A vacation to the Third World often changes the way we look at ourselves, at our country and at the world.

Traveling responsibly We want to travel to the Third World, but we want to do it responsibly. We realize that our vacation destination is some else's home, and that both the people and their culture should be respected. We do not want to support, either financially or psychologically, a government that abuses its citizens or restricts their political rights or civil liberties, nor do we want to worsen the plight of these people or make their lives more difficult because of our visit. We also do not want to avoid these countries, denying ourselves the experience of the visit, while at the same time, isolating the people from the outside world.

Informing ourselves about human rights, and government and corporate policies It is for practical reasons that we find out as much as possible about a country we plan to visit. But, it is out of respect for the people of the Third World that we learn about the human rights situation in each country before we go. Third World Traveler provides responsible travelers with information about the Third World, and about the impact of policies of countries and corporations of the First World on the lives and human rights of Third World peoples. 

The meaning of traveling responsibly Well-informed, responsible travelers have a unique opportunity. We can tell others about the people, cultures, and governments of Third World countries. We can describe a travel philosophy that values Third World people not as objects of curiosity, but as individuals with feelings and values similar to our own, who need to tell the people of the First World about their lives and their hopes for a better world. We try to explain to the people of the First World how the policies of their governments and their corporations affect the lives of Third World peoples. 

Through our actions, we may be able to change government and corporate policies, and we may be able to improve the lives of some of the people who have touched us. This is the true meaning of traveling responsibly, and it is an important purpose of this website.


\2 THE MOST POWERFUL REASONS TO TRAVEL

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." ST. Augustine.

Life is meant to be lived, not watched. It takes more effort to travel than it does to sit in front of the tube. So what makes it worthwhile? Most people say they take a vacation to relax, perhaps fish, play golf or tennis, or lie on a beach. Given the amount of stress in daily life, it's no surprise that relaxation is the first thing that comes to mind. The fact is that rewards of travel are many; they include but extend far beyond relaxation. Here are some that seem most compelling.

Perspective. Freed from the cocoon of familiar places, the traveler learns how people in the rest of the world live and what they care about. Perspective expands. After you've been there, you own London; you know the people of Bangkok and understand the emotions in Jerusalem. When expressions of artists in a dozen cultures have enriched your mind, you develop true appreciation for the immense breadth of human creativity.

A small article reporting that an earthquake has devastated a village high in the Peruvian Andes will escape the scanning eye of most readers, but when you've met those villagers and listened to their music, that article leaps off the page. Having been to India, you no longer skim past an article describing a violent clash between Hindus and Moslems. You read it and your heart aches.

Travelers develop a deeper understanding of the strivings of billions of humans, of lives filled with achievement as well as lives filled from dawn to dusk with hard work, disease, and hopelessness. Learning about the religions, politics, customs, and attitudes of very different cultures helps us understand our own better. We come to realize how much of what we accept as true reflects the values of the country, even the neighborhood, in which each of us grew up. "He who never leaves his country is full of prejudices." Carlo Goldoni - Pamela Nubile, 1757

Do you remember the fable of the Blind Men and the Elephant? One blind man puts his arms around the elephant's sturdy front leg and says the animal resembles a tree. Another grasps the trunk and insists the elephant is like a snake. A third runs his hand along the great flank and declares that "An elephant is very like a wall." None got it right.

In other words, it's hard to have an accurate perspective on humankind when your experience is limited to a single culture. o Beauty. The greatest beauty that man and nature can devise awaits: music, landscapes, and sunsets; the architectural brilliance of cathedrals and palaces; the breathtaking majesty of the Himalayas and the redwood forests. Beauty surrounds you when gliding silently in a dugout canoe through the papyrus-bordered waterways of the Okavango Delta, strolling in the south of France, or listening to the roar of the lion or the roar of the sea.

o Special Places. You may be compelled to travel by the lure of a specific place, a vision with a mysterious resonance. It may be Kathmandu, a cavern, or a carnival; any image reinforced until it becomes a command. It may be a yearning, ingrained by childhood's tales, to return to the "old country" to see how your ancestors lived.

oSSpecial Interests. Sail to Madagascar to seek rare orchids, trek along Peru's Tambopata River in search of nearly extinct birds, or dive among exotic tropical fish at the Great Barrier Reef. Whether it's art, wine, food, architecture, Siberian tigers, or just better weather, travel can gratify your special interests.

o Personal Growth. A person would have to be almost brain-dead to wander about the world for weeks or months without growing from the experience. On the road, there's no phone ringing and no lawn to be mowed. Instead, there's plenty of time for contemplation, even solitude. Personal growth may take years to be recognized, or it may become evident with dramatic suddenness.

o Personal Challenges. Personal challenges such as trekking, diving, and climbing, stretch physical capabilities and awaken what someone called the "adrenaline angel." Other activities challenge the mind. Surely, some of the finest moments of our lives are those when we're stretched the most.

o Self-Esteem. Planning a complicated trip, say to a half-dozen Asian countries, is no easy task. When you return, having successfully solved every problem that came up along the way, your feelings of competence and confidence have been strengthened. eg, after she'd ridden a bicycle solo from Ireland to India, I imagine that the writer Dervla Murphy saw little need to conform to any conventional view in Ireland of a "woman's role."

o New Priorities. Travel provides time for setting new priorities, deciding how to allocate your time when you return. If you write them down as you travel, these insights won't be swept away by the familiar routines of home.

o Renewed Energy. After all that exercise, daily mental stimulation, constant variety, and excitement, you return home full of plans, eager to re-energize your life and get into action. o Escape. Some people travel not to get to someplace as much as to get away from some place. From beaches to bar stools, people talk about travel as an escape--from a weak economy, a lost job, an unhappy relationship, or the daily treadmill.

Some travelers are recent graduates, perhaps waiting for a new job to start. Others, looking ahead to careers an  family, feel it might be now or never for travel. Some, dissatisfied, tired of responsibility, or newly retired, hope that travel will stimulate changes in their lives.

"Most of us abandoned the idea of a life full of adventure and travel sometime between puberty and our first job. Our dreams die under the dark weight of responsibility. Occasionally the old urge surfaces, and we label it with names that suggest psychological aberrations: the big chill, a mid-life crisis." Tim Cahill - Jaguars Ripped My Flesh, 1987

o Curiosity. Travel serves that insatiable curiosity about the other side of the mountain. It enables us to see beyond the horizon, to learn about people in far away places. In the big picture, the earth is no more than a tiny mass, not really the center of anything. At the very least, we should satisfy our curiosity about it as well as we can.

o Business. Knowledge of the world can be a major asset in business. Western nations will continue to increase their trade with the three billion people who live in the less-developed world. When you've traveled in a country and understand its politics and business practices, and have a sense of the place not revealed by statistics, you're a valuable resource when decisions are being made about doing business in that country. On a resume, visits to less-traveled places imply independence, confidence, energy, and intellectual curiosity.

o Awakened Emotions. Travel evokes not only positive emotions such as excitement and awe, but other emotions as well. You'll sometimes be in the midst of people whose living conditions are wretched. Not quaint, or merely lower than those of Western societies, but wretched. In some countries, many people can't afford education or even nutritious food. They're chronically ill with diseases that could easily be prevented or cured in the developed world.

They can't earn a living because there's no longer a market for the products of their labor. After seeing people as individual human beings rather than electronic images on a screen, you may find yourself emotionally kidnapped, compelled by compassion to do something to improve their conditions. It doesn't happen to all travelers, but it could happen to you.

o Romance. More than a few people hit the road with romance on their minds. They hear about the allure of men or women in foreign lands and decide to see for themselves. Some relationships pass with the sunset, some remain vivid for years, and a few last a lifetime.

o People. For the fortunate traveler, the longest-lasting travel memories are of people. As we travel, we luxuriate in trading life stories, speaking our minds, breaking free from our familiar roles. Staying in touch with friends made on the road, local people as well as other travelers, is one of life's deepest pleasures.

o Memories. How can it be put better than Hemingway did? "If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast." Memories of travel experiences are a treasure.

o First Hand Information. Traveling frees us from having to rely on what's reported on television or in newspapers. You become able to interpret and respond to international events on your own. Relations among nations are affected by how well people in different cultures know one another as individuals rather than as stereotypes.

o Reward. Many people finally figure out that they deserve a treat. They've worked hard and want to reward themselves. Travel is that reward.

o Freedom. In the end, travel is freedom. Freedom from the weight of possessions and from ruts, freedom to be the person you think of yourself as being. Evan Connell said something to the effect that "Some people do not travel the way most of us travel. Not only do they sometimes choose odd vehicles, they take dangerous and unusual trips for incomprehensible reasons."

If you understand the reasons for which you want to travel, that's good. If not, "incomprehensible reasons" will do fine. Someone suggested, perhaps with tongue in cheek, that the desire to travel may be genetically programmed into some people. If so, I have that gene. I can't not travel.

How we talk ourselves out of traveling Since the reasons to travel are so compelling, why would anyone stay at home? Not being an expert on that subject, I put the question to quite a few people and came up with the revealing answers I've summarized below. Interestingly, most people I talked with said tvl was a high priority even though they weren't doing it. But, as you'll see, the reasons given for not traveling can all be overcome by knowing how and getting motivated. That's what this book is about.

o Lack of Knowledge. Jean had finally begun thinking about traveling somewhere. The problem was, she had no idea how to choose a destination. She hadn't seen a geography book since fourth grade and dropped out of her only world history course. Where should she go? What should she take? Would she find decent places to stay? Would the bathrooms be clean? As long as she doesn't know what to expect, Jean will never leave home.

o Money. The prices listed in tour brochures persuaded Vicki she couldn't afford to travel abroad. The photographs were beautiful and the hotels appealing, but the prices were stratospheric. The Kenya safari she liked best cost over $300 a day and that didn't even include airfare from home (she couldn't believe what the travel agent told her that would cost). When her neighbor said a glass of orange juice cost $5 in Rome, she concluded that foreign destinations must be for jet-setters only.

Vicki has no idea that the actual costs of travel are far lower than she believes them to be. She tossed the safari brochure away without realizing she could have contacted a local safari operator directly and cut the cost by 75%. She didn't know she could have cut 30% off the quoted air fare and would have scoffed at the idea that good food and lodging are available in most of the world for one-fourth of what she routinely pays at home. Of course, her attitude about money could stand a little adjustment too. If she changed her spending habits at home, she could easily free more money for travel.

o Lack of time. William said, " I just can't get away." He feels harried; not just today, but every day. He thinks he's indispensable at work and doesn't want to hear otherwise. The idea that he could organize his life so that everything would carry on successfully in his absence has never occurred to him. Secretly, he feels best when his nose is jammed into the grindstone. He can't conceive of taking a two-month sabbatical. He'll die sooner than he should--or maybe he'll read this book!

"...And don't let the feeble excuse of work keep you back; remember the Haitian proverb: If work is such a good thing, how come the rich haven't grabbed it all for themselves." John Hatt - The Tropical Traveler, 1982 Barbara, on the other hand, said, "They won't let me get away." Her employer's manual says she's entitled to only one week of paid vacation a year--and she's never questioned it. She doesn't realize how many options she has that could free more of her time for living a full life.

o Language. The only foreign words Jeannine knows came from menus in Mexican restaurants. That never bothered her until she began thinking about taking a trip overseas. As far as she knows, English is spoken in England and Australia and she's not about to go any place where "they" don't speak English. She has no idea that the English language has spread throughout large parts of the world or how easily she could communicate even where no English is spoken.

o Inertia. For Harold, the primary obstacle is plain old inertia; the beer-and-TV barrier. His home-bound rut is too comfortable. When he considers forcing himself out of the house for a vacation, he doesn't see any reason not to return to the same old places. To him, "remote" means the instrument he uses to flick from channel to channel. Although he uses television primarily to fall asleep, he sometimes stumbles onto an exciting National Geographic program. Someone else might see the same program and start planning--but not Harold. Why make the effort to go to Athens when he can bring a pale electronic image of it into his home with his index finger?

o Control. Dupont sees himself as being in control of his little world and that's the way he likes it. When he thinks of traveling abroad, he feels uneasy. Even in France, let alone someplace like China, he's afraid he wouldn't know what was going on and couldn't possibly be in charge. Besides, at home everyone knows who he is; over there, he'd be just another guy. He doesn't like the feel of that at all.

o Safety. Jo Ann had heard of a woman who went to Costa del Sol in Spain and had her purse stolen "right there on the beach the very first night." So Jo Ann decided to stay put. She'll never find out how mistaken she is about safety abroad and how easily she could protect herself. o Health. Michael figured that if people get sick in Mexico, he'd be crazy to go someplace like India. He's never bothered to learn anything about the actual likeli-hood of health problems or how to prevent or cure any-thing he might encounter. He doesn't know that it's easy to keep yourself healthy on the road if you know how.

Most of these reasons for staying at home are understandable. Travel can be expensive if you don't learn how to spend money wisely. Health and safety can be at risk unless you understand the risks and guard against them. You have to know what to expect and have the knowledge to make the right choices. By the time you reach the end of Traveler's Tool Kit, you'll find that every reason not to travel was written on the wind.


\4 credit cards

Good to use at home. Never use them on the road except at a VERY reputable place like an airline or five star hotel, and then only if you need to. It may not be the place that rips you off but a scumbag working there will suck your nubers out.

THE BEST OF THE NEW CREDIT CARDS By Rose, Sarah ; Alford, Kyra

Amid the blizzard of look-alike cards and gimmicks, a handful of the latest offers are actually worthwhile. CREDIT-CARD companies have outdone themselves again this year, breaking records with the quantity and variety of attention-getting twists and incentives. "We're seeing an urgent need to differentiate products," says Marcia Waite, vice president of MarketIQ, a firm that tracks credit-card solicitations. The gimmickry perhaps reached new heights with last year's LensCard, an otherwise unremarkable card from Chase that's embedded with a tiny magnifying glass for reading small print. Meanwhile, so-called premium cards--like those with the ubiquitous platinum designation--are almost indistinguishable.

But if you've stopped reading credit-card solicitations altogether, you may be missing something: Buried in that pile of junk mail are a handful of new cards with truly low interest rates and super-size rewards. So we sifted through dozens of offers for noteworthy newcomers in the most popular categories. INTERNET CARDS The stock market isn't the only place where the Internet is making a big splash. In the past year, three major Internet-themed credit cards have made their debut. Many of their selling points, such as online statements, customer service via e-mail and beefed-up security for Internet purchases, are largely cosmetic. Still, these no-fee cards do offer some enticing rebates for serious online shoppers. The Yahoo!Visa card, issued by First USA (800-347-7887), offers a 1% reward, redeemable at certain online merchants, when you use the card for online or ordinary purchases. The NextCard (www.nextcard.com), issued by Heritage Bank of Commerce, is unique because of its customizable--if somewhat complicated--rewards program and the fact that you can apply for it only online. Our favorite in the category is the e.card, which is also issued by First USA (800-347-7887). It offers attractive terms--a fixed interest rate of 9.99% and no annual fee--and a simple rewards program that gives you an impressive 5% cash back on purchases at a dozen partner sites, including Amazon.com and eToys.com. And there's no cap on rewards. MULTIPLE-AIRLINE MILEAGE CARDS Until a few years ago, American Express and Diners Club were among the few major issuers that let you redeem rewards on more than one airline. The category now has several more entrants, like the World MasterCard, which came out in late 1997. Our favorite of the new arrivals is the Visa Signature Card, which earns frequent-flier miles that can be redeemed on any airline and that--unlike most airlines' own mileage programs--are not subject to seat restrictions or blackout dates. It also comes with premium perks like free hotel upgrades. Several banks offer the card, including Capital One (800-822-3397), which issues it for $49 a year with a 9.99% fixed rate. (That beats the First USA World MasterCard, which charges a $49 annual fee and fixed 15.99% interest.) Watch for even more new offers in this category: Capital One and AmEx are currently testing additional new multiple-airline cards with similar terms. CASHBACK CARDS As we reported in November, more issuers are wooing consumers with the promise of cash. Discover (800-347-2683), for example, just rolled out a new platinum version of its rebate card that offers double points for charges at some not-yet-named retailers. On other purchases, however, cash does not accrue any faster than with Discover's original card. The new no-fee Cash Back Card from American Express (800-942-2639) is currently our favorite cashback card for heavy chargers. Itppays 1.5% on purchases over $5,000--with no annual cap on rewards. For people who charge less often, we still recommend the GE Rewards MasterCard (800-437-3927), which pays 1% after you charge $2,000 a year. LOW TEASER RATES The teaser is an old trick: You're drawn to the amazingly low rate that lasts only a few months--then it shoots up into the high teens. But things are a bit different these days: The so-called go-to rates--that is, the rates you pay when the teasers run out--are now in the low double digits. The average teaser rate is about 3%--with some as low as 0%--and the typical life of the teaser has lengthened. For a list of low-teaser- rate cards, check out www.bankrate.com. When we looked, Bank One (888-221-9067) was offering a 3.9% intro rate that goes to 9.99% after six months. Just be wary of extra fees or penalty rates, which is how issuers often make up for the low rates. A single late payment during the teaser period, for example, sends Bank One's rate to 9.9%; even worse, if you make two late payments within any six-month period, the interest rate becomes 19.99%.

SPECIALTY CARDS: Not to be confused with retailers' cards, which can only be used in the issuer's stores, specialty cards work like ordinary credit cards but the "cash" they give back can be spent only on the issuers' products. There's probably a card for any interest, but here's a favorite:

Citibank's Sony Card (800-748-7669) offers 1% on general purchases, 2% on Sony goods and 3% on charges at Sony's more than 1,000 partners, which include Circuit City and Best Buy. Rewards are capped at $250 a year and can be used for movie tickets at Sony theaters or on Sony electronics. And the terms? Not bad at all--no annual fee and an interest rate of 13.65%. By Sarah Rose

 Credit Cards' Hazards Abroad

Advice on consumer protection often favors using a credit card for purchases: If things go wrong, conventional wisdom holds, there is an extra layer of protection because the buyer can protest if the goods are not received and ask that the charge be removed. But using a credit card overseas, which is helpful because it provides the bank-to-bank rate of exchange at the time the transaction is processed, also has its hazards, as two readers' experiences show. Betty Keiser of Bala-Cynwyd, Pa., had the inconvenience and embarrassment of finding her credit card declared invalid while she was shopping in Italy. The security mechanisms established by her Mastercard issuer, Corestates Bank of Delaware, caused a cutoff after she made "five or six" modest purchases within a few hours in Cernobbio on the shores of Lake Como. She knew she was far from her credit limit, but could not get the card validated again and had to adjust the rest of her trip to do without. Mark Wolters of Hamilton Square, N.J., used his Citibank Mastercard to buy an expensive ring from a jewelry shop in St. Martin. While he was still on the island, in the summer of 1995, a stone fell out. He returned to the shop, which refused to take the ring back. He called Citibank from the jeweler's shop, and the bank told him to put his complaint in writing. When he wrote from home, he received letters from a Citibank office in Sioux Falls, S.D., saying "Because you are disputing a charge which originated in a foreign country, we have no means to assist you with this matter." The second response declared the case closed. Odd Patterns irst, the blocking of the card: Visa and Mastercard say the issuing banks adjust their security systems for what constitutes "out of pattern" buying. American Express sets its own system, but all three organizations say the computers are constantly being re-educated about each cardholder's patterns, adjusting levels that indicate a card may have been compromised. This means either the card has been stolen or an unauthorized person has learned the numbers and incorporated them into another card's magnetic strip or used them for a telephone purchase. All three companies, for security reasons, are wary of disclosing what triggers a shutdown of a card. The number of purchases, the timing and the types are factors, said John Newton, vice president for Core States bank card operations. A large number of charges from a casino, say, would be more suspicious than from a department store. One trigger involves gasoline purchases. "A thief will test a stolen card at a gas station to see if it has been reported stolen," said Susan Forman, senior vice president at Visa. At night he can put a card directly into the pump without being studied closely by the attendant. Big purchases, especially anything that can be resold quickly, like a computer, on a card not usually used for major undertakings may indicate an unauthorized user. Although American Express does not have a credit ceiling for a card member, Emily Porter, a spokeswoman, said: "Don't charge your whole wedding reception on the card and then try to use the card to take your honeymoon." Problems arise with cutoff systems because card companies list them as extra benefits, or "enhancements." They are described in the annual flier that updates card benefits. People reading the small type may not grasp that the listed benefit is also a warning that access to credit can be terminated in midpurchase. Mrs. Keiser, acknowledging that the company did act to protect her credit, certainly was not aware that a cutoff was a possibility. "Embarrassed, confused and dismayed," she said she tried to call the 800 number for help from the shop in Italy, but both language and time barriers made it futile. Despite embarrassment, attempts should be made to reach the card company or bank. Several security people urged that a hotel concierge be solicited for help, although the 24-hour toll-free numbers for use abroad are supposed to have an English-speaking service. Essential numbers should be taken along. Mr. Newton said that he and his wife always inform their bank when they are going overseas so that the security system will not be agitated by a new pattern. For people who travel overseas regularly, this is probably not necessary. Ms. Porter said that when an American Express card is scanned electronically and a problem is indicated, the electronic display asks the merchant to call the buyer to the phone to verify identification. Of course, shops in small towns in Europe do not always have electronic devices; an impression of the card is taken and the signed slip is sent along by mail, so unless the merchant calls to check the credit balance, the surprise may be somewhere down the line. When Mrs. Keiser got home from Italy, a postcard was waiting in her mail from a fraud prevention specialist at her bank. "Although preventive measures have been taken to secure your account," the card said, "it is very important that you call Core States immediately!" She called and had her card reinstated. Pursuing Remedies hat to do about defective merchandise bought with a credit card is more complicated. Credit experts say that no rules governing a credit card can override local law, and local law abroad is generally less favorable to the consumer than in the United States. Buyers should assume that refunds are not possible unless the shopkeeper says otherwise and puts it in writing. "In many places abroad," Ms. Forman of Visa said, "the law is 'Let the buyer beware.' " On Oct. 1, 1996, she said, Visa modified its policy of not giving help for purchases made overseas. The banks that provide the cards are now allowed to help card holders pursue remedies. "If the merchant didn't disclose that no returns were permitted," she said, "the bank could try to help him get his money back." On the other hand, Mr. Wolters might have obtained partial satisfaction under some cards' insurance plans. All American Express cards, Ms. Porter pointed out, come with a "purchase protection plan" that provides for repair or replacement of items bought with the card up to a value of $1,000 if they are broken or stolen within 90 days of purchase. There are a number of exceptions.

Mastercard has a Masterpurchase Retail Protection Service for its gold card holders. It also has a $1,000 limit on items stolen or damaged within 90 days. This insurance is secondary, that is, it picks up after any payments under a homeowner's or similar policy. There are also a number of exceptions here, and Mr. Wolters's card was not a gold card. Visa has stopped providing this insurance on the basis that its card holders find it less important than other benefits.

Seeking Help The General Services Admin distributes a leaflet, "Using Credit and Charge Cards Overseas." Send a check or money order for 50 cents to the Superintendent of Docs, Consumer Info Ctr, Dept 365D, Pueblo, Colo. 81009


\5 Apartment Hotels

For Long Stays, 'Apart-Hotels' Fit the Budget By Roger Collis International Herald Tribune - MANY hotels claim to be a home away from home. But however warm the welcome, hotel life can pall pretty quickly. It's great to be pampered and waited on, with that fine concierge and a host of bustling bellboys. But sometimes more privacy and independence is preferable, as is being able to stock your own refrigerator. When you're tired of room service and restaurants, wouldn't it be nice to fix a salad just the way you like it? A studio or one-bedroom apartment in a custom-built property may have twice the space for as little as half the cost of a standard double room in a hotel of the same quality. Apartments in the United States, Europe, Asia and some other parts of the world range from converted town houses to modern ''apart-hotels.'' There are often charming properties available in the center of such cities as London and Paris. They typically have grand ground- and first-floor apartments with high corniced ceilings, with cozier accommodations above. These tend to be smaller properties with eight to 10 apartments, compared with 40 to 100 in a newer building. The Internet is the best way to get information, with pictures, maps and descriptions of facilities. Bookings can be made or requested online. A good site is that of Worldwide Apartments, at www.nothotels.com, (44-20) 7704 5040, which allows you to view and book 300,000 apartments. ''Apartments are a fast-growing sector of the lodging industry,'' says Charles McCrow, managing director of the Apartment Service, in London, which has one of the best guides, the Worldwide Guide to Serviced Apartments; (44-20) 8944 1444, www.apartmentservice.com. ''We call them serviced apartments, apart-hotels or apartment suites; in the United States, where the concept began, they're called all-suite hotels or extended-stay hotels.'' what to expect Extra space begins to matter when you're constantly on the road or in one place for more than a few days. Apartments are an option that makes sense for business travelers, two couples traveling together, or a family. Ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments with a lounge and en suite bathrooms, most have direct-line phone and fax, cable or satellite television. Kitchens are usually equipped with a toaster oven, microwave, refrigerator and freezer, perhaps a dishwasher, and pots, pans and dishes. Maid service is usually once a week; you pay extra for daily cleaning. Most apartments have a 24-hour reception desk. Extended-stay hotels are enjoying a boom in the United States. About 20 companies offer apartments ranging from hotel suites to long-stay residential properties. Extended Stay America, www.extstay.com, with more than 200 properties, is a lower-priced alternative to Residence Inn by Marriott, www.residenceinn.com, which pioneered the idea in the early 1990s. PROPERTIES IN EUROPE The major apartment chain in Europe is a French company, Citadines Apart'hotels, www.citadines.com, (33-1) 41-05-79-05, recently acquired by Houston-based Westmont Hospitality, with 49 three- and four-star properties in cities including Paris, Marseille, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Lyon, Nice, London, Brussels and Barcelona. Some are new or recently renovated. Central Apartments, at www.central-apartments.com, (44-20) 7608-9111, is a new chain with four luxury properties in central London. ''Designer'' studios and two-bedroom apartments are $150 to $275 a night. Circus Apartments, (44-20) 7719-7000, in Canary Wharf, set to open July 1, is a luxury property with 49 apartments $75 to $115 a night cheaper than such neighboring five-star hotels as the Four Seasons.

\6 backpacking

The global backpacking community lived by rules that are both pragmatic and unconventional. People often choose to travel together on the strength of little more than a five minute introduction, and separate with equal ease. Sharing a room doesn't mean sharing a bed, and a week or month together rarely implies the kind of commitment that one might expect from a similar arrangement back home. Traveling the world is an unpredictable business -- buses break down, monuments beckon, wars erupt and borders close. How can one be expected to stick to hidebound schedules and predetermined partners? I've had dozens of people say to me over the years, "I'd love to travel around the world - I just can't find anyone to go with. I really don't want to go alone." In reality nobody travels around the world alone. You meet up with other people, travel for a week, part company, pick them up again a few countries later... You have to try really hard (or else have a truly Godawful personality) to travel alone - people will be asking you if you want to head off somewhere together on a daily basis. Let's say you get on an overland bus to Thailand through Laos. There's another Westerner on board, towards the back. You'll naturally gravitate in that direction. He'll make a space of you - if nothing else because you're (probably) not carrying a pig and a brace of chickens and therefore won't smell a whole lot worse at the end of the ride than you did at the beginning. You'll start talking. By the time you reach your destination you'll know his second cousin's favourite color and he'll know all the gory details of how your wife took off to china but left you the 18-year-old cat when you divorced six months and three days ago. Then you'll go off and find a guesthouse together for the night. If you don't like traveling with other people you may have to do something drastic, like coughing up blood at regular intervals or running amok once a day. Good luck. SURVIVAL TIPS. Tourists tend to gather like flocks of seagulls, always alighting in the same place (usually a cafe or guesthouse catering to their needs). These can be great places to meet fellow-minded Westerners. It's also a chance to pick up the most up-to-date info on what's happening around you (new rules and regulations, things to see, etc.). This is particularly important in Vietnam, which is changing so fast that the guidebooks are out-of-date within six months. You can spend your entire time surrounded by foreigners and never really meet a local. Make a point of breaking away from the pack every once in a while. There are a few foreigners who are working their way around the world by stealing from other foreigners. Just because they look like you doesn't mean they're honest. Don't fall into the trap of trying to save money at all costs. I've listened to endless western conversation in backpacker cafes and it ALWAYS seems to revolve around money. Where do you find the cheapest guesthouse in Nha Trang? Which bus driver won't rip you off? Which tour gives you the most bang for your buck? I rarely hear backpackers (or any other tourists) exhanging info on the culture - death rites, traditions, religion, etc. I wonder if they'll get home and realize that they saved themselves a few hundred dollars and saw almost nothing. Backpacker cafe: "Kim Cafe was well known as the local Mecca for backpackers and travelers-on-the-cheap. Its tables spilled onto the street, jammed with foreign faces, bushy beards, and incongruously red hair. I slunk into a Vietnamese soup stall behind the boisterous cafe and eavesdropped on Western voices discussing the best tours, quickest buses and cheapest restaurants. "Yeah, Co Giang street. Floor space for three bucks a night. The coffee's free but you gotta bring your own milk." "Just agree to whatever and give him 5000 once you're there. Happy Hour's five to seven." "They wash and dry jeans for four thousand. If they're real dirty they'll squeeze you for five." All around us, opportunistic Vietnamese hastened to fill foreign needs. "Rooms for Rent" signs buzzed and blinked from every window. Three-walled shops sold black-market CD's and traded well-thumbed novels, two for one. A message board bristled with necessary knowledge, from: "Urta, we gone Mekong, back on 17th" to "Avoid Restaurant 442! Soup tastes like panther piss." On the corner a driver reclined in his own cyclo, thick glasses propped low on his nose, reading "War and Peace" under the dim light of a magazine stand." Pick your Partner. Steve; The Alaska boy who loved Asia. Indiana Jones; The unwashed version. Syrian Golden Hamster; A cameraman without a camera. The Marlboro Man; "Ho Chi Minh Trail? Piece of cake." Jochen; and his hideously reliable motorbike. Swedes; An unending stream of bile. Asia is home to a migratory subculture, an endless tide of young men and women who ebb and flow between Asia and America, working summer jobs to earn the price of their winter playgrounds. They seemed to be on a perpetual post-60's Walkabout, shunning mainstream Western goals of family and prof advancement in favor of the here-and-now. They were gentle creatures who asked little of the world, paid their way and rarely caused a fuss. They were well represented in every capital city east of Burma, and always seemed to know where the best food and cheapest lodgings could be found. "His name was Jim and he had spent the last three months in Phnom Phen, and was planning to stay another three. Every summer he returned to Alaska to live in a tent and work in the salmon industry, ten-hour days of slitting and gutting fish that would earn him enough money for a leisurely winter in Asia. He liked Cambodia; the beer was cheap, the pot was practically free and the women considerate and obliging. He released a stream of fully utilized smoke and fell into a long silence. He had been thinking of writing about his experiences, he said, but never seemed to have the time. Maybe next year."


Backpackers blaze trails for tourists all them budgeteers or independent travelers or plain old backpackers, but those who travel light and cheap are often the trailblazers of the tourist set.

With limited cash and a thirst for uncommon sights, backpackers have pushed into challenging territory well before the big-money resorts or tchotchke merchants. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, that meant backpackers in the cobblestoned streets of Prague, hitting its dirt cheap bars and soaking up the city's glimmering, storybook architecture.

At the same time, closer to home, Costa Rica, with its eastern beaches and western jungles, was gaining favor even as much of Central America struggled with political and military strife. A generation earlier, Americans and Europeans flocked to warmer places like Bali, where beautiful beaches and inexpensive hotels continue to draw sun- and bargain-worshipers.

Daisann McLane On Khao San Road, Bangkok.

So where is the backpack crowd headed now? An informal survey indicates that points east and southeast continue to appeal.

Heading the list is Thailand, which many travel profess- ionals say has become the top low-cost destination in Asia. Jesse Walkershaw, a part-time backpacker and full-time manager at Airtreks.com, a San Francisco-based travel service, said his clients usually arrive via Bangkok, and then trek either north to the highlands around Chiang Mai or south to the coastline near Koh Samui. "The north is hill tribe country," he said. "The south is all about the beaches."

Edward Hasbrouck, the author of "The Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World" (Moon Publications), said Vietnam remained hot. The appeal, he said, is its untouched flavor. "It's very easy to get off the tourist track" in Vietnam, Mr. Hasbrouck said. "It's a country as big as California with twice as many people." One caveat, however: Tourist visas are commonly limited to a month. The recent -- and long-term -- economic struggles in the region have also made Thailand, as well as Laos and Vietnam, "super cheap," Mr. Walkershaw said. That appeals to people like Joey Kern, a college-age traveler who lives in New York. "I hear for $4.50 you can make it for three months," said Mr. Kern, who is planning a trip there. "O.K., maybe $4.75." O.K., that is an exaggeration, but Mr. Walkershaw says $10 a day is reasonable. Nick Paonessa, a graduate of New York University who backpacked across Errope last summer, said Thailand was next on his list. He put his fascination down to "The Beach," a recent novel by Alex Garland, a young British writer, that tells the story of a compulsive 21-year-old traveler and his friends who, in pursuit of unspoiled nature, head to Thailand. "I want to go there and try that out," Mr. Paonessa said. Other classic Asian locales for those looking for enlightenment -- or just good, cheap fun -- include India and Nepal. Latin America offers an enormous number of choices. Peru, Mexico, Bolivia and Central America have long been destinations for backpackers seeking close contact with nature and indigenous cultures.

David Kirby, a writer who travels about once a year to Mexico on a daily budget of $10 to $40 a day, says that outside of Cancún and other high-end resort areas, backpackers in Mexico can travel like kings. "When you backpack through Europe, which I did, you feel poor," he said. "But in Mexico, $20 a day can get you three basic meals and a decent room. You don't feel deprived." While Palenque and the states of Chiapas and Oaxaca are fixtures on Mexico's backpacking trail, Mr. Kirby said, the often overlooked central state of Michoacán is gaining adherents for its colonial towns, pristine lakes and Indian villages. A modest budget can also take you far in Peru and Bolivia. Christine Corcoran, a graduate student at Columbia University whose trip to Machu Picchu two years ago was a "life altering" experience, spent as little as $8 for a room in nearby Cuzco. As adventurous as Asia and Latin America sound, many budget travelers still head to Europe for their first trips. London, Paris and Amsterdam continue to draw hordes of backpackers, said Caroline Sherman, the editor of "Let's Go: Europe '98," the popular budget guidebook series put together by Harvard students. But even in Europe, less obvious locations are being scouted out. Ms. Sherman said, via E-mail, that Cracow, Vilnius and Berlin were all hot; Mr. Walkershaw mentioned Bratislava. Farther west, Portugal has recently taken advantage of overflow crowds from Spain. And money and sunny matter. "It's less expensive than Spain," wrote Ms. Sherman. "And has great beaches." That sentiment was echoed by Mira Svatovic, 20, a student at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. "The beaches are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," she said. "Rocks protruding out of the water and underwater caves." Her favorite place was the coastal city of Lagos in the Algarve, where her hotel was $30 a night and she ate cheap seafood from the blue waters of the bay. On the other end of the thermometer, Iceland is also cool right now. Backpackers rave about the budget accommodations and hostels, which usually include a bed and a sleeping bag and are uniformly clean, though prices are considerably higher in summer. Part of the island's popularity can be traced to a continuing promotion by Icelandair, which allows short stopovers between the United States and Europe. On a low-budget trip to Reykjavik last spring, I was impressed by the rugged landscape, the northern lights and, most of all, a night life that lasts past dawn -- which, above the Arctic Circle, is about 3:30 A.M.

Bill O'Connor/Peter Arnold En route to village of Thame, Nepal.

Prague, too, apparently continues to hold a Saturnalian appeal. "Prague is probably still the hottest city around," Mr. Paonessa said. "It's so beautiful and so cheap. It's 50 cents for a pint, and for three bucks you can get steak and a drink." Which raises the question of whether young backpackers are seeking new frontiers or just a good party. Another party destination that continues to lure crowds of backpackers is the Spanish island of Ibiza, in the Balearic Islands of the Mediterranean. Several travelers said the scene there -- with stadium-sized discos and a crush of youngsters from across Europe -- was legendarily libertine. "Everybody's sleeping on the beach," Mr. Paonessa said. That is not the usual type of accommodation for today's backpackers. While European travelers still prefer the affordability of hostels, many visitors to Asia stay in swankier hotels, bungalows or guesthouses for as little as $5 a day. Some popular locations in Europe have suffered of late because of the turbulence in the former Yugoslavia. Ms. Sherman said that was especially true of Greece and Turkey. "Istanbul and the west coast of Turkey had really taken off," she said. But since the war in Kosovo and the trial of the Kurdish rebel Abdullah Ocalan, tourist trade to Turkey's western coast has "slowed down considerably." Mr. Kern, 22, said his buddies have also cooled on Russia, in vogue in the early 1990's. "You get the feeling that they're so poor it just wouldn't be fun," he said. Regional instability has had an impact elsewhere. Mr. Walkershaw said some American backpackers aave steered clear of Central and East Africa since last summer's terrorist attacks on the United States embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. That may be a boon for countries like Mozambique, which is slowly recovering from a 17-year civil war. "Things keep getting hairier and hairier in East Africa," Mr. Walkershaw said. "And Mozambique is picking up a lot of that action." Neighboring South Africa is also on the rise, Ms. Sherman said. The Tourism Bureau of South Africa reports that approximately 200,000 backpackers visited the country's hostels in 1998, an increase of some 20% from the previous year. The coastal city of Durban and the entire Kwa-Zulu/Natal region are particularly popular with backpackers. What of the future? Travel professionals regard China as most likely to succeed. The World Tourism Organization predicts that China will be the most popular destination in the world in the early 21st century. But free-spirited backpackers may be put off; most travelers are strictly scheduled on tours, with little latitude for exploration. Mr. Walkershaw suggested that Iran might be an up-and-comer, though backpackers would have to adapt: "They ain't going to put up with you doing whatever you please," he said. "There'll be no girls in halter tops, that's for sure." (Recent student protests and a crackdown by the Government have since caused concerns about the area's safety this summer.) Mr. Hasbrouck, who has circled the globe twice, says Iran is on his wish list despite the problems. "Everyone I know comes back and says, 'This is a wonderful place, you have to go.' " He also mentioned India and other parts of the subcontinent. "I think there's a backlash among backpackers against the commodification of travel and the homogenization of the world," said Mr. Hasbrouck. "Simply going to a town you find on the map, or riding a bus to the end of the line, can be wonderful experiences. And you don't find them in brochures.
 The Avant-Garde: Follow That Backpack By JESSE McKINLEY Augt 8, 1999


\7 backpacking - dangers

When Brent Hannon got back from Indonesia last September, he had quite a tale to tell his friends. To begin with, there was the trek across bucolic Lombok Island and the pitching of tents in the shadow of mystical Mount Rinjani. Hannon, a 41-year old freelance journalist, shared dinner with fellow travelers and then drifted off to sleep—only to be awakened by ugly threats, fearful cries and the rip of machetes through the nylon of his tent. By flashlight, a group of local villagers confiscated the foreigners' backpacks and stripped naked a German woman in a fevered search for valuables. "The worst part was when one guy raised his machete and asked for dollars," says Hannon, who got a brutal kick to the stomach for defying the thieves. "Our guide was trembling."

Spending the summer exploring Asia with a pack on your back and travelers' checks in a money belt is an adventure. That's why people do it, and in increasing numbers every year. Adventure, however, is synonymous with risk, and the risks backpackers can encounter in Asia—whether in a remote forest, on a railway platform or even in a Buddhist temple—are very real, and sometimes fatal.

In February, an Australian couple, Kelvin Bourke and Sheri McFarlane, were accosted by four would-be rapists at a camping spot in northern Thailand. McFarlane was severely beaten with a large piece of wood, though she avoided being raped. Bourke was fatally shot in his attempt to protect her. In December 1998 at the New Delhi international airport, Japanese tourist Takuma Suzuki got off a flight from Tokyo and, apparently heeding the advice of guidebooks, booked a pre-paid taxi from a government-run airport kiosk. Several days later, Suzuki's dismembered corpse was found in a sewage canal. He had been robbed of cash and his camera.

When things go wrong for backpackers, it can be the result of incaution or stupidity, or it can be unavoidable bad luck. Anyone can get altitude sickness or even hepatitis. Mugging is the most common crime against backpackers—and indeed any kind of tourist in just about any country—and the second biggest hazard is driving accidents. In June, 15 backpackers died in a hostel in Queensland, Australia, but the fire that killed them seems to have been an accident.

Nonetheless, "travelers"—the preferred moniker among the budget tourist set—skate much closer to danger by going cheap and alone, and by putting a priority on meeting the locals. Few businessmen, for example, take the 20-hour Karakoram Highway bus trip from Pakistan's Gilgit region to its capital of Islamabad.

Last year, a lone Australian backpacker riding that bus was surrounded by a group of Pakistani men who started putting their hands down his pants. Joanne Masheder, a young British backpacker, was raped and killed in a cave in rural western Thailand four and a half years ago by an amphetamine-addicted Buddhist monk, a situation a tourist is unlikely to face. "They're taking risks they wouldn't take at home," says Imtiaz Muqbil, executive editor of Bangkok's Travel Impact Newswire, an e-mail tourism newsletter.

If the headlines seem particularly scary these days, it's no accident. "There is more crime against backpackers," says Muqbil, "because there are more backpackers than ever." Statistically, traveling on the cheap isn't all that hazardous. "Travel tends to be remarkably undangerous," says Mark Ellingham, co-founder and publisher of the Rough Guides series popular with low-budget travelers. "Violence against tourists is very much the exception, rather than the rule."

But when it happens, the tragedy is undeniable—and sometimes avoidable. Strife-torn regions should be skipped, no matter how reassuring the advice is from fellow backpackers. A German national, Harfuth Rolf, disappeared while traveling in troubled Kashmir in mid-July. The police suspect that he may have been abducted by pro-independence militants, as were six Western tourists in July 1995; one was beheaded, another escaped and the other four haven't been seen since.

Drug dealings put backpackers in the the most dangerous situation, since they can't turn to local police if danger arises. And women travelers in particular can be soft targets, especially if they stray from their buddies. In 1998, Heather Novak, a 22-year-old from Toronto, visited Thailand's Koh Samet island with friends. Returning to her room alone, she was attacked by a hotel boatman armed with a knife, fatally stabbed and dumped in a nearby pond.

Making friends and getting to know the locals is one of the joys of travel—and one of the perils. Strike up a friendship on a long-distance bus in Thailand or a train in India and there's a chance, though slim, you could end up drugged and robbed.

In Malaysia, according to Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you might get caught in a scam known as bunco. A friendly local invites you home to meet his sister, or cousin, who is planning to visit your country. The hospitality is warm, and a card game begins. The game gets crowded with accomplices. When you run up big losses, your new friends march you to the nearest atm, and won't take no for an answer.

"We heard from other backpackers in Turkey," says Masahiro Tobayama, a college student who has been on three budget tours, "that at least three Japanese are drugged and robbed every day." Japanese are favorite victims throughout Asia: they frequently lack English skills, making them vulnerable to sharpies who have intentionally studied some Japanese, and coming from ultra-honest Japan, they often forget to put up their guards. Also, according to Jinichi Kuramae, editor of a monthy magazine for backpackers published in Tokyo: "People think every Japanese is rich."

Local authorities aren't always a help. "Foreigners find it hard to locate our office," admits a half-sympathetic tourism official in New Delhi. "But those that do have terrible stories." Indeed they do. After being robbed on Lombok Island, journalist Hannon was making his way back to civilization when he came across a crude sign fastened to a tree. Apparently posted by previous tourists, it read, "We were robbed on this mountain in Aug" a month before his own ordeal. For Hannon the warning came too late. But for other backpackers heading to Asia, a little caution can be the diff between an adventure and a nightmare.

Reported by Robert Horn/Bangkok, Eric Tucker/Hong Kong, Alison Swap/London, Meenakshi Ganguly/ New Delhi, Hiroko Tashiro/Tokyo. AUG 7 2000 VOL 156 NO 5 Holidays Can Be Hell. Western backpackers who come to Asia in search of adventure sometimes get much more than they bargained for. By ANTHONY SPAETH

Travel Safety and Security ..
Isn't it dangerous out there? Some people are put off from independent travel by the apparent risks. Not only can you get sick, or killed in a bus wreck, but there may be people trying to rob you, cheat you, rape you, drug your drink, or maybe even put a knife in your ribs.

I wish I could tell you that all of this is rubbish. Unfortunately, these things do happen to travelers. What I can tell you, however, is that in most countries I have traveled, I feel as safe or safer than I do at home. You will hear many horror stories on the Road, and some of them really make you want to catch the next flight home.

There are tales of travelers contracting incurable diseases you have never even heard of, being thrown in jail after the police planted drugs in their room, being robbed of all they own and left in the wilderness, or being knifed on the street by robbers. One reason I tell you these stories is so you will not panic when you inevitably hear them recited by other travelers. "My God! No one ever told us about that!"

This is a long discussion, during which you will hear about dozens of ways you can lose your belongings to thieves, and a few ways that you may be physically harmed. It can be discouraging just reading about it. Don't worry, in the process I will tell you exactly what you can do to make the chances of your becoming a victim very small. In many countries the dangers are few and can be avoided with basic precautions.

People often use the word dangerous to describe the danger of theft, not bodily harm; do not confuse theft-prone with physically dangerous. In some of the most dangerous countries and cities in the Third World, there is very little risk of being physically attacked.

You can read of innocent people being shot down by mass-murderers in the USA, and terrorist bombings in Europe. Personally, I am far more frightened by these random acts of violence at home than by the methodical workings of criminals in the Third World, who are only after your money. Learn how they work, and you will be safe.

Out on the Road, you enter a new way of life. There are different rules out there, and more precautions to be learned. The local people already know the rules. The sooner you learn them, the more problems you will avoid. When you take precautions, you will be safe. When you feel safe, you can enjoy your trip.

Bodily Harm - This is rare; 99.8% of the crimes against tourists are theft or cheating. Remember this: Most thieves in the Third World are sneak thieves. They are not interested in harming you, or even in confronting you. Should you be unlucky enough to have a bandit or thief threaten you with a knife or gun and demand your money, give it to him! He will usually leave immediately.

I once had a belligerent man wave a pistol in my face in the middle of the jungle, and when I pretended not to understand him, he walked away. A few unlucky souls have been less fortunate, but that was the only immediate physical threat that I have faced in my years of travel.

The only countries where I ever felt physically afraid (although I never had any confrontations myself) were Colombia and Panama, where urban thieves occasionally attack with knifes first and ask for your valuables later. A very few other cities (Jakarta, Belize City, Rio de Janeiro, and Marrakech) occasionally report incidents of knife-happy thieves.

In all of these places, you often have a chance to avoid harm by immediately giving up your money. These are the exceptions to the rule; in general you are not in danger of bodily harm, only of thievery. In many places, armed robbery, especially of tourists, is a hanging offense!

Kenyan Justice - While I was last in Kenya, there was a news story about a dude standing trial for the armed robbery of some German tourists in a game park. They had (unwisely) resisted briefly, and unsuccessfully. The man had been advised by counsel to plead guilty and ask for leniency. Later he discovered that because one of the tourists had received a knife wound on his arm, the charge carried a mandatory death sentence! If they had publicized this fact more, they would have even less crime against tourists.

Another story from Kenya involves a purse-snatcher who grabbed the handbag of a foreign woman in Nairobi. She was 60 old, but she refused to let go although he pushed her down and dragged her along the ground. Several passers-by chased him away, then someone else caught him. When the local residents discovered what he had been up to, they themselves kicked his ass good.

Even when there is a bar fight, riot, or guerrilla attack, your best protection is the fact that you are a foreign "tourist". Militants from both sides will avoid hurting you, and local proprietors and passers-by will protect you from harm. You are much safer than the local people in this regard! It is appalling that ordinary people in India occasionally kill each other by the dozens in religious, political, or caste riots. But a foreign tourist caught in this situation would be hustled away and protected by the local people and the police.

The very few travelers (not journalists) I have even heard stories of being killed were far off in the bush where they stumbled into a guerrilla conflict of some kind. I recently read a report that foreign tourists were being attacked by bands of armed desperadoes on a scenic volcano in Guatemala. This may conjure vivid scenes of poor You being pumped full of lead before or after you are raped and your throat is slit. Perhaps that is what is really going on down there now, but that volcano has long been a very popular place to be robbed, and travelers have avoided it for some time.

The people I met who were attacked there, lived to tell about it. Some locals approached them with rifles on the mountainside and demanded money, at gun point. The small group of men and women handed over their cash and also gave up two wrist watches. "Is that all you have?" they were asked. Perhaps the foreigners were stupid, but they turned out their pockets and said they had nothing else.

All of them wore their valuables under their clothing and the "desperadoes" never touched or searched them. Perhaps the bandits were stupid, or maybe just not desperate enough. When the criminals left them, someone complained about how they would get back. One of the robbers came back and gave them enough money for bus fare. The point is that these particular robbers were unscrupulous local people taking advantage of tourist wealth, they were not ruthless terrorist assassins.

This was certainly an unpleasant and frightening exper-ience; it could have been life-threatening, but it was not. No one was harmed, nor did they loose more than a few dollars and a watch. Perhaps tourists are really being butchered up there on the mountain nowdays, or maybe it is just the same old routine. When you get to Guatemala, you will be able to learn the real situation, and you will have asked around enough to be able to avoid such famous places, in any case.

Yes, you can expose yourself to new dangers by venturing out into the world on your own. These are the risks you must take, but they are generally no worse than the physical risks you would encounter traveling on your own with a backpack in the First World, and in many cases, much less. In either case, observing the common-sense precautions I offer will greatly reduce poss of harm.

Arming Yourself I only mention this subject because some travelers may consider the possibility before heading out into unknown countries. Considering the small probability of being attacked, arming yourself cannot be recommended, especially since most of us are unlikely to be able to use any weapon to much advantage against local criminals.

Firearms are definitely out; you will certainly not be able to carry them through any borders, and you can only get into deep shit even for brandishing one. A rolled up newspaper or magazine is a reasonable defense in moder-ate situations. A good thrust into a molester's gut can give you the time to get out of their reach.

I have sometimes carried a knife for protection and occasionally let people see that I am carrying one, but I have never had the slightest opportunity to use it. In fact, I'm sure that if I ever did, I would either get into very big trouble with the police, or more likely provoke an attack by people much more adept at these things than I am. It is probably a very stupid idea.

I have considered the merits of a black-jack -- a small leather pouch filled with lead shot -- with which one might actually slow down an attacker with a blow to the head. Again, the possibility of ever using it, let alone successfully, is just much too remote, and it would serve no other purpose. Although I have never felt any need to carry one, a small can of mace (tear gas) is probably the only defensive weapon you might consider. They are quite small, but you might run into some problems at customs if you don't conceal it. A slightly milder alternative would be a squeeze bottle of ammonia. You best weapon is to scream and run, or just give a robber your money.

Pedestrian Hazards - There are still a few isolated communities in the world where the local people are as ignorant as opossums about the dangers of stepping onto a highway. But any Third World child who has survived in a city until the age of seven is better prepared to take care of her/himself than most western travelers. In the Third World, you must watch out for yourself, because no one else will protect you from hazards. It is a world without pedestrian areas, and you must learn to share your space with numerous vehicles -- and that means 'get out of the way or be run down'!

Just being aware of everything around you will save you from several painful encounters with bicycles, pushcarts, motorcycles, and even cars and trucks. It seems that some people are just instinctively aware of everything, while others are naturally oblivious to 80% of their surround-ings. In the Third World -- where survival of the fittest still applies and pedestrians are at the bottom of the food chain -- the oblivious types are eliminated through natural selection before they can reach puberty; while in the First World we have laws to protect the heedless.

I am constantly amazed at how many Westerners, at home and abroad, wonder around oblivious to the proximity of moving bicycles, autos, and other people. They seem to believe that it was God who passed all those laws to protect them. Regardless of my theories, you can reduce your chances of mishap by training yourself to be aware of everything around you, so that you can anticipate approaching people and vehicles, and get out the way.

In Third World cities where life is fast, furious, and cheap, even crossing the road is no place for a novice. At a traffic signal with green in your favor, you will still have to pick your spot among speeding cars, and step lively. Just going out to the post office can be a perilous adventure. But you will soon become a crafty veteran, able to take the worst hazards in stride.

I sometimes wait for several venerable old ladies, so that I can cross safely, keeping them between me and the traffic. Singapore presents a modern paradox; as soon a you approach a crosswalk, all the cars slam on their breaks and wait for you to cross. If you just arrived from a few months in SE Asia, your first instinct is to suspect a diabolical trap to run you down, and you find it almost impossible to step out in front of all those idling cars, with the drivers grinning at you.

Always look both ways before stepping into the street. Don't rely on your instincts to tell you where the cars will be coming from. You will pass through many countries where traffic runs on the "other" side of the road and the only way to avoid making a mistake is to always look for traffic coming from both directions. There may be a bicycle or motorbike coming the wrong way, in any case.

When someone is about to intersect your course, under whatever mode of transport, your first instinct is to make eye contact and verify that they see you coming. They, on the other hand, will try to ignore you; to acknowledge your presence is to accept some responsibi-lity for what is about to happen. If they don't see you, it is your fault if you collide!

If you look straight at a taxi driver, and then step in front of him, you are fair game; if you pretend to ignore him, he may have to think twice before running you down. I have been told in several countries to walk on the road with my back to the traffic! "If they see you coming, they will try to run you down, but if your back is to them, it is their responsibility to avoid you!" That's some kind of logic! Yes, I have exaggerated for effect; people are not really out to run you down, but they will expect you to walk very defensively like everyone else, so be on your toes!

Theft - Some travelers have things stolen all the time. I do not. Listen to me. I am a bit superstitious and I do not like to tempt my fate by mentioning it, but in my years of traveling in some notoriously dangerous places, I have only had my pocket picked once, and twice had an item of small value taken from my room. That's all. (Of course, I've been cheated dozens of times, but that's just part of the game.)

I am going to teach you how you can be safe and feel safe on the Road. It requires some preparations, some habits, and some hard attitudes that you may or may not be ready to adopt. Some people hate money belts, some refuse to be rude to anyone, and some just can't be bothered to be vigilant at all times. Know what the precautions are and make a conscious decision whether or not you want to observe them.

I will give you dozens of rules and precautions to keep yourself and your belongings safe, and to avoid hassles. Yes, if you go around thinking about these things all day, you will drive yourself crazy! That's why you need to learn them, and make them a part of your daily routines, like brushing your teeth before bed, or looking both ways before you cross the street.

Your mother taught you those lessons, and you thank her for it. But you long ago stopped worrying about them, because they are now an integral part of your life. Good security habits are followed instinctively, every time, without the need to ask yourself if they are really necessary in each situation.

The good news is that in many countries, and especially outside of cities and tourist areas, you will be at very little risk from many of the dangers I will warn you about. But you should still observe good habits of security and precaution. Even in generally safe areas, normally honest but poor people can be tempted into taking things, especially from your hotel room, if you give them easy opportunities by not observing basic precautions.

Safety Rules - First, here are some elementary rules to keep you safe. They make up a good portion of my personal rules to travel by. When you have internalized them, you will notice every time you are about to break one. Then you can make a conscious decision, and accept the conse-quences if you decide to break it. Don't look wealthy; don't flaunt your valuables. Keep both hands free.

Keep your money, passport, and credit cards next to your skin. Keep them in front of you. Take them to the shower with you. Sleep on top of them. Stay in physical contact with your bags unless they are locked in your room or stowed safely (preferably in your view) on transport. Every time you stand up, look back to see what you have left behind. Carry your luggage onto the bus, train, truck, or taxi with you. When you buy a ticket, GET a ticket. Don't rent a room that is not secure; lock it every time you leave.

Be aware of everyone around you. Not "beware", just be aware. Don't do anything you think is possibly dangerous, just to avoid being rude. Most thieves in the Third World are sneak thieves. You will not see them, even after they have stolen your goods. The simplest ones will try to steal from your hotel room when you are not there. The most sophisticated can nick your rucksack right out from under your nose. They are counting on you being off your guard, trusting, acting like you would at home, and being ignorant of the ways in which they work.

If you take precautions, they will avoid you; there are plenty of other tourists out there who are much easier to rob than you are! Because you do not see them, you may assume that thieves are not there. Perhaps when you are at home, you lock your door every night before going to bed. What would happen if, one night, you left the door unlocked? Is there, in fact, someone who comes around every night trying all the doors in the neighborhood?

Depending on your neighborhood, probably not. But you really don't know, do you? And you won't find out until you leave your door unlocked. In some countries there are dozens of people waiting around for you to make just such a silly mistake. In other places, you are only tempting the local people into becoming thieves by leaving your-self and your belongings unguarded. But if you tvl very long and in very many places, you will meet (or never see) just enough people who will take advantage of your lack of precaution to rob you of everything you have.

Don't Invite Thieves - Don't show off your wealth. Traveling on the cheap is often your best protection from theft! I have spent over eight months traveling in Mexico and I have never been robbed there. As in all countries, most Mexican people are not thieves. Mostly I have traveled by public transport, stayed in regular lodging, and carried only a small and worn rucksack. Even the thieves are not interested in robbing me. I have stayed in huts with no locks and occasionally left all of my gear in the open, guarded only by my hammock, when that was the local norm.

It was a risk, but I got away with it because there were no real thieves in these rural communities. However, I know exactly what to do if I want to be robbed in Mexico. Instead of traveling by bus with my pack, I would bring or rent a nice camping van and camp on isolated beaches which are popular with tourists. If you ask around, travelers will tell you of lovely isolated beaches where you can camp for free.

There are some wonderful spots and many of them are pretty safe. But if tourists have been doing this for a long time, the local criminal types may visit these famous spots to hold up campers at gun or machete point. They know that tourists carry valuable cameras, stereos, stoves, and all.

Sleeping in regular lodging places (even beach bungalows) and carrying a small amount of luggage makes you less of a target, and usually no target at all. It's when you look so different from everybody else -- traveling around in your own car, doubtless loaded with lots of expensive goodies, camping out, brandishing video cameras -- that you advertise yourself as a target. I feel safe on the bus, surrounded by local people.

Few people who have had the wonderful adventure of backpacking up the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru have been neglected by the robbers who regularly hold up tent sites along the trail. That's the way things are in a few countries, and that's why I'm surprised to see travelers who have come to South America to go camping in the mountains. They bring a thousand dollars worth of high-tech camping gear only to find that there are few organized places to camp, and that wilderness camping is often an invitation to robbery.

This isn't Kansas anymore; that's not the way it is done here. They discover that most travelers just take a bus up to the high mountain towns, check into a cheap hotel and hang out for a week or two, taking day hikes into the mountains, and returning to eat in cafes at night. This is not what they had in mind at all.

Note [Mar, 2000] that with the recent increase in tourism, the Peruvian govt has stepped up security along the Inca Trail. You can now arrange for "Sherpas" to carry your gear for you and have your tent camp set up for you each afternoon when you arrive! There is now even a "hostal" at the last stop on the Inca Trail, complete with bunk-beds, toilets, food, and probably a bar.

Unfortunately, this is a good reason not to go too far off of the beaten path in some countries. Away from the town and the hotel, in the anonymity of the woods or hills, people who have very little to lose may be happy to relieve you of your belongings. Seldom is any violence actually done, but it is not a nice experience. Many countries are completely safe in this regard.

Ask other travelers and the local people in your hotel. When they warn you not to go walking in the countryside, there really may be robbers lying in wait for tourists. It is one reason to stay in hotels instead of camping out, in questionable areas.

Protecting Your Belongings - Your belongings are important to you. On the Road you live out of your pack; it is your home, it is all you own. Yet people have had their entire rucksacks stolen, and continued with their trip. After the initial shock, they found they could buy whatever necessities they needed, and sometimes even felt some relief to get rid of that heavy pack.

People have lost their passports and all their travelers checks, and continued with their trip after the incon-veniences of replacing them. It is not the end of the world, or even the end of the trip. But it is not going to happen to you, because you are going to be prepared and know how to protect your belongings.

Also consider that the less you have, and the less you show off to others, the fewer problems you will have with theft. Even backpack travelers may be assumed to carry good stuff far beyond the economic reach of most local people; but a smart thief will definitely choose targets that appear more lucrative. Given a choice, he will go into the rooms of people he has seen carrying cameras, electronic gear, and expensive camping equipment which he may hope to sell quickly. You can still be robbed, but the chances are only increased when you show off such items of apparent value. Copies - Just In Case.

There is almost no paper - except cash - that cannot be replaced, eventually, if you keep a copy or a record of it. Before you leave home, copy your PP photo page, vaccination cert, travelers check nbrs, air ticket, driver's license, student card, YHA card, etc. Leave a copy at home and carry a couple of copies in various places in your luggage. Keep a list in your adrs book of the nbrs of your ins policies, bank a/c, SS, credit card numbers, and the serial number on your camera. Leave your main adrs book at home and take a smaller one for trave-ling. As you pick up the adrs of new friends along the way, add them to the end of the letters you send home.

Now, along the way, make copies of any air tickets you buy and write down the tkt nbrs. Jot the visa nbrs down. Being in a country without a visa can be as much trouble as not having a passport. Your embassy can do nothing about replacing your visas or entry stamps. If you buy new travelers checks along the way, not only save the receipts (separate from the checks), but keep a separate note of all the check numbers and when you spend them.

Having exact info about which checks are lost will help in getting them replaced. You will probably not lose any of these items. But if you do, you will be able to get them replaced with the least amount of trouble.

Money Pouch - Keep your money, your PP, credit cards, and other valuable docs next to your skin. Keep them in front of you. Take them to the shower with you. Sleep on top of them.

Keep your money and other paper docs organized in a single plastic folding case similar to what you get with your travelers checks. One with a fold-over flap is better for protecting them. Put this, your passport, credit cards, and any other valuables that will fit (spare key, a few passport photos), into a flat pouch that you can wear next to your skin. I will call this a "money pouch". Various types of money pouches you might use are discussed below.

I use a money belt because I feel it is safest. This is not a real belt, but a thin pouch that straps around your waist. Wear it inside your trousers or skirt, under your belt, and in the front, not the back. Wearing it on the outside of your clothing may be more comfortable, but it defeats the purpose. The most popular alternative is a "passport bag" that you wear around your neck. They are more obvious and easier to steal. People have had theirs stolen on crowded trains without even being aware of it.

If you use one, run a strong length of wire entirely through the neck strap, to prevent it from being cut. You might consider stashing a small amount of cash and a traveler's check in one or two extra places, just in case you ever lose your money pouch. For example, in your rucksack with your passport copy, or in a separate, secret pocket or pouch on your body.

Whenever I have to dig into my money pouch in a public place, like a station or airport, I immediately move on to another location instead of staying among the same group of people. Watch to see if anyone follows you. In fact, even if a thief sees that your money is kept next to your skin, he will know that it is too difficult to rob you of.

'Walking Around' Money, Keep the amount of money you expect to use during the day in a wallet, money clip, or small purse in a front pocket not a back pocket where it can more easily be lifted or slashed free with a razor blade. I sometimes add a snap or velcro closure to this pocket to make it more difficult for pickpockets. When things get really close, lay your hand casually over this pocket if you can.

If you wear a skirt without pockets, sew a little pocket inside the waist where you can get at it easily. Do not carry anything else of value -- irreplaceable phone nbrs, travelers check receipts, or photos of your family - in this money holder. I have only been pick-pocketed once, on a very crowded local bus. It was an infuriating exper-ience, but I only lost a few dollars worth of cash, and the wallet. Keep coins separate, so that you do not have to pull out your wallet on a crowded bus.

A woman's handbag or shoulder purse is not as safe as a day pack because the strap is easier to break or cut, unless you reinforce it with wire. If you do take a small purse, keep it inside of your day pack so you have only one thing to carry, and don't leave your passport of travelers checks in it. A waist pack is a good alter-native, and even more difficult to steal or lose.

If you misjudge the amount of money you will need for the day, you will have to dig into your money pouch. Do not do so in public places if you can at all avoid it, least of all on a crowded public bus. If there are too many prying eyes, just say you will have to go to the bank or hotel to get more money, and come back later. Then find a more private place.

Protecting Camera Equipment - The main valuable you will not be able to carry in your money pouch is your camera equipment. You should carry it with you at all times. Your hotel room is not a safe place to leave cameras, but you will end up doing this on occasion. When you must, lock the camera equipment inside of your rucksack where it cannot be seen or easily stolen.

If you have much camera equipment, you will need to keep it in a day pack and carry it with you everywhere. In any questionable situation, wear it in front of you! This inc crowded buses, in queues at the station, or even walking down the street in theft-prone cities. Bag slashers can come up behind you, slit the bag with a razor blade and follow along behind you, waiting for the goodies to drop out. For this reason, it is a good idea in more theft-prone areas to place a bulky item such as a sweater (jumper) or wind-jacket in the bottom of the bag first.

Unfortunately, when you want to take a photo, you may end up setting the pack on the ground to pull out the camera. Do not leave the bag there while using the camera, put it back on your shoulder. It is much better if you have a day pack which you can swing under your armpit, open, and remove the camera without taking the pack off of your shoulder. Practice this at home, or before buying a new bag for this purpose.

You can buy waist packs specifically made to carry camera equipment. A bag secured around your waist is less vulnerable to theft (and forgetfulness) than a day pack. Wear it in front of you or on your side where you can rest a hand on it, not in back! You may find this alter-native uncomfortable if your equipment is very bulky.

A compact camera is much easier to protect. You can fit it into a trousers pocket if it is all you are carrying. Don't use shirt pockets unless they can be secured with a button or snap; things are always falling out of shirt pockets. I usually carry my compact camera in my small waist pack, which can also hold film, notebooks, and dozens of other small items. It becomes my valuables bag, leaving my hands free.

I never leave it behind because it is secured around my waist. I wear it on the side, with one hand casually resting on it, or it can be shifted easily in front of me in tight situations. Make sure the zipper is closed toward the front side; for this reason a double zipper is preferable.

If your camera has a wrist or neck strap, use it! It not only prevents theft, it will save your camera on the one or two occasions during a trip when you accidentally drop it. You could also be bumped by someone 'accidentally', causing you to 'drop' your camera right into the hands of his passing accomplice. Again, if you follow these precautions, no one will even try to steal your gear. If you do not, probably no one will try. But for that one time in a hundred...


\9 Hobos

SO JUST WHAT IS A HOBO???? IN THE BEGINNING As the nation expanded westward, the railroads needed laborers to set ties and lay the tracks and the hobo played a vital role in those activities. During the great age of dam-building, i.e. The Tennessee Valley Authority, The Columbia River Basin as well as The Missouri River Drainage Projects, the hoboes formed the nucleus of the hearty travelling work forces that constructed these giant structures often in remote areas whose only real access was by freight train.

To feed a growing nation, the hoboes became the migrant harvesters who reaped the grain, cotton and fruits of mid-America often working a route that took them from the Texas Panhandle to the Canadian Border each season. In the post-war era of pipeline construction, the hobo became a vital element of that restless workforce whose very job progressed up to five miles per day as the gas and oil lines were laid. Hoboes also sought work on American merchant ships and many a hobo maintained seaman’s papers as an alternate employment source when the harvests were finished. Many hoboes became the lumberjacks of the Pacific Northwest.

As the West became more settled, many of the emerging little towns’ first citizens were people who worked their way west on freight trains...hoboes. Many orchards, vineyards and ranches of the American west were built by farsighted adventurous men who struck out from the crowded east on ‘side door Pullmans’ to seek their fortunes in the outlands. During the Great Depression of the thirties, a new surge of hoboes took to the rails in search of work. In 1934, the U.S. Bureau of Transient Affairs estimated there were 1.5 million men (and women) riding America’s Freight trains.

THE HOBO HEART SOUL The keyword in describing the hobo is ‘independence’. Unlike tramps or bums, the hoboes are usually very resourceful, self reliant and appreciative people. They display the quiet pride that comes from self confidence and the secure knowledge that they control their own destiny. As a group, they avoid long term work commitments, preferring to be free to follow the call of the open road when it comes. They are , in general, well read, artistic, romantic and quick witted.

They survive in hostile conditions that others would shun. They are creative, good natured and glib. They are NOT homeless. If they want a home, they’ll get one when it suits THEM! The National Hobo Association is made up of thousands of these great people nationwide. Some have hoboed in their past, some are currently on the ‘Hobo Road’. Some have never hoboed but share the same core beliefs and views; in short, they have a ‘hobo heart’. We warmly welcome them to share our stew and fellowship.

Many of America’s prominent people have come from the hobo ranks; Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Pulitzer Prize Winner James A. Michener, Comedian Red Skelton, Attorney Melvin Belli, Country Artists Roger Miller and Merle Haggard plus thousands more from lawyers to laborers. Many Fortune 500 Companies have a hobo at their helm. But it’s not about being rich or famous. It has to do with being a member of a unique group of people who value their personal freedom (and respect yours), appreciate our great land, long for new adventures and have faith in themselves. The hobo experience has taught people to ‘paddle their own canoe’ since the Civil War and that indomitable spirit is alive and well today....especially within the National Hobo Association

The Economist; May 15, 1999 Section: OBITUARY IRVING STEVENS

THE first thing you should know about hobos, Irving Stevens would say, is that they are not tramps. If you are a tramp you are content to live by begging, with perhaps a bit of stealing to help things along. Hobos are wandering workers, prepared to go anywhere in search of a job, and when that job runs out to move on to somewhere else more promising. Being a hobo, self-sufficient, despising welfare, is thus acceptably American, and probably more than that. When Mr Stevens was elected king of the hobos at the hobos' convention in Iowa in 1988 he became nationally famous. His homely wisdom dispensed on television programmes formed the subject of numerous newspaper articles extolling the merits of the hobo philosophy. Perhaps only a country as rich and secure as America could get irrepressibly sentimental about what is, in essence, casual labour. If there are hobos in Japan, they keep quiet about it. In Europe, the remaining gypsies have largely lost what romance they had and are mostly regarded as a nuisance. American hobos, though, are associated with two powerful sources of myth: freight trains and cowboys. The great ranches of the west were a reliable source of seasonal work, either herding cattle or, less glamorously, doing farm work: hobo is probably a corruption of ``hoe boy''. Some hobos carried their personal hoes from job to job, like old-time shepherds with their crooks. The railroads got you there. Many hobos were known by names derived from their prowess at riding the rails. Steamtrain Maury and Choo-Choo Johnson were two of the most famous. Mr Stevens already had a nickname, Fishbones. ``Everyone called him that, he was so thin,'' his sister recalled this week. ``You could see his bones through his skin.'' It wasn't so much the romance that sent Fishbones in his early 20s on his travels from his home in Maine. He was simply poor and hungry and America was in depression. The story-telling came later. His secret formula Irving Stevens wrote two books about his experiences, ``Dear Fishbones'' and ``Hoboing in the 1930s''. His stories have charm, and usually end with a moral point. Kind reviewers have said that they are a bit like Aesop's fables. But distance may have lent enchantment to what must have been a life of hardship. Other hobos who have put their memories into words tell of the ``bulls'', the railway police who would beat up the boxcar riders, or shoot them; and of life in the ``jungle'', the name given to a community of hobos who had pooled their resources. Mr Stevens was most famous for inventing a fly repellent that he refined, and seemingly perfected, over many years. It smelt abominably, but it kept the biting things away. ``Well, I thought, if the stuff works so well, I can probably sell it.'' Mr Stevens enhanced his American credentials by becoming an entrepreneur, if in a small way. Irving's Fly Dope, bought by grateful fishermen and campers, provided Mr Stevens with a regular income in his later life, when he had given up hoboing. He kept the formula as secret as Coca-Cola's. The second world war (in which Mr Stevens served in the air force) ended America's Great Depression, and ended the need to look far and wide for work. There was plenty nearer home. Mr Stevens settled down, got married and had six children. There were now fewer hobos trailing across America but the breed was not extinct. There was still casual work to be had, the amount influenced by the booms and busts of the American economy. Even now, with the economy roaring ahead and seemingly unstoppable, some hobos still feel a need to roam. ``Hoboing gives you an absolute peace and freedom,'' recalled one addict. ``There's nothing better than riding the rails in a clean boxcar and watching the world go by.'' This idyllic picture has helped to give birth to a new type of American hobo: young, often well-educated but not poor, not in need of work, unlikely to carry a hoe, and only a phone call away from anxious, supportive parents. The Hobo Times is full of fatherly advice to the innocent: don't travel alone; keep a supply of one dollar bills handy so you are not seen changing a big one; best to light a fire only in the daytime because at night it might attract unwelcome strangers; remember that there are serial murderers roaming the ``high iron''. The railway companies have put up posters aimed to deter hobos and others from riding freight trains. In 1997, 529 people died as a result of trespassing on the railways. Even experienced rail-riders find it difficult to get aboard modern trains driven by diesel engines which gather speed more rapidly than the steam trains of the old days. The history of hoboing, ancient and modern, has become a respectable academic discipline. As his fame grew, Mr Stevens saw himself as the head of American hobos' first family. In 1993 he crowned one of his daughters, Connie Hall, queen of the hobos. They are together in our picture. More than 30,000 people watched the ceremony. Yes, Mr Stevens said, there were female hobos, like Boxcar Bertha of Iowa, who died about five years ago. They were treated as equals by the men and never harmed. Irving Stevens thought they might be called early feminists. But that's another story.

BRITT, Iowa  8/14/2000 -- They tapped their walking sticks and brushed their fingertips along the tops the headstones that marked the simple graves of their brethren, men like Mountain Dew, Lord Open Road and Hobo Herb Schaber, a wire service reports. 

While a flutist played "The Wayfaring Stranger," the procession of 75 hobos and family members bowed their heads and walked silently in respect to a generation of migrant workers, men and women who shared a passion for freedom and the open railroad. 

"Part of your spirit, part of your love will go through the walking stick and into the people who are buried here," said Texas Madman, who led the graveside memorial service. 

About 150 people, many dressed in denim and burlap, gathered at the sun-splashed Evergreen Cemetery Friday, marking a somber moment during the 100th National Hobo Convention in this north-central Iowa town of 2,200. 

While many Americans associate hobos with the long-gone days of the Great Depression, hobos and townspeople alike are hoping to keep the history of the transient workers alive. 

About 20,000 tourists are expected to descend upon the town this weekend for carnival rides, tastes of Mulligan Stew and the coronation of this year's Hobo King and Queen. 

"This is such a timepiece of Americana," said Rick Palieri, a musician from Hinesburg, Vt. "This kind of thing is disappearing so quickly."

The festival came to this small town along U.S. Highway 18 in 1900 when three Chicago hobos sought a small town to hold the annual gathering of Tourist Union No. 63, better known as the Hobo Convention. 

While the town has provided a stronger police presence in recent years, community members said they have welcomed the hobos and tourists with open arms. 

Crimson banners depicting a friendly hobo carrying a bindle stick decorate Main Avenue while The Hobo Museum and Gift Shop features a collection of photographs and a replica of a "Hobo Jungle" shack. Many residents also work with the Hobo Memorial Foundation, a charitable group dedicated to preserving the history of the hobo. 

Today's generation of transients - many who take extended railroad trips during the summer months or mirror the lifestyle in vans or RVs - concede that a reduced dependency on manual labor and an increase in danger along the railways have made the lifestyle less appealing. 

In addition, with more than 95 percent of the nation fully employed, they say the wanderlust of the post-Depression era may be over. 

"We're a long way off from the cartoon tramp," said Captain Cloud, a Tennessee worker who carries on his shoulder a 3-year-old iguana named Mojo. "There's a lot of us out here that's trying to maintain a piece of America." 

Errol Lincoln Uys, author of "Riding the Rails," a collection of letters about teen-aged hobos during the Great Depression, said as many as 250,000 teen-agers and 4 million adults turned to a life of migrant labor along the railways between 1929 and the start of World War I. 

Uys said the current generation frequently mistakes hobos for homeless. Historians believe the term "hobo" came from "hoe boy," a term for a traveling laborer who would work in rural settings for weeks at a time before jumping a freight train for the next locale. 

"You have to ask yourself, in today's context, in the suburbs, how many people, if a hobo comes down the driveway and knocks on the door, would not reach for the telephone and not dial 911?" Uys said. 

But others insist the torch will be passed to a generation of thrill-seekers and freedom addicts who wish to make the road their home without the restrictions of a 9-to-5 job. 

"It's something that's going to endure and it's going to endure in another form," said Chris Smith, a University of Chicago graduate student researching migratory workers and the nation's tradition of hobos. 

Not all hobos are represented in Britt. Buzz Potter, president of the National Hobo Association, said many of his members decided not to attend the event because they resented the police presence and the tourist atmosphere. 

But many of the hobos in attendance said they planned t  continue to visit Iowa each August for the convention - and eventually find their eternal reward. 

"I'm all set," said Red Bird, a Pennsburg, Pa., truck driver, pointing to the blank marble grave stone at the Evergreen Cemetery. "All I have to do is die now."

August 14, 2000 bentley@ble.org

-- Part of Americana? - the rail-riding hobos

Authorities watch those who portray themselves as part of Americana - the rail-riding hobos by Jason George from the Des Moines Register Britt, Ia. - Nomads from across the country began rolling into Britt on Friday for this weekend's 100th National Hobo Convention.

The annual event celebrates one town's fascination with the vagabonds who ride the nation's rails.

But a retired police officer 1,500 miles away is looking past the story-telling, carnival rides, mulligan stew, and the crowning of hobo royalty that will highlight the weekend.

Bob Grandinetti of Spokane, Wash., says some of Britt's weekend visitors might not be ideal guests.

The murder of a 12-year-old girl in Spokane more than a decade ago began Grandinetti's obsession with a somewhat mythical group called the Freight Train Riders Association.

Grandinetti was assigned to the murder case. He blamed the shadowy train-jumpers who crisscross the country, never staying long in one place.

After his retirement, the unsolved crime became Grandinetti's passion. He said informants with ties to the gang have helped him track members' whereabouts.

"I spent 15 to 20 years following these transients," he said. And he says he's tracked the Freight Train Riders Association to Britt for this year's convention.

"They come to Britt every year," Grandinetti said. "And they always run one of their people for king or queen."

Organizers expect 15,000 people in Britt by tonight. Many will have names such as Frisco Jack, Luther the Jet, Liberty Justice and Frog.

Most of the visitors are expected to arrive by conventional means, although a large group of transients will arrive in boxcars and camp in the Hobo Jungle, a two-block area of town set aside for conventioneers.

Although some people doubt the existence of an organized hobo fraternity, railroad and government officials say Grandinetti's information on hobo crime is accurate and reliable.

Britt Police Chief Blake Dietrich remembers being told to look for members of the group two or three years ago. None was spotted. This year, Dietrich and the two other Britt police officers will be getting a helping hand from Forest City police and the Hancock and Kossuth county sheriff's departments.

"Starting Monday, we've had the extra officers out," he said.

Festival organizers say they try to focus on the history of legendary hobos who rode the rails in the 1920s. They shy from advocating the lifestyle or endorsing the hobos' favored means of transportation.

About 80 registered rail-riders and an unknown number of unregistered riders will be in Britt, population 2,200, until Monday. They'll leave by the same method they arrived.

"We do not recommend (train-hopping) as a mode of transportation," said Lisa Christianson, executive director of the Britt Chamber of Commerce.

Tom White of the Association of American Railroads says Britt might be better off looking for an alternative to the popular convention, which has single-handedly put the Hancock County town on the map.

"It's the sort of thing that you don't want to encourage. By having an event like this it seems to be glamorizing something illegal," he said.

White, whose organization represents all the major freight companies and Amtrak, said he has heard of the Freight Train Riders Association and how "they've apparently been tied to some serious crimes," but he isn't sure if it exists.

Whether the gang is real or urban legend, there is no debate that crimes are committed by some who proclaim to be hobos, he said.

Train-hopping is against the law, said Warren Flatau, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration. "And hobos are professional trespassers."

Flatau added that Iowa has strong laws against trespassing on railroad property, being the only state to enact legislation suggested by the federal government in 1997.

Union Pacific Railroad officials say tough laws in Iowa are good news. Spokesman Mark Davis said the company runs more than 70 trains on 1,700 miles of track in the state.

Union Pacific officials say they pulled almost 47,000 trespassers off trains last year. The result was delays and damaged equipment.

-- Riders of the Rails  by Holly Dohrn We have all been stopped at a railroad crossing watching a passing train. The hobo is a somewhat common sight riding along in an open boxcar. Have you ever stopped to wonder, where he is from, where he is going, and what made him choose this way of life? Well, there are many reasons why. Hobos have been around since the Civil War. Back then, they were called Hoe boys--men who carried a hoe or a shovel around from town to town in search of farm work. In the past the hobo population has been sort of an economic indicator. Their numbers would increase during a crisis. 

Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, was the start of the Great Depression. This brought on the Golden Age of the American hobo. During the Depression, many Americans headed westward if they had a car and a few dollars in their pockets. However, those who had nothing had only one choice--a free but illegal way to travel--freight hopping. Back then they were called “gentlemen of the road.” Many hobos showed signs of having once been white-collar workers. They wore jackets, vests and Florsheim shoes. During the Depression, it is believed that as many as one and a half million hobos were riding the rails. 

They had a culture all their own and a code of honor that had been handed down for generations. They weren’t bums; bums begged and hobos worked. In order to find work or a meal, they would look for distinctive signs left by other hobos. 

A hobo is a man who will work when he can get it, at a decent wage, but insists upon the right to beat his way from town to town to better his condition... men of char, not yeggs, crooks or bums.  Jeff Davis, King of the Hobos, 1913 

Of course, things change with time and there have been significant changes in the definition of a modern-day hobo. For starters, they are no longer called hobos. They refer to themselves as tramps. There are a few who still live like the old-time hobos, working when they get the chance, proud that they aren’t beggars. However, the majority of today’s tramps don’t even bother to look for work. They collect food stamps; some even collect them in more than one state with fake ID’s. A tramp who doesn’t drink can double his money by buying food stamps for fifty cents on the dollar from another tramp who would prefer to have cash to buy booze. They also manage to get a hot meal from missions (soup kitchens); however, a mission will only feed them for so long. After they have outstayed their welcome at a mission, they simply move on to the next one.

That is the life of hobos, freedom, freedom to do as they please. They needn’t worry about things such as bills, permits and licenses. They do, however, need to look out for the bull, because they can be given a ticket. If they don’t pay the fine, they can be thrown in jail for a few days. But hey, what’s wrong with that? The tramp will be given hot meals and a warm place to sleep for a few days.

But not all hobos are like this, there are many different types of people who hop trains. Some are the poor, homeless, migrant workers or immigrants. They hop trains to get from one place to another because they have little or no money and it’s a free mode of transportation. The rest of the train hoppers, hobos, and tramps are the adventurers. They ride the rails just for the thrill of it, though I’m sure there are many people who would call them crazy. My father happens to be one of these adventurers. 

It all started about two years ago. My father told us that he had always wanted to hop a train and that before he died he would. He couldn’t find anyone his own age foolish enough to go with him so he decided to take my boyfriend. They rode from Dunsmuir to Klamath Falls. My mother, sister and I thought OK, now Dad has gone on his ride and that’s the end of that. Boy, were we wrong, it was only the beginning. After that first ride, he was hooked. He said, “I’ve come to the conclusion that for me, freight hopping is more than a hobby, it’s a grand passion and a way of life I can’t let go. My bag is always packed and when my bones tell me to go, I find myself waiting for a train. 

After that first ride, my father began riding almost every weekend. He even went and bought himself a scanner, which he tuned to the railroad frequencies. This allowed him to hear all communication between trains and the dispatchers. This way he would know if there was a train coming, where it was headed, and where it was stopping. All he had to hear was that a train was doing work at Black Butte and he would take off from the house. 

On his trips out to Black Butte he met and  talked with several tramps. Some of the tramp's he met were Canada, Modoc, Arkansas, Dallas, Carlos, Pothead, Ron, Jim, James, Bob and North Bank Fred. One of the things he found out about the tramps was the fact that they always share anything they have with another tramp in need. When he commented on this, a tramp told him “If we don’t look out for one another who will?” On one of my father’s outings, a tramp named James came out of the brush and asked him if he had anything to eat. James said he was starving to death.

My dad had just finished eating his lunch and the only thing he had left was a granola bar. He gave it to James and apologized because he didn’t have more to offer him. James replied “That doesn’t matter, you gave me all you had, that’s what it’s all about.” He watched as James walked back towards the train. There were two Mexicans sitting in the open boxcar that James was approaching. Before taking a bite, he extended the bar to his companions and not until after the two had both refused did he eat the granola bar. 

Another example of a tramp’s kindness was when my dad met a man named Jim. Jim asked my father if there was somewhere near where he could get some food. My dad peered into the boxcar they were standing next to, and saw four young Mexicans who were probably in their teens (tramps call them rainbow riders because they are runaways). Dad then turned to Jim and told him there was a Burger King about a mile down the road and that he would be glad to give him a ride. When they got to Burger King, Jim opened his wallet and a lone $10 bill was all that lay inside. He pulled it out and with a smile said, “Get ten of the 99 cent burgers for my friends.” My dad knew that Jim was headed for Klamath Falls and that he would now be broke when he got there so Dad pulled out a five and said he would split the cost. Jim replied “You are a man with a big heart! 

Jim had only met the four runaways that morning, yet he was willing to spend the last of his money to buy them some food. Jim explained his actions by saying “Well , the kids are hungry and like the baby birds, someone has to put something in their mouth.” When they returned to the train, Jim motioned for my father to stop. He ran up to a boxcar and offered a hamburger to an older sick tramp who refused saying “Give it to the kids back there, they are hungry.” Jim then walked back to the runaways’ boxcar and quickly divided the burgers amongst his hungry friends. 

Although these hobos and tramps have been around nearly as long as the rails they ride, their numbers are decreasing. There are several factors that have led to this. Changes have been made in the food stamp program that only allows tramps to collect for a limited time. The railroad has become more determined to rid the rails of tramps due to liability cases where tramps have sued the railroad. Many of the newer cars being made don’t have any place for a tramp to ride. Some rail yards have even installed infra-red sensors to detect a tramp’s body heat and all riders caught are cited for trespassing Though I'm sure the railroad just thinks of these tramps as a nuisance, they are part of our American history. I wouldn't want to spend my life on the rails, but I can understand why my dad enjoys it so much. I went on a short ride with him. It was only from Black Butte to Dunsmuir. However, it was long enough to get a taste of what it's like. I enjoyed it very much - the sights, the sounds and partly the thought that I was doing something that I wasn't supposed to be doing. I think that's one of the reasons my father likes it so much, that and the fact that you can see some of the most beautiful scenery in the world through the open doors of a box car.

Hobo Terminology Bindle stiff - a hobo who carries a bundle, usually containing shirts, socks, razor, etc.  Bull - railroad security person.  Catch out - to hop or jump on a freight train.  Crumbs - lice.  Hotshot - a train with high priority over other traffic.  Piggyback - a flat train car that holds trucks or containers.  Power - the engines powering the train.  Reefer - refrigerated box car.  Snake - railroad switchman.  Streamlined - traveling with little gear.  Work - when a train has to either pick up or set out cars on a siding, the train has work to do.  Yeggs - criminals, burglars.  This is a poem written by some unknown traveler; it was left written on the water tank at the Black Butte siding.

I'm sittin Drinkin Waitin  Thinkin  Hopin for a train It'd sure be great And not too late  If one came down the main


\8 Safety While Traveling (on the Bus, Train, etc.)

Whenever possible, carry all your bags onto the bus, train, etc., with you, instead of having them stored on top or below. You can then enjoy the comfort of constant physical or visual contact with your gear. When people try to load my bag on top of a bus, I resist and take it on with me. Yes, sometimes it does go on top, but not in countries where I might fear for its safety. 

If I cannot fit the bag under the seat, or in an overhead rack, I set it between my legs. When you put your rucksack in an overhead rack, try to place it a bit ahead of you - even if it is across the aisle - where you can see it constantly. 

I follow the same carry-on rule in vans, mini-buses, and taxis, whenever possible and prudent. If your bag goes in the trunk (boot), you should wait outside to see it closed with your bag inside, and keep an eye out when the car stops, especially to let off other riders. Taxi rides are short enough to carry your rucksack on your lap.  If your pack is too big to carry on, you will need to have it stowed. In many places this is not a great danger, but in a few, you may end up getting off at every stop to make sure it is still there. The most common problem is of people riding on top of the bus helping themselves to whatever they can take from unlocked side pockets. 

On a train, you may want to get up and walk around. If you are traveling with others, make sure someone is watching the bags. If you are alone, either stay put or use a large padlock to secure your bag to a rack. Even if you just connect a strap around the rack, it will discourage people from snatching the bag away quickly.
  Yes, in many places you do not have to be this paranoid, but which places? In India, you will find all the local people carrying chains which they use to lock their baggage to permanent fixtures on the train. If you don't have one, they will look at you like you were very stupid! This is not (usually) necessary in first or air-con class, where the cars are guarded, but in regular second class and below, anyone and everyone is constantly passing through the cars, day and night. 

If you have a train compartment with a door, keep the door locked at night while you sleep. Don't open it for anyone in the middle of the night, not even the cond- uctor! Tell him to come back in the morning when there will be other people up and around. It is always safest to travel in the company of other travelers. They can save your seat and watch your bags while you get off to buy some food or go to the toilet.

If you are alone, make friends with other travelers on the same bus or train and sit by them. There have been a few cases when I rode alone on notorious rip-off train routes; I drank coffee or took caffeine tablets to keep from falling asleep. This is not a pleasant situation, but there are a few of them around. 

If you are standing on a crowded bus or train, keep your valuables in front of you, not behind your back. Don't leave them on the bus when you get off for a rest stop; leave something like a bandanna or book on your seat to save it. As in any similar situation, train yourself to always look back to your seat as you are getting off at the end of your journey; it is easy to leave things behind. 

Remember that railway stations, and to some extent bus stations, are notoriously good places to have things stolen. Don't ever leave your bags unattended, keep them in front of you while waiting in lines, beware of bogus "porters" who grab your bags, and don't pay too much attention to the various people who come up to you with offers and sad stories. 

One of the most common rip-offs on transportation is being cheated for the price of the journey. Often this is done by people who hang around the bus pretending to be drivers or conductors. They just come and ask you for the fare, and then disappear. Inevitably, you will be ripped off once or twice by these convincing conmen; it is a cheap lesson. The best rule to avoid this situation is: When you buy a ticket, get a ticket! If they won't give you a ticket, don't give them any money. Beware of this especially at the station before leaving.  On buses, you will almost always be given a little ticket of some kind. This is often checked by inspectors in route, so hang on to it. On other transport, like mini-buses, there will seldom be any tickets. Don't pay until you get off, or at least in route, when everyone else is paying. Paying before you leave forces you to stay with that truck or bus, even though several others may end up leaving before yours does!  You will also be overcharged or short-changed numerous times on transport with no tickets. Ask the locals next to you what the fare should be. Have the exact change ready -- be prepared with plenty of small notes and change before heading for the bus lot. In a few places it is considered common practice to charge a "tourist price" which is higher than what the locals pay. You often have to go along with it, but not without some bargaining.  Airport Safety  Airports are the places where fresh new tourists arrive loaded with luggage, and the happy hunting ground of thieves. I knew one fellow who returned after one year of travel to have all of his film stolen in the Chicago airport. What can I tell you except to be on your guard at all times in airports. This is one place where you do not want to pay any attention to anyone with a sad story or an offer of service. Your one and only job is to get safely into town and find a hotel; you can worry about the rest later.  Nowdays, many airport security officers will ask if you are carrying any gifts from other people, if you packed your own bag, and if it has been out of your sight since you packed it. This is for very good reasons. Ask yourself these questions before arriving at the check-in counter. Do not agree to transport any package for another person without inspecting the entire contents, no matter how trustworthy you think they are. If you do so, know their address or an address where you are to deliver it, and tell the security people about this if they ask. If it turns out to contain drugs, and you claim it is yours, you are in deep trouble. Let us not even talk about bombs. Most backpackers keep their bag in their possession from the time they pack it until it gets checked in, so you shouldn't have much to worry about. Keep the bag locked, especially if you check it at a left-luggage room in the airport. If you have any doubts, open the bag and go through it before checking in. 

Safety In Your Hotel Theft from your hotel room is by far the most common security problem anywhere. It usually occurs in your absence. The first precaution is to find a hotel that is reasonably secure. The best way is to get recommendations from other travelers. If non-guests are constantly walking up and down the halls, it is not a very secure place. Some hotels are careful about who they let enter; some travelers' hostels post rules that no locals are allowed to enter, even in your company, for your own protection. If you find yourself staying in a noisy brothel (and you will stay in such places more often than you think), in addition to losing sleep, there may be all types of strange visitors wandering around at all hours.  Next, always inspect any room before agreeing to take it. Take your time and pay special attention to security. Are the door and locks sturdy? Is there a good latch on the inside? Are the windows barred or lockable? Flimsy screens can be removed or cut from the outside. Check to make sure the locks work, solidly! Are there any other ways to get into the room? It only takes one weak point to allow thieves inside. If you aren't completely satisfied, ask to see another room or find another hotel. Never rent a room that is not secure if there is any alternative.  While you are at it, check for peep-holes in the walls and for windows that cannot be completely covered. Some unscrupulous hotels have special rooms with peep-holes just for female guests and couples! If you find some later, stuff them with paper; if anyone can possibly look in, they will!  You are never quite as safe as when you have your own lock on the door. In some countries, hasp locks with padlocks are common, in others they are rare. Generally, cheaper hotels will have them, while nicer ones have door keys. If you are given a key to the room or lock, you can be sure that the hotel has at least one or two more keys which dishonest employees may use to enter your room. Carry a good-sized, well-made padlock and use it whenever you can; then you never have to consider how much you trust your hotel staff. I carry a heavy combination lock. It has no keys to lose or carry while swimming, and it cannot be picked.  Locks are of little help if you don't use them. Lock your room every time you leave it! Don't even stop to consider whether or not it is safe, just make it a habit, even when you go out to the toilet or shower. Speaking of showers, always take your money pouch with you when you go to the shower -- don't leave it in your room. Make this a habit! Hang your towel over it to keep it dry, but make sure it is close to you and safe from prying hands.  If you have a door key, leave it in the lock at night so you can find it easily; it also keeps people from looking in the keyhole. Turn the key sideways so it cannot be pushed out from the outside. If the key can fit under the door, a thief only has to lay a cloth under the door to catch the key when it is pushed out. If your windows have only bars, do not leave anything remotely near the window where it could be snatched by a long arm or pole.  If you end up with no inside latch, or if you distrust a hotel which has a key to your door, put a chair or table against the door. In this situation I always balance my tin cup on a shoe next to the door to sound the alarm should anyone try to enter. You can buy a small locking device to act as an inside lock for your door, window, or most any drawer. Keep your windows secured when you sleep at night unless you are absolutely certain that no one could possibly reach your window. If you have to shut the windows, this means you will get no breeze; consider this when choosing your hotel. This precaution is especially important for women travelers. Women have been attacked by men crawling in their windows while they slept; for these men, an open window was an open invitation. Again, make it a habit.  Keep your pack closed and locked when you go out, even if you feel that there is little of value in it. If someone comes into your room, with or without your knowledge, they may be very curious to see what all you have in your bag. If they find something small and interesting, they may be tempted to take it. If they find a nice camera, cassette player, or cash, even an honest person may seriously consider stealing these valuable items. If they have no way of knowing what is inside without stealing your entire pack, most casual thieves will just leave it alone.  When you go to bed, take your money pouch with you, and sleep on it! Don't put it under the mattress, put it inside the pillow case (if there is one) or under the pillow. If this still makes you nervous, wear it. I usually wear my money belt to bed if I have to leave very early; I don't want to forget it in the pillow! If you have taken all these precautions, no one will ever enter your room without you being aware of it. But some people have actually been robbed in their sleep!  Dormitories  After all these precautions, lone travelers may often stay in dormitory rooms where they have little of the security I have outlined above, not only because they are staying with strangers, but because the doors are often left open and you cannot use your own lock. Yet I often stay in dormitories and don't often hear of problems. You will almost always be staying with other travelers, who are generally a trustworthy group. They share your vulnerability and know how important your gear is to you. But don't tempt them by leaving your valuables around.  In many cases, dormitories are in "secure" hotels where only travelers stay, and the front entrance is watched for unwanted "guests". In some places you will be given a personal locker to store your gear; this is a definite plus in choosing a hostel. Use the locker and put on your own padlock. If you keep your ear to the grapevine, you will hear of hotels and dormitories where thefts are known to occur, and other popular places where travelers regularly stay without problems. If you are not satisfied with the security in the dorm, don't take the chance -- get a private room or find a new hotel.  Going Swimming  Going swimming presents a dilemma. Do you take your valuables with you, or leave them in the room? Since I often go to the beach alone, I break all my rules in this case, and leave my valuables in my locked room where they are safer than lying unattended on the beach. I lock them inside my rucksack and may take the extra precaution of locking the rucksack to a bed or sink. It is a risk I choose to take instead of staying out of the water. If you are with other people, you can leave someone out of the water at all times to guard the valuables. But there will be cases where this is not feasible or desirable.  Of course I find the safest room I can at the beach and always put my own lock on it. Still, there are special cases. I have stayed in crude shacks on the beach which were not particularly secure. As with dormitories, you must evaluate the general security of the area and take the safest course you can, or find a different beach if you are suspicious. I once stayed for three weeks in a beach hut which had no lock or latch on the thatch door. Still, it was a relatively safe area, (as it turned out), and the managers kept an eye on the enclosed area of the huts. I buried my money belt under the sand floor, digging it up every few days to replenish my cash supply.

Hotel "Safe"  You will sometimes be advised, often by your hotel, to leave your valuables in the hotel "safe". I cannot recommend this unless you are staying in a first class hotel. None of the simple lodgings you will use have a real safe. Your valuables may be locked in a drawer, or just kept in a bag that the manager takes to his room. If you don't trust the hotel staff not to unlock your room, how can you trust them with your valuables? In any case, the manager's room may be no safer than your own, especially if you have your own lock on it.  While your money pouch may not be stolen from a "safe", a few notes or travelers checks may be removed. How can you prove that they were ever there? Travelers checks may be removed from the center of a bundle so you will not notice their loss immediately. Another scam is to remove your credit cards and go on a shopping spree before returning them. You receive the bills when you get home! In some places you will be asked to make a complete list of everything in your money pouch, for your own safety. I definitely do not make a practice of telling any hotel clerk exactly how much money I have.  Here is a good horror story to illustrate the worst possibility. A woman left her money in the "safe" of a reputable travelers' hotel in a popular town which I will not name. She indicated on her list of its contents that she had US$800 in cash! When she went to retrieve it some days later, all the cash was missing. It was not the only thing missing; one of the hotel clerks had disappeared two days earlier. The temptation was just too great for him -- on $800 cash he could run off and start a new life!  Laundry Theft  A minor nuisance is the theft of laundry from an outside line. If you are unsure, stay home and do some reading and letter writing on laundry day. Women's underwear is a very popular target for washline theft, and can also incite lewd behavior in local men; these articles will usually dry overnight when hung inside your room. Don't leave laundry, or anything else, outside your room overnight. 

Storing Luggage There are a number of situations where you may want to leave some part of your luggage behind and pick it up later. You can often do this at your hotel, or at a railway station. If you pass through a major city on your way in and out of the country, you can leave gear that you won't be needing in that country. If you make some circles in your route, you may leave things at a major crossroads. You might leave heavy clothes when going to the tropics, or beach gear when headed to the mountains, or lots of unessential gear when heading out into the bush. You could also leave behind some of the purchases you have made, until you reach a safe place to mail them home, or guide books that you won't be needing yet.  You can even plan ahead for places you might store gear, but try not to depend on them. First, it only makes you want to carry more gear. Second, you might change your plans and use different routes. Third, if you do store luggage, it commits you to coming back to a particular place, sometimes within a certain time limit. Fourth, you may not be able to find a reliable place to leave your bags when you need it. And finally, it is never completely safe.  Never leave anything of real value in your left luggage. There is often a minimal amount of security. For typically small amounts you can use a day pack; make sure you can lock the zipper-pulls together with a padlock. If you can use a smaller lock to connect the pulls at the bottom, where they attach to the zipper, there will be no chance of little fingers working their way in to drag out your things. If you go into the bush, you may take only a day pack with you, and leave your rucksack behind; of course, keep it locked securely. Make sure your bags are clearly tagged with you name and address, and perhaps your passport number.  There is always a certain amount of trust in leaving your things behind. The most obvious place is at your hotel. Ask in advance to see what their policy is about left luggage. I have refused or changed hotels just because they did not allow left luggage, or I was not satisfied with the security of the place, at times when I knew I would be needing a place to leave my bag. You cannot usually leave a bag in a hotel where you are not a guest.

I prefer to pay money to leave my luggage, even if it is only a few cents a day. This means that they have an established system for keeping luggage and a record of what belongs to who, and when it was left. This should mean that no one else can come and claim your bag. You will sometimes get a receipt; try to get one if you can. But I have left luggage in many places where all the bags are just tossed into a closet, and you come and find your own when you return. At the Malaysia Hotel in Bangkok, anyone could come and toss their bag into a huge unlocked room, piled almost to the ceiling with rucksacks! It took us ten minutes to find our rucksack three weeks later, but it was there! There is an obvious chance for a rip-off, although is doesn't seem very common. When you get hotel information from other travelers, ask them about leaving luggage and if they actually did it.  An alternative to leaving luggage at your hotel is the Railway Station "left luggage" room; most main stations will have one. You will always pay money there, perhaps more than at a hotel; they will always give you a receipt, and the room is usually well locked. The main problem with railway rooms is that they have time limits, sometimes just a few days but typically a few weeks or a month. In Bangkok, where perhaps more travelers want to leave more luggage that any other place in the world, the limit at the station is seven days. In addition, they will not be open at all hours of the day and night, and the station may be far from your hotel. 

Shop Rip-Offs The amounts of money you will lose by being ripped-off by various shop merchants will be fairly small, but still annoying. You may think that selling nylon as "silk", or garnets as "rubies" is dishonest and illegal, but in most of the Third World this is just shrewd salesmanship!  Always count your change. For this to be meaningful, you must know how much you should pay, and how much change you should get back. In a few frustrating places, you must ask the price of everything before buying it, even a cup of coffee or a soda. If you drink it first and then ask the price, they will ask the moon! Wait for this to happen once before being so suspicious. If the prices asked are too outrageous, even for foreigners, just move on to the next shop and let them know you don't appreciate their greed.  Beware of people who go away to wrap up your purchases, especially expensive items. The package they come back with may not contain what you think you just bought! They can even do this with their back turned to you, so be alert.  When you change money in a bank or money change bureau, know exactly how much local money you expect to receive. Often they will show you a receipt which you may have to sign; know ahead of time if this amount is reasonably accurate. When you receive the money, count it before leaving the counter, and preferably before letting the next person ahead of you. It only takes a few seconds to verify that it is very close, if you know the exact amount already.  Now take all your new money and documents, sit down inside the bank and put it all away inside your money pouch before leaving. Be aware of people waiting around near the bank as you leave; they have a good reason to be there -- they know that you have just gotten plenty of cash. Don't talk to them. 

Safety On the Street You are about to leave the relative security of your hotel room to step out onto the streets of an unknown city. What do you do with your valuables?  A. Leave them in your room. B. Leave them in the hotel safe. C. Take them with you.  The answer, of course, is D., Leave them at home! For the things you brought anyway, the answer is to take them with you. Just like at the hotel, where you take them into the shower with you, your valuables are generally safest when you are there to protect them. As you know, I keep mine in a money belt. If someone wants them badly enough, he is going to have to do much more than just break into my room or bribe a hotel clerk. He is going to have to force me to take my trousers down, probably in some public place, at the point of a knife or gun. Mind you, if he does so, I will gladly drop my drawers rather than invite an attack. But the chances of that happening are just much more remote than the chances of having my room robbed.  If you find yourself heading out to a remote area, perhaps where bandits are not uncommon, you may wish to consider other alternatives. I have left my money pouch with a safari company in Africa, (not the hotel) because I know companies I can trust. I have already discussed the dangers of leaving your valuables in a hotel "safe". If you go trekking (in Thailand, for example), consider whether your hotel is really trustworthy to watch your valuables. In some places you can go into a bank and rent a "safety deposit box" for a short time for very little money, if they have any available.  But normally, you will be walking around carrying all of your valuables with you. Here are the precautions to make sure they make it back with you. Try to keep physical contact with your belongings at all times. When you sit in a cafe, place your bag on a chair next to you where you can always see it. Better yet, put it on the floor under your foot, or with one strap looped around your ankle, or both.  When you stand in line at a station, put your rucksack on the floor between your legs and keep contact with both legs. If you wear it, turn around regularly to see who is behind you. Wear your daypack in front of you in such situations, and on crowded buses. Be aware of everyone around you. If you do these things, nothing will happen to your luggage. If you don't take these precautions, probably nothing will happen to it. But if you take that chance a hundred times, one time you will lose.  That's why I am so cautious. I live out there for long periods of time and I cannot afford to have bad work habits. You may get away with sloppy precautions for a few weeks, or in relatively safe countries. But if you are in for the long haul, eventually someone, somewhere will teach you a good lesson. If you are lucky, you will continue your travels with a minimum of expense and hassle. If you lose everything, it will be a very costly lesson indeed. Just make these habits a part of your routine, and don't worry about them.  Whenever you get up to leave a cafe, bus, park bench, office, shop, bank -- anywhere! -- turn around and look back! What did you forget? This is one of my essential rules, even at home. In Japan, you can go back tomorrow and find it where you left it. In Peru, it's already gone when you turn around! I have been forgetful and I have left dozens of things behind. Only twice did I forget to turn around, look back, and retrieve them. I still remember both of those times.  Be aware of everyone around you. Notice who is hanging around your hotel room, keeping an eye on you, or following you around. Be conscious of when people enter your immediate periphery. This applies especially to cities and crowded places where thieves abound -- airports, marketplaces, train and bus stations. If you are aware of them, you can avoid letting people get too close to you. If you are not, some of these people can steal your underwear without your knowing it!


\9 Scams

Any official who demands to see yor papers and tells you they are not in order. NEVER hand over your papers to anyone in the street. Ask for ID, and tell the requester you will at the station house.

Do not change money on the street, especially if there are two of them and one of you.

Don't wear a Rolex, unless it's the sidewalk-sale type By ALAN COWELL It's making headlines in Hampstead: the Rolex muggers are back Like any other metropolis, London has its share of petty criminals, from pickpockets to purse snatchers. But of late, nothing has seemed to seize attention in the tonier parts of town as much as thieves whose stock in trade is to grapple a fancy watch or item of jewelry off the wrist of someone wealthy enough to afford the ostentation. And nothing seems to attract the thieves as much as the high-end versions of Rolexes and other high-class timepieces: the latest to be reported missing was on the wrist of a millionaire soccer-club owner, George Reynolds, whose Rolex was said to be worth $61,500.

The police routinely advise people to avoid wearing expensive jewelry -- or at least avoid making a show of it -- particularly in such areas as Hampstead, Knightsbridge and Regent's Park, where small gangs lie in wait for people they know to be wearing expensive accouterments. Mr. Reynolds, for instance, was followed from a restaurant in Hampstead before he was accosted.

Of course, among those whose budget runs more to a Swatch or Timex, there is some Schadenfreude at such assaults on the rich. But thievery makes no such social distinctions. Recently, the police warned travelers on London's subway to be alert for gangs of child pickpockets -- a throwback to "Oliver Twist," without the charm of the musical. And crowded parts of the capital, particularly Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus and Oxford Street, are haunts of thieves acting in groups of three -- one to distract a passer-by, another to pick the pocket or purse and the third to receive the stolen item and melt into the crowd.

Late at night, though, street-savvy Londoners are on the lookout not just for thieves. Especially in Soho and the West End, women in particular are advised by police to avoid curb-crawling drivers offering their vehicles as unlicensed taxis: there have been a series of sexual assaults on people who took up the offer. Young people hitting the city's all-night clubs are also advised to ensure they have enough money for a cab home from a reputable company whose drivers and cars can be traced.

The patterns behind London's crime are more opaque. Last year, the Metropolitan Police changed the categories and time-scale of its crime statistics, making comparisons with previous years difficult. But some crimes such as burglary -- which do not directly affect hotel-based visitors -- seemed to be on the increase, with 127,701 incidents reported in 1999, slightly more than in 1998. Thefts of everything from automobiles to bicycles (not to mention Rolexes) also seemed to be increasing, with 415,019 cases, 22,357 involving pickpockets, reported to the police last year -- around 10 percent higher than a year earlier.

ALAN COWELL is a correspondent in the LON bureau of The Times.

Amsterdam - Bike thefts, cons and drugs, and other causes for red lights By MARLISE SIMONS ew cities in Europe feel as laid back as Amsterdam, with its preference for pedestrians and bikes, its outdoor cafes and easygoing policies on drugs and sex. But amid the strollers are more than flower children. Pickpockets and bag snatchers thrive precisely because people seem so much at ease and distracted.

They operate of course where most of the tourists are: the tram lines (especially Nos. 1, 2 and 5), which go to the main museums; on the train connecting Schiphol Airport and the city; in and around the Central Station, and at waiting lines for tour boats or ferries. Groups of two or three young people are likely to use a classic technique: one asks for directions, while another reaches for your bag or backpack.

This city may well have the greatest bicycle density of any European capital, but it does not mean people won't steal yours. Bicycle theft is so common that anyone renting a bike should automatically take out insurance. Similarly, leaving property visible inside a parked car can be an invitation for trouble.

Amsterdam's police offer other warnings. You will never win if you are talked into playing Balletje, the Dutch version of the game where a ball is hidden under one of three cups: here it is a paper ball and three matchboxes. The main player usually tricks you with the help of accomplices. And for all the Netherlands' supposed permissiveness toward soft drugs, it is only marijuana that is legal. The police note that not only are cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and the like illegal, but also that tourists are frequently sold fake drugs. Buying drugs on the streets is one of the biggest tourist traps, the police say, adding that the fake drugs may be soap powder, sugar, rat poison or at best crushed vitamin C.

Still, even respectable tourists often cannot resist visiting the red light district, if only to peer at the garish display of young women in their windows awaiting customers. But again there are perils. Some of the prostitutes are transvestites. Moreover, loud protests can provoke the ire of muscular pimps. Still, there are police around who are willing to help -- and all speak English. And if you have been using the offered services, don't play the innocent. As the local police point out, they know why you're here and you can hardly surprise them anymore. One useful source for misplaced items is the Lost and Found Station, Stephensonstraat 18, telephone (31-20) 5593005; open on weekdays. The general emergency number is 112. MARLISE SIMONS is a correspondent in the Paris bureau of The Times.

Prague - A long-running crime story entitled 'Taxi Driver' By STEVEN ERLANGER Coming to Prague is like visiting a movie set, but you can find yourself with a bit part in a clichéd story about stolen wallets, pilfered passports and outrageous overcharging, especially for taxis.

Prague has never managed to regulate taxi charges or meters, and it's buyer beware -- or bemoan. Last year, even the British ambassador, David Broucher, complained to Prague's mayor, Jan Kasl, that his wife had been swindled by a taxi driver who charged 420 crowns (then about $14) for a ride of less than a mile and a half and refused to provide a receipt. The ride should have cost 80 crowns.

Even worse, some taxi drivers have been known to lock their passengers in the back seat when they object to the fast-spinning meter, then steal their wallets in the confusion. The police here are polite but generally helpless, because most of the victims are too upset to note license plate numbers.

The scams are so notorious -- especially from seemingly legitimate taxi ranks in tourist meccas like Old Town Square, Mala Strana and near Prague Castle -- that one well-known Czech expatriate, the film director Milos Forman, and William Luers, a former United States ambassador to the country, sent an open letter of complaint to Mr. Kasl's predecessor.

Little has been done, partly because of high levels of corruption. Preying on tourists is such a popular pastime that one gang robs people on the tourist trams -- including Nos. 9 and 22, which run between Narodni Trida and Malostranska -- in daylight. A pregnant woman may ask for a tourist's seat, then the foreigner will be surrounded by four or five large men, who rifle the victim's pockets and hand over the goods to a young accomplice, who leaps off the tram while the tourist is detained until the next stop.

Last year, city residents and tourists reported a loss of more than $2 million from more than 8,000 pickpocketed wallets. Those figures account for the people who bother to sit in the police station for up to an hour -- presuming they have an interpreter with them -- and file a report. Last year, police made just 420 pickpocketing arrests.

The taxi scam is easier to avoid: Call a radio taxi company. The most reliable are AAA (telephone 333-22-333), Profi Taxi (6131-4151) or Halo Taxi (4411-4411). They all have operators who speak English, will take your name and address and will tell you what brand and color of taxi is coming and roughly when it will arrive.

Those travelers without European mobile phones can use telephone booths, which cost 5.40 crowns a minute (14 cents, at 37.50 crowns to $1). Most now only take telephone cards that you can buy at newsstands, grocery stores and tobacco shops.

STEVEN ERLANGER, The Times's bureau chief for central Europe and the Balkans, is based in Prague.

Moscow A violent image is unfounded, but watch the traffic police By MICHAEL R. GORDON Most Americans seem to think that Moscow is the wild, wild East, a land of mafia shootouts, bombings and rampant crime. But while that may be the Moscow depicted in American films, it is not the city that my family and I have lived in for more than four years.

Moscow is safer than New York and most other American cities. When Russians say they are taking a taxi, they plan to go out to the street, hail a car driven by a stranger and pay him 50 rubles (a little less than $2) for a ride home. Young women do this all the time and there are rarely incidents.

The kind of random violence that seems to haunt the United States -- shootings by frustrated investors or alienated children -- is virtually unknown here. There are killings in Moscow, but most of them are very selective. Shootings are Russia's substitute for litigation. And if you do not have a business dispute involving large sums of money, you generally do not have to worry about being a target.

Still, as in any large city (nearly 11 million people live here), there is crime and it is useful to take a few precautions. For one thing, you should watch out for pickpockets. They are not nearly as bad as in London or Rome, but they can slit open your backpack on the subway and take your purse or wallet before you know it. It is also good to carry some small bills, so that if you decide to give money to a panhandler or make a small purchase you do not have to whip out your entire wad of cash on the street.

Be careful about the taxi drivers at the airport. Don't pay more than $50 for a ride to the center of town from the Sheremetyevo airport. And it is possible with only a little negotiating to pay considerably less.

Another prudent measure is to avoid isolated streets or underground passageways late at night. The main thoroughfares in the city center, however, seem to be safe at all hours; Russians are night people, so the streets are populated until the early hours of the morning.

Moscow is full of nightclubs and casinos. Many of them are not mafia hangouts but they can be on the wild side. So if you meet any of the clientele keep an eye on your drink and on your wallet.

If you rent a car, you will soon learn that the traffic police are worse than the crooks. In a city where left turns are almost entirely outlawed, yellow caution lights seem to last a millisecond and gridlock is a natural state of affairs, it is easy to commit an unintended infraction.

And the traffic police often stop drivers for no reason at all, demand to see their documents and manufacture some kind of offense. A small "fee," say 50 or 100 rubles (about $1.80 to $3.60), is usually enough to resolve most situations. But driving while intoxicated is a serious offense and can cost you $100. The best advice is to be careful, stay sober and if stopped insist that you do not understand a word of Russian. Try saying, "Ya nye ponedelnik." That usually frustrates the bribe-takers so much that they give up and let you go.

MICHAEL R. GORDON is chief of the Moscow bureau of The Times.

Istanbul Plenty of pickpockets, and sobering bar bills By STEPHEN KINZER

Istanbul is not a violent city. There are remarkably few assaults or robberies in which guns or knives are used. Street crime usually takes a more subtle form.

Pickpockets work in tourist areas, particularly around Taksim Square and the Galata Tower. Some are quite skilled, even able to grab wallets from front pockets. Often they use the bump technique, pretending to run for a bus or chase a friend and bumping into their victim. By the time the target realizes that the bump was no accident, a wallet or purse is gone.

On some streets, shoeshine boys will strike up a conversation to distract a mark while a partner picks his pocket. In fast-food restaurants at shopping malls, a young woman may approach a foreigner saying she wants to practice her English. This may be a diversion aimed at giving a partner the chance to grab a wallet or purse.

There have been several reports of visitors' being given drinks mixed with a substance that makes them drowsy or even unconscious. When the victim begins to feel sick, he or she is relieved of money and other valuables. In another variation, a seemingly solicitous individual offers to take the woozy victim back to his or her hotel room, and then cleans out whatever valuables are there.

One of the most common scams is actually legal. The victim either drifts into a bar or is steered to one by an apparently friendly fellow on a busy street like Istiklal Caddesi, the city's main pedestrian drag. Once there, he (this one is usually aimed at men) meets some other friendly folks, often female, who order drinks. The bill comes to several hundred dollars. Victims who are reluctant to pay find themselves surrounded by tough-looking characters who make paying seem like the wise course.

The way to avoid this, according to the police, is to ask to see a price list before ordering a drink. If patrons do not do so, the host is entitled to charge even the most outrageous price. To complete the aura of legality, these bars scrupulously provide their victims with receipts for the total cost.

STEPHEN KINZER recently completed four years as chief of the Istanbul bureau of The Times.

Rome It's a jubilee year for purse snatchers, too By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

Rome has far less severe crime -- homicides, rapes or violent robberies -- than such other European capitals as Berlin or London. But petty crime, always a danger for tourists, is something to be particularly careful about during this Jubilee year, when pickpockets and scam artists swarm around pilgrim sites near the Vatican or the major basilicas, alert for easy prey.

Tourists have been accosted by bands of urchins who swarm around their victims, poking them with rolled-up newspapers or pieces of cardboard, while others grab the wallet and pass it to an accomplice.

Romans, known for demonstrativeness, sometimes serve as early warning alarms in public places. When gangs of small children board a bus, strangers shout out to one another to watch their wallets and purses ("Attenti al portafoglio" or "Attenti alla borsa" are the most frequent warning signals).

The most dangerous time is boarding or getting off the bus, when jostling can mask a pickpocket at work. But even on the bus, thieves have been known to slit open purses and backpacks with a knife; the No. 64 bus, which goes from the Termini train station to the Vatican, is particularly notorious.

The train station itself, once rundown and poorly policed, has been spruced up and completely renovated for the Jubilee, and private security forces now patrol the lower-level mall alongside regular police officers. But the streets around it should be avoided after dark.

The Porta Portese, a crowded and colorful Sunday flea market in Trastevere, lures tourists and also pickpockets. The prostitutes who years ago lined the Via Appia Antica have moved on, forced out by a renovation that has turned the ancient Roman road into a vast archaeological park, reserved for pedestrians on Sundays. But travelers driving between Rome and Tuscany or Umbria will spot prostitutes along the highway.

Airports and train stations are jammed with freelance drivers, baying at arriving tourists, offering cheap rides. They should be avoided, as many overcharge extravagantly. Even regular taxi drivers should be closely watched. Some can get around the meter by taking huge and costly detours.

As in any major city, it is foolish to leave suitcases, cameras or even radios locked inside a car. Though many Roman parking lots that have been set up for the Jubilee have security, there are no guarantees. Rome has one of the highest rates of car theft in Europe, so rental cars should not be parked unattended for long.

The US Consulate in Rome said that over the past few years, it has received fewer tourist reports of motorino theft -- incidents involving thieves on motorbikes who slash the straps of a pedestrian's bag and zoom away with it. That could be a result of tougher police enforcement, or perhaps the fact that traffic in central Rome has grown so clogged, even thieves on two wheels cannot be sure of a quick getaway.

ALESSANDRA STANLEY is chief of the Rome bureau of The Times.

Paris Cell phones join thieves' hit list By SUZANNE DALEY On many Paris train and métro stations these days, the loudspeakers play warnings in both French and English that pickpockets are about. Pay attention to your belongings, the recording says.

Paris remains a great city to stroll and explore, a place that is alive and quite safe into the wee hours. But crime has been creeping up here for several years, and the crime directed against tourists is the kind that can ruin a vacation: stolen wallets, stolen baggage, credit card fraud.

Police officials say that added to these old regulars is the newest crime on the upswing: the theft of cellular phones, which are often whisked off cafe tables or even snatched while people hold them up to their ears.

"These are very rapid, very furtive thefts," said Frédéric Dupuch, who is in charge of the police department's crime prevention service. "The only thing we recommend is to keep the phones tucked away when you aren't using them. And be aware of your surroundings when you are."

Visitors, Mr. Dupuch says, are prey in all the tourist areas, from the steep steps of Montmartre to the lines at the Eiffel Tower and the platforms in the Gare du Nord, though these are not the city's worst crime areas. Nor is there much violence. Last year, just 0.75 percent of the crimes reported in Paris involved tourists; of those, less than 1% included any sort of assault.

Most of Paris's crime problems are attributed to years of high unemployment and growing restlessness among poor youth who have grown up in the outskirts of the city.

Unlike American cities, where the rich tend to flee to the suburbs, French cities have built their public housing outside of the downtown areas, relegating the poor and the immigrants to sometimes dreary and dangerous projects far from jobs. Not surprisingly, the Paris neighborhoods hit hardest by crime are those on the outskirts of the city.

Visitors should also be aware that their rental-car license plates often signal that they are tourists. Many of France's rental cars are registered in the Marne region for cost reasons and therefore have license-plate numbers ending with 51. Those who rent such cars should avoid leaving their belongings in a car whenever possible. SUZANNE DALEY is chief of the Paris bureau of The Times.

Madrid - Petty crime is on the rise, and violence more common By ALAN RIDING With the bars, restaurants and streets of downtown Madrid bustling with life into the early hours of the morning, it may be hard to sense danger. But the city's pickpockets, muggers and scam artists are skilled at choosing their victims, and tourists are their preferred targets. Increasingly, city officials and foreign embassies are urging tourists to beware in Madrid. Petty crime is on the rise. Still more worrisome, the use of violence by muggers -- albeit brandishing knives, not guns -- is becoming more common.

Some cons are old hat, such as squirting mustard on the shirt of a passer-by or dropping keys at a tourist's feet or simply asking directions -- any distraction while a pickpocket goes to work. Others are more original: criminals may surreptitiously slash a rental car's tires with razors attached to their shoes, then step forward to offer help in changing the tire -- and, while the trunk is open, make off with luggage (a variation of this involves so-called "highway pirates" who persuade tourists to halt by pointing to a supposedly flat tire).

Unsurprisingly, tourists arriving at airports, railroad stations or bus terminals are advised to watch their bags with special care, not to be wooed into conversation with strangers and not to take "pirate" cabs. Once in Madrid proper, it's a good idea to keep your passport, credit cards, traveler's checks and any large amounts of cash in the hotel safe. (The Japanese Embassy warns that there is a flourishing local market for stolen Japanese passports.)

Still, if it were just a question of avoiding rough neigh borhoods, things would be simple. But petty criminals logically operate where tourists hang out, that is, in the most attractive and lively parts of the city, such as the Plz Mayor, the Plz de Santa Ana, the Plz de Espana, the area around the Prado Museum and the Retiro Park.

The answer is to take some minimal precautions, such as keeping away from the Puerta del Sol, a square now favored by drug dealers, or taking a taxi back to the htl after enjoying a late show in a flamenco bar or (can this repeated enough?) not carrying anything too valuable.

ALAN RIDING is the European cultural correspondent for The Times.

Tourist travel scams are like any other scam worldwide, Pattaya has its share of traps for tourists. Some of these are a bit obvious. If you give a beach bum fifty baht to feed the elephants, and there isn't a trunk in sight, don't be too surprised if the guy disappears into the nearest bar to buy a beer. People who offer you the potential winning ticket in the next lottery for a small tip do leave open the question why they are not making the sensible investment themselves. Maybe they just can't resist putting fortunes in other folks' pockets.

Cereal nightlife A reader's letter a few issues back pointed out that Pattaya is based on sex. A bit extreme that is. After all, there is a factory making cornflakes near Rayong. But it is certainly true that you have to be alert for scams in a go go bar. Dare to speak to a hostess and you can probably kiss several hundred baht goodbye for a succession of those Pattaya specialities The Lady Drink.

It's a bit steep for the privilege of telling a stranger what your name is and where you are from. The Lady Drink itself can be a humble Sprite with a red cherry floating on top, but masquerades under a selection of sensational names such as The Horny Supersonic, The Mind Blower or the Iceberg Melter.

Golden moments The jackpot, they say, is in the bedroom. Take a stranger back to your room and you could be really asking for it. Argue unpleasantly about a fair price, and your new partner may let it slip a much loved brother is in the police or owns a Colt 45. Or worse, he or she may disclose the info that the all too significant eighteenth birthday is not until next week.

One drunken farang woke up to find his wallet had been emptied and his false teeth stolen. A thank you note had been left to the effect that mum was in urgent need of a transplant operation whilst dad would appreciate no longer being a toothless wonder.

Foreign mafias Mind you, foreigners are the worst. Many a naive guy has invested a million or so baht in a 'succe-ssful' bar venture only to discover himself ripped off by a farang partner or embroiled in lengthy negotiations with a lawyer who has seen it all before.

One greenhorn even made his investment by post after reading an Internet advert and receiving some expensive color brochures. He duly sent a check for four thousand US dollars to buy outright the lease on a thriving massage parlor called Blissful Movements. But when he arrived to assume ownership, he found the site was a motorbike repair shop on Sukhumvit Highway. The man changing exhausts said there had never been a nightclub there, although he had once helped blow up the balloons with his air pump for a new year's party.

The bottom line In fact, it can be so easy to make your money vanish in Pattaya that old hands here recall some real mind benders. An Australian guy went through his entire fortune of ten million baht in just three months. He invested in two bars, both of which went bust, and bought a Mercedes car and a four bedroom house which he put in his new wife's name. His major problems began when he was in Penang on a visa run.

The wife found it necessary to sell the house and car on an emergency basis as most of her relatives near the Burmese border had been involved in a minibus accident. The resulting broken bones and crushed ribs cost an absolute fortune. It must have been true as the Aussie later received a card from his beloved in Los Angeles thanking him for sorting out the family problems.

Buttons and bows Purchasing expensive jewelry and antiques is an art form best left to experts anywhere in the world. Pattaya is no exception, although there are doubtless many Honest Joes here too. A British couple bought a 'genuine' Ming vase on Monday morning and then saw hundreds of identical ones being made in a factory near the Cambodian border on Monday afternoon during a tourist trip to the countryside.

Needless to say, they had paid many times the proper price for a fake. The couple did go to see a lawyer about their legal rights in the matter. He told them they could take action in the civil courts but they needed to stick around for a year or so. This was a bit difficult as they owned a fish and chip in Manchester and needed to be back at the grindstone the following week.

Sense and sensibility Europeans, Aussies and Americans are probably more at risk than Asian visitors to the resort. This is because the former tend to travel alone or with one other person. Chinese and Japanese, inveterate travelers, tend to stick literally to their peer group in a large crowd of package tourists.

They do everything by numbers - going to the beach, crossing the road, eating out, even going to a cabaret. Anyone contemplating a scam would find it very difficult to break into such tightly knit groups. If there is an open season, it's on we westerners. So, if you're new to Pattaya or a greenhorn newbie, there are five do nots.

Don't separate yourself from your passport or valuables. Don't loan significant money to anyone. Don't sign any business papers whether in English or Thai. Don't try to make a profit out of expensive purchases. And, most importantly, don't drive around without insurance. It really is as simple as that.

People Who Approach You On the Street In some places in the Third World -- for example India, Egypt, Morocco, Manila, and Kuta Beach -- just walking down the street is a constant hassle of strange people coming up to ask you to do something for them: talk to them, go with them, use their service, buy their shit, give them money. In other places, you are left blissfully to yourself to wander around unmolested.

I was very surprised to find Pakistan like this, because I had just assumed it would be very much like India; it is not nearly as colorful as India, but neither is it as nerve-wracking.

In general, the people who approach you on the street are not the people you want to know. I am about to say a lot about these people, but there are plenty of genuinely friendly people. Most of them do not come running up to you on the street. You often deal with street touts only because they can speak some English. Sometimes they are quite friendly and useful, at other times they are nothing but a pain in the ass! Don't rely on this type of person for your personal contacts.

How you deal with unknown people who approach you on the street depends on your experiences. In some countries you will be approached constantly in every city and tourist spot until you are driven to distraction. Most of these people are out to make a profit on you in one way or another. Many of them are just low-budget business people. In some countries many of them are thieves or con artists. In a number of other countries you will be left pretty much to yourself. You must learn to decide how best to deal with this situation in each environment you enter; it is one of the challenges of traveling.

If you are out in the countryside, you may want to stop and talk with local people trying to sell you something; you could strike up a friendship or learn something about the culture. If you are in a city and have found all of the touts to be rude and dishonest, you won't want to waste your energy even trying to say "no". If you are a woman, you should assume that any man who approaches you on the street is out to sell you something or make a sexual come-on, or both.

I can tell when someone is going to approach me on the street. You may call it a sixth sense, but it is just an intuition, based on experience. I am aware that their purpose is focused on me, and they are about to approach. Maybe they just want to practice their English, maybe to interest me in some shit - from changing money to taking a guided tour - or maybe to slash my bag or pick my pocket.

If I notice two or three of them in different locations around me, it sets off warning bells. They can all come at once - friendly, distracting, jostling - and quick as a wink your gear is gone without much chance to avoid it. This won't happen in most countries, but in a few it can. Just move away quickly. You may not feel that you have such an intuition about what people are going to do, but just being aware of everyone around you will keep you safe. You don't have to be paranoid, just be aware.

If I am not interested in dealing with people who are about to approach me, I can take evasive action, usually just moving away or changing direction. If they are in front of me I can just keep on walking and ignore them completely; eye contact is only an excuse for them to come up to you. If I am willing to see what they are up to, I will turn and face them, letting them know that I expect their advance. A sneak thief or bag slasher will probably pass you by in this case. A friendly local may shy away, or he may come up to you, as will any tout or con artist. They want to talk first.

I don't know how many times I have avoided being robbed or conned by being aware. (It's like keeping your door locked.) Maybe it was only two or three times, but more likely it was dozens of times. What I can say is that I have rarely been ripped-off, and I attribute that fact to being constantly aware of everyone around me. I don't do this at home or in Japan, and I do it with less concentration in some countries than in others, but it has become second nature to me, my automatic way of carrying myself in the traveling world.

Don't be too paranoid. If you have already taken the proper precautions, you don't have much to worry about because you are very difficult to rob. Your passport, money, and credit cards are next to your skin, right? Your wallet, with only enough money for the day, is in your front pocket, which is snapped closed, and by now your hand is over it. Your day pack or waist pack is in front of you, and strapped around your body.

If I were a sneak thief, I would leave you alone. Relax, but be aware; with the proper precautions, you are in control. There is nothing dangerous about just talking to people, altho I would avoid it if I had my arms full of luggage. When you first walk down the streets of some major cities carrying your pack, many people will come up to you with various pitches and sad stories. You are fresh meat, newly arrived, and ripe for picking. When you walk around w/o your gear, you are not nearly so popular.

By all means, talk to people on the street as long as most of them prove to be genuinely friendly. Some of them just want to meet a foreigner. Some may be offering something you are actually interested in. If someone thrusts something into your hands, don't take it unless you know you are interested. If it is a written paper, you may have to discuss it with him; if it is a product, it may prove very difficult to give back!

If people approach you while you are walking, keep moving as you hear their opening line; they don't have much time to get to the point. If you don't want what they are 'selling', just keep on walking and ignore them. In many countries and rural environments, a polite "no thank you" is all that is needed to discourage them. Try it out a few times -- and learn the words in the local language -- but in many places, street touts consider "no" or "get lost" a perfectly good opening to a conversation.

If you choose to speak with someone who approaches you, just be aware of where the conversation is leading, and continue to be aware of other people around and behind you. If the conversation leads to you doing something you do not want to do -- giving them money, opening your bag, or going off with them -- then just say "no". Keep saying it to yourself over and over as they talk. They can be very persuasive; it is their profession. When you can no longer say "no" without being rude, or if you get angry, just walk away, and keep walking.

In some places, many curious and friendly people will want to strike up a conversation with you, just to be friendly. In other places, absolutely everyone who comes up to you is out to get your money, one way or another. In Manila, I never talk to anyone on the street. There are plenty of nice people in Manila, but virtually everyone who approaches you on the street is a con artist. You can meet the wonderful people of the Philippines in shops, at your hotel, or when you go out in the countryside. Trying to meet them on the streets of Manila is a losing proposition.

My own traveling pals have sometimes remarked, "I don't know how you can live like that, being on your guard all the time. You are so paranoid! I couldn't stand it!" And they are right; if it really bothers you to constantly be on your guard against dangers, then by all means, relax and just enjoy yourself in your own style. Some people actually don't mind paying the price of getting ripped off or conned from time to time; in return, they can feel friendlier and more at ease in their environments.

That's not a bad philosophy at all. Mine is just diff. Just knowing that I am always vigilant, without having to think about it, makes me feel safer, less vulnerable, and therefore more able to relax and enjoy myself.

Paranoid? Well, yes perhaps. Paranoia is when you think that everyone is out to get you, when in fact they are not. I can tell you that when you arrive at Lima Airport, or walk down the street in Manila, or check into a cheap hotel in Lahore, you had better believe that everyone is, in fact, out to get you, and the only way you will walk away with everything you brought is to be extremely vigilant of everybody and every situation that could possibly lead to a rip-off.

Now don't get too excited; there are plenty of wonderful places in Peru, the Philippines, and Pakistan where your chances of getting ripped-off are no better, and probably worse, than at home. (Except for Lahore hotels, I consider Pakistan a safe country.) But there are plenty of snake pits in the world, and until you stay long enough to know exactly what kind of a place you a dealing with, you had better be carrying your snake stick!

Lima Airport is a good example because it is the first place that many travelers see in South America. Peruvian thieves are quite aware of this marvelous opportunity to fleece new tourists, fresh from Europe or America, loaded down with luggage, and looking around for directions. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. They are, without a doubt, the most magnificent sneak thieves I have ever seen in the world, and their skill is demonstrated by the fact that you never do actually see them!

You are definitely going to get off on the wrong foot on your new adventure if you spend your first days (many of them) in police stations (ugh!), airline offices, embassies, and banks because you had your camera, day pack, and/or money pouch stolen before you could get out of the airport.

You may have noticed that all of my examples are from big cities. This is where most of the professional thieves and con artists work. When you get out in the countryside, you will not meet many of them. They may be at very popular tourist places, but the farther out you go, the more genuinely friendly local people you will be able to meet. In the countryside, whatever thievery occurs is usually conducted in your hotel room.

In this section I have been concerned with security from theft. As I've shown, some of the people who approach you on the street may be thieves or con artists. But many of them are just friendly locals or very small business people who want to get your business. Unfortunately, they don't wear badges advertising their true intentions.

A Rip-Off Primer Here are just a few of the lovely tricks that sneak thieves and con artists have waiting in store for you in several of the well-traveled places you may visit. It is hilarious reading, but no fun when it happens to you. Be aware and you will be safe.

Sneak Thieves (Lessons from the Peruvian Experts) You are lying down resting in a park. (This is just an invitation to thieves in any city). Your day pack is firmly under your head. You are thinking about your friends back home. Suddenly something strikes you on the leg. "Hey look out! Oh sorry!" A couple of kids nearby are playing, and their ball had hit you. No problem. You lay back down. Your bag is gone! You spin around, but the entire park around you is empty. You bag has disappeared into thin air! You turn back and the kids are gone too.

You are sitting on a bench, or leaning against a low wall, waiting for a bus, or a friend. Your bag is right beside you where you can see it; your hand is resting on it. A man in a suit walks along in front of you, stuffing something into his pocket. A 100-peso note flutters to the ground right in front of you as he walks off. You reach down and grab it, calling out to him. Forget the rest of the story, your bag is already gone!

You are on the train. You have stowed your bag safely over your head where you can see it. At the next stn, a few people get on. Then, just before the train pulls out, several men come running through the car shouting loudly and waving their arms. They are pushing each other around, yelling frantically, and pointing out the other side of the train. The car is in an uproar. You stand up to get a better look. The men disappear as quickly as they appeared, as the train is pulling out of the stn. You guessed it, your pack is gone!

You just arrived at the airport. You haul your rucksack out of customs and set it on the ground in front of you while you dig out a map or guide book. Fine so far. Now you go to put your rucksack on your back, but in order to do so, you must set down your day pack. You set the day bag down beside the rucksack and hoist the rucksack up across one shoulder. When you turn back again, your day pack is gone! The airport is full of people but you see no one with your bag, no one running, and no one very near you. You shout out, and people just stare at you, wondering what is wrong. Welcome to the Third World.

Con Artists (grifters, tricksters) - I don't think I could begin to tell you all of the con artist's tricks and ploys that you may be confronted with. They make up new ones every day. They usually involve you going to someone's house, going into an alley, getting into a car or bus with someone, or paying some money right there on the street. Some are just very good hard-luck stories to illicit money from you. They can be as intricate as taking you on a lovely outing into the countryside (where you are robbed), joining a friendly poker game, or being rousted by phony policemen.

The best way to avoid being conned is never to talk to anybody, anywhere. As a more reasonable alternative, be very cautious of anyone who approaches you in a city, or tourist center. If you suspect that it is a ruse, walk away. Don't accept invitations in questionable situa-tions, or in areas where confidence men abound. Sometimes people will claim to recognize you from another place where you have probably been (the airport or a popular resort). Since local people "all seem to look alike", you pretend to remember them to avoid being rude. Now you are "friends" and they invite you to their home. Don't go.

Many con artists, and also hard-sell vendors, will play on the Westerner's aversion to being rude. They will maneuver you into a situation where you cannot avoid doing what they want you to do without appearing to be very rude to them. Learn to be rude! These are strangers whose only business is to rob or extort money from you. Walk away and ignore them.

Some countries and some cities are worse than others. Some are almost free of con artists! Ask other travelers. There are always new scams around and travelers will be sure to have the latest horror stories to warn you in advance. Get the lay of the land before you decide to be a trusting soul.

Fast Change - The most common con is really a sleight-of-hand trick, and it is performed to virtuosity by bogus black market money changers on the streets of cities all over the world. You probably owe it to yourself to learn a humbling lesson from these experts at least once, but don't try it with any more money than you would burn. There are probably at least a dozen different sleight-of-hand tricks that can be executed when changing money. I don't know them all, but I will warn you that if you get yourself into this situation, you will very likely come out a big loser.

You can avoid it by never changing money on the street, and by always asking around among other travelers where they have successfully changed, and what the rate is. If there is a black market, you can usually find a shop where the transaction takes place on the premises, preferably right up front. This is safer because the shopkeeper (was that guy really the shopkeeper?) has an address, and he can get into trouble. Street urchins disappear into thin air before you realize you have been ripped-off.

If you know someone who changed in that shop yesterday, you should feel safe about it today. There are a few countries, like China, where the exchanges usually occur on the street. In this case, ask around to see if it is trustworthy, or go with someone who can identify honest changers, or use the bank. Always have the money you want to change separate and handy. Never show your wallet and certainly not your money pouch when changing money on the black market. It sounds obvious to me, but I've seen travelers doing it.

I say if there is a black market, because dishonest money changers do not gain their profits by virtue of the black market rates. They make their my money by cleverly stea-ling it from you! It should be a big tip-off to you when someone offers you a rate far above either the official or the black market rate. They just want to get your attention, and they will go even higher if you ignore them. Like many con artists, they play on your greed.

The usual trick is to short-change you. Say the real black market rate is 20. They offer you 25. You get greedy and head off into an alley with them. When you count the money they give you, it is the equivalent of only 22. You complain and give the money back. (One acquaintance of mine actually took this money, stuffed it in her jeans and walked off, making 10% over the real rate and leaving the changers dumbfounded!) But you are greedy, so you give the money back. They re-count it, add enough money to the top to make it right, and give it back to you as you hand over your dollars. Alternatively, if you have already given them your dollars (you might as well have flushed them down the toilet!) you will then have an argument, and they end up giving you back your dollars. The first case is actually better, because you at least will have been given some local money, although what you were handed, just before they disappeared in five directions, was only equivalent to a rate of 12 or 15! The hand is quicker than the eye. Perhaps you would like to see a card trick? In the second case, just as your dollars hit your hand again, someone will shout that the police are coming, and the transaction is foiled as every one stuffs their own money in their pockets and runs for it. Back at your hotel, you reach into your pocket and pull out the worst possible excuse for a Xerox copy of a $100 bill! You now have no local money, and that crumpled piece of paper in your hand is worth nothing more than as a very poignant souvenir. Welcome to the club!

Mickey Finn In a few countries, foreigners, and even locals, are occasionally drugged in bars, buses, and other places. You wake up 24 hours later with nothing but a headache. This happens to very few people, but it does occur. If you avoid the environments of sleazy bars in Manila, Bangkok, and several other places, you have avoided most of the danger. Even then, you just need to exercise some care. Get in the habit of never leaving a partially full drink unwatched on the table when you go to the toilet. Bottled drinks are safer, especially if you watch them being opened. Again, you shouldn't have to worry about your food or drinks being drugged in most situations, and in most places. But when you get out on the Road and hear some of these wild stories, you won't be able to say, "Wow, Randy never told us about that!" There have been wild reports of entire buses being drugged by a vendor who passed down the aisle giving free samples of his sweets. Even the driver was drugged in this popular horror story. Still, people do get drugged on buses in a few locations (southern Thailand, Indonesia, Lahore, and Peru that I have heard of). If someone hands you a hunk of her greasy tamale, it is probably as safe as the grease, but if someone pulls out a sweet and offers it to you, it is just a good policy to refuse, unless you are quite familiar with the safety of the country. If they become very insistent, you should definitely refuse. Even cigarettes can be drugged. You are most likely to be drugged (and it is still not very likely) by a con artist who has already lured you away to a private location. In this case, you are already about to be robbed, so whether or not they drug you in order to do so is just a matter of their personal style.


\10 Fraudulent Travel Clubs and Vacation Packages

Be aware that when you place your business card or name into a drawing for a free vacation, you may be added to a telemarketing call list. Telemarketers know that wishful thinkers are susceptible to their offers. Also know that your personal information can be collected via the Internet when you are visiting travel-related sites seeking deals on trips or airfare.

Fly By Night Operations You get a notice that you have won a super travel bargain. All you have to do is make a deposit with your credit card and select your preferred travel dates. The trouble is you may never actually get your "bargain" trip because the travel proves to be a complete fabrication, your reservations may not be confirmed or because you must comply with so many hard-to-meet, hidden or expensive "conditions." Fraudulent telemarketers purporting to be travel agencies can offer substantial travel packages at comparatively low cost because they know they will never have to come good on their promises. The use of travel as a commodity makes the long-distance nature of the transaction plausible but also makes getting a refund next to impossible.

Additional Costs and Upgrades Several companies overstate the amenities included, hide extra charges in "all-inclusive" packages, or charge you for products and services you never received. Free vacations often become assertively pitched "discount" packages, where you have to pay an excessively high price for some uncovered part - like hotel or airfare, or inflated charges for a "required" second person. So, your airfare may be free, but your anticipated $50 hotel room costs you $350. Perhaps a "handling fee" or "membership fee", anywhere from $50 to hundreds of dollars, is required as well. Some telemarketers say you've won — or been specially selected — for a trip then "bait and switch" you into spending additional money for "upgraded" hotel or other accommodations. You get a free or low-cost trip, but the room is cramped and grimy, the food terrible or nonexistent. The promoter then magically finds an upgrade at an outrageous price. In addition, many offers require you to pay
upgrade costs to receive the actual destinations, cruises, or dates you were promised. Some may require you to pay more for port charges, hotel taxes, or service fees but not bill your card until after you return. They promise you a bargain-priced vacation. However, when you add up all the fees and extras, you wind up paying more for the "bargain" than for a conventional travel package. The total cost may run two to three times more than what you'd expect to pay, or what you were led to believe. They may also fail to inform you of their "no refund" policy or misrepresent it over the phone.

Timeshare Sales Trap You take the bait and fly to Florida. When you try to pick up the vouchers for the rest of your trip, you find yourself trapped at a lengthy spiel on timeshares. You may also find out once you reach the final destination you are required to once again spend part of your vacation trapped listening to a lengthy and high pressure sales pitch for timeshare accommodations during your "vacation."

Charter Flights Every year at spring break many students, who signed up and paid for vacation packages, are disappointed when no plane is available for the return flight. When they examine the conditions of their contracts, they find, in small print, a clause that says the travel agency had the right to postpone the departure flight by as many as three days without any advance notice. These students are left stranded in airports far from home, with no provisions for food or overnight lodging, just so the travel agency can save money, flying fewer of them during the off-peak days, once the break is over. A lot of college students use use charters for spring break but these flights are not covered by the same laws as commercial airlines (usually charters can be canceled for any reason by the operator up until 10 days before the trip). Charter flights can also raise prices before the trip as well but you can cancel if they increase the package price by more than 10%.

Cruise Line Cancellations Some travelers reserve a specific cruising date, sometimes a full year or year and a half in advance. Then, shortly before the cruise, they are told that that particular cruise has been rescheduled. They are told that they can go on another one, on certain dates, which may not fit their work schedule. Most contracts say that a cruise line can cancel at any time, for basically any reason.

Boat Ride to Hell Telemarketers can initiate contact with you in several ways: they may send direct mail to you stating you will receive a "fantasy cruise holiday" vacation including a "luxury" cruise, then direct you to call an 800 number; and they also send unsolicited faxes to your business notifying "all staff" that the "wholesale travel department" has only a few Bahamas cruise packages remaining at a special corporate rate and that you should call immediately if you are interested in purchasing one; they send electronic certificates to your e-mail address congratulating you on "winning" a fabulous vacation for a very attractive price. Some say you have been "specially selected" (only people with e-mail qualify) for this opportunity. As mentioned, leads are also gathered at local fairs and trade shows by "lead generators." Booths are decorated with banners or signs inviting people to "register" for a vacation. You register thinking you are entering a draw to win a vacation.
Regardless of the method of contact, you are led to believe you are part of a select group of people specially chosen to receive this vacation package. Once they have you on the line, they describe an exciting vacation in Florida and a "luxury cruise" to the Bahamas. They state that the vacation is worth a significant amount, sometimes as much as $2,500, but that you will pay a much smaller amount to receive it, typically $398, $498, or $598. They urge you to immediately "secure" or "register" the vacation with a major credit card. They also say that the payment covers the cost of your accommodations in both Florida and the Bahamas, as well as the Bahamas "cruise." They inform you that you must purchase the vacation immediately. If you request time to think over the offer, or receive it in writing, they respond with canned rebuttals such as "this is a limited promotion based on availability" or , "each confirmation number can only be activated once, so you cannot call back and
reactivate your number" or "by the time you receive something in the mail, the limited number of vacations will be gone." In fact, there is no limit to the number of such vacations for sale. So you give your credit card number to the convincing operator. Once that is obtained, they say you will be switched over to a "supervisor." In actuality, the call is transferred to the "verification" department at their headquarters, where a third person comes on to the line to confirm details of the sale. Unlike the sales portion of the call, the "verification" is tape recorded. During the verification, they ask for your credit card number again, quickly review the details of the vacation package and, in some but not all instances, tell you for the first time that you will have to pay additional charges for "port service reservation processing fees" and that the vacation package is "non-refundable." These disclosures occur only after you have provided a credit card number which will be charged
within minutes of your hanging up. In the travel certificate industry, the amount you are initially charged during the sales call is known as the "front end" fee. This is because you do not receive a vacation for the money initially charged to your credit card, nor does that front end fee pay for your vacation. In fact, most, if not all of the front end fee pays the owners and their telemarketers for their sales efforts. For your initial $398, $498, or $598, you receive nothing more than a package containing a short video, some advertisements and a "reservation request voucher" for the Bahamas cruise and the Florida vacation. When you receive the vacation package you discover that you will have to pay more to take the vacation you thought you had already paid for. You find you have actually just paid for the "option" to purchase a vacation and also realize that you did not win a thing. The required additional payment, or the "back end" fee, is at least $198 to $316. They state that the
back end fee is for "port reservation processing fees." In fact, the back end fee pays for most, if not all, of your "cruise" to the Bahamas and your vacation accommodations. Should you call and attempt to cancel your vacation it is flatly stated that they have a "no refund" policy and that you cannot cancel your initial purchase. If you read the fine print on the back of the reservation vouchers that are included in their vacation packages, you will discover that they actually do have a return policy within a specified number of days, depending on the state in which you live. If you return the vacation package, even following the instructions on the back of the reservation voucher, you inevitably receive your package back, often several times, until you either give up or call a law enforcement agency, the Better Business Bureau, your credit card company or a private attorney.

People who seek third party assistance generally receive a refund. Those who do not are generally stuck paying for the misrepresented vacation package. Should you be one of those relatively few people who decide to pay the extra "back end" fee to take the vacation you will find that the vacation is not the "fantasy cruise holiday" you were promised but a five to six hour ferry ride to the Bahamas and back. The cruise ship you're booked on may look more like a tug boat. The hotel accommodations they provide are shabby, and if you wish to stay at the better-known hotels and resorts referred to in the solicitations and brochures, you must pay yet more undisclosed "upgrade" fees; otherwise you must endure the substandard accommodations provided.

Never Never Land You receive in the mail an "Executory Writ of Authorization" which certifies that you will receive a "World-class Florida / Caribbean Vacation Package . . . including all accommodations and two Round-trip Airfares!" The certificate also states, "This special package is sponsored by, and designed to promote, select hotels, resorts and airlines." The certificate displays hotel logos including those of the "Best Western British Colonial Beach Resort" and the "Nassau Marriott." To receive your vacation package, you must call right away. When you call their 800 number you reach a telemarketer who reiterates that you will receive a "promotionally discounted vacation package." They say they can offer such a "fabulous vacation" at an extremely discounted rate because they purchase large volumes of rooms from the specified hotels which, in turn, are promoting tourism in Florida and the Bahamas.

They say you are guaranteed to stay at the British Colonial Beach Resort in Nassau, Bahamas and that the vacation package is valid for 18 months, but that your reservations must be made at least 60 days in advance of the requested travel date. They indicate that they are a full-service travel agency and that they are the ones to call to book your reservation dates. This special limited time offer will cost you only $495 which you must pay immediately with your credit card. Through the use of stall tactics and blackout dates they either manage to have the offer lapse or they have disappeared completely by the time you decide to book.

Lifestyles of the Poor and Unfortunate Several states are suing National Travel Services Inc. and Ramada Plaza Resorts, both of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., their owners, and Robin Leach, who pitched their vacation offer. The suit alleges that the companies used Leach's "celebrity endorsement" to convince consumers they had won, or were entitled to, a luxury Florida vacation and cruise to the Bahamas. After paying you'd receive a video hosted by Leach in which he repeatedly described the vacation as "world class" and "an experience you'll never forget."

You'd also receive travel certificates featuring Leach's picture and the message: Robin Leach says, "Pack Your Bags!" As a condition of the trip, the certificates failed to disclose that you were required to attend lengthy timeshare presentations lasting up to five hours and pay sizable expenses and "port fees" to the promoters. You would eventually find out that you had won only a chance to pay as much as $1,000 for a seven-day Florida vacation in substandard accommodations and a bonus Bahamas' cruise which was actually a one-day ferry ride and a game of "Las Vegas style" bingo.

There was nothing free or fabulous about these dream travel packages. This was a trip to nowhere that you'll try to forget, but can't. Canadians continue to receive "special deal" offers for a $1600 voucher towards an all-inclusive, first-class Caribbean holiday from Ramada Plaza Resorts (rprvacations.com) despite over 665 registered complaints at PhoneBusters regarding their practice of immediately charging $2500 to callers' credit cards after asking for a down-payment. Insisting that the packages are non-refundable, company reps feel that because written scripts are used there is no possibility of abuse or misunderstanding.

Some tips: Buy vacation travel from a business you know. Deal with members of a professional association and realize that few legitimate businesses can afford to give away products and services of real value or substantially undercut other companies prices.

Verify arrangements before you pay. Get the details of your vacation in writing and a copy of the cancellation and refund policies. Don't accept vague terms such as "major hotels" or "luxury cruise ships." Call to verify your reservations. Look up numbers rather than using those provided. The entire operation may just be a front using mail drops and call forwarding services, all leading back to the same operation.

Learn the vocabulary. "You have been specially selected to receive our SPECTACULAR LUXURY DREAM VACATION offer" doesn't mean you'll get a free vacation. It means you'll be "offered an opportunity" to pay for a trip that may fit your idea of luxury or not. "Subject to availability" means you may not be able to get the accommodations you want when you want them. "Blackout periods" are blocks of dates, usually around holidays or peak season, when no discount travel is available.

Don't send money by messenger or overnight mail. Some scam artists may ask you to send them a check or money order immediately. Others may offer to send a messenger to pick up your payment. If you pay with cash or a check, rather than a credit card, you may lose your right to dispute fraudulent charges.


\11 Telemarketing Travel Frauds

Be skeptical (forget it) if you receive a call or postcard offering you a free or bargain travel package, especially if the price seems completely unreasonable. Do not give out your credit card number, checking account number or agree to send money up front until you get the full offer in writing with all costs and conditions and have time to check it out.

Do not be pressured into buying "NOW!" This shd be your first warning sign. A good offer today will remain a good offer tomorrow. Refuse the offer if you're told that you have 18 mths or more to take the trip. By the time you try to make res, the firm could be out of bus. Many fake firms will use stall tactics so your offer will expire before you can take a trip. Promising that bargain prices to a desirable area are available at any time are usually false. Prices and avail vary wildly between peak and off-season. No company can guarantee below normal off-season rates at the peak of the tourist season.

Get everything in writing. Make sure the written info includes the price of the package plus any additional charges. Find out exactly what is included in the pkg price and what isn't. Get the names of specific hotels, airports, airlines and restaurants that are a part of the package. Contact these establishments to double check the arrangements (Find the phone nbrs yourself. Do not use a number provided by the company). If they've never heard of the firm offering you the trip, don't sign up.

If the pkg doesn't include certain parts of your trip, such as air tvl to and from the port of embarkation for a cruise, find out if you have to purchase that through the company or if you can arrange your own tvl. Some co offer you the cruise and hotel at cost, but then make a profit by selling air tvl at a ridiculous mark-up.

Check prices with local tvl agencies. Unscrupulous co often have hidden charges that can end up making a trip cost more than if you'd bought it through a reputable agent. You may not even find out about these charges until you are already in the middle of the trip and are unable to refuse payment. After you get all the info in writing, shop around to see who has the best deal. You may find out that the tvl agt down the street can get you a cheaper trip with less hassle.

Beware of travel companies that misrepresent info about the bookings and transportation costs. For example, a company that offers an unbelievably low airfare may make up the loss in another way such as overpriced htl rms. In most cases, one should assume that If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The following tips from the US Dept of Consumer Affairs can save you a disappointing vacation.

Don't be taken by solicitations by postcard, letter, or phone claiming you've won a free trip or can get discounts on hotels and airfares. These offers usually don't disclose the hidden fees involved, for example, deposits, surcharges, excessive handling fees or taxes.

Some travel scams require you to purchase a product to get a trip that is “free” or “two-for-one.” You'll end up paying for the “free trip” or more for the product than the trip is worth, and the two-for-one deal might be more expensive than if you had arranged a trip yourself by watching airfare deals.

Be wary of tvl offers which ask you to redeem vouchers or certs from out-of-state companies. Their offers are usually valid only for a limited time and on a space-available basis. The hotels are often budget rooms and uncomfortable. The company charges you for the trip in advance, but will the company still be in business when you're ready to take the trip?

Check the reputation of any travel service you use, especially travel clubs offering discounts on their services in exchange for an annual fee. Contact your state or local consumer protection agency or the BBB.

Request copies of a tvl club's or agent's brochures and contracts before purchasing your ticket. Don't rely on oral promises. Find out about cancellation policies and never sign contracts that have blank or incomplete spaces.

Never give out your credit card number to a club or company with which you're unfamiliar or which requires you to call 900 numbers for info.

Don't feel pressured by requests for an immediate decision or a statement that the offer is only good “if you act now.” Don't deal with companies that request payment in advance or that don't have escrow accounts where your deposit is held.

Research cut-rate offers, especially when dealing with travel consolidators who might not be able to provide your tickets until close to your departure date.

You can protect yourself by using a credit card to purchase tvl services. If you don't get what you paid for, contact the credit card issuer and you might be able to get the charges reversed. Be aware that you have only 60 days to dispute a charge.


\12 The National Fraud Info Center, a nonprofit group, ranks travel scams as the second most frequent type of fraud in the country, after sweepstakes, saying travel fraud costs consumers and legitimate companies $12 billion a year. Travel scams underwent a growth spurt in the 80's, with the advent of fierce interstate telephone marketing of $29 cruises and other dubious offers.

Although education is the only real protection, people who have been defrauded, as well as travel agents and operators, have been hoping for a way to prosecute wrongdoers. "Fraud is the consumer problem of the ages," said Eileen Harrington of the Bureau of Consumer Protection of the Federal Trade Commission. "If we had a magic bullet we would have used it long ago." It's not exactly a bullet, but the commission has now drafted regulations to help states prosecute thieves whose tool is the telephone. The regulations carry out the Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud and Abuse Prevention Law signed by President Clinton in August 1994. The regulations must be final by Aug. 16 and are due to go into effect 30 days later. A second draft is open for public comment before it becomes final. According to Ms. Harrington, the problem of telephone sales fraud became apparent in the mid-1980's. A prominent early approach was the "vacation certificate" mailed to a consumer who was told to call back to
claim a free trip, which swiftly disappeared under a stream of credit card charges needed to redeem or "verify" the certificate. The most common outcome is that any desired date for the promised trip is reported booked up. The venerable nonprofit National Consumers League initiated a campaign against telemarketing fraud in 1988.

Passing years have only made such scams more blatant: Two friends recently sent me nearly identical diplomalike sheets they got in the mail. Along with their names was this printed message: "Pack your bags! You have been chosen for a world-class Florida/Caribbean vacation package including all accommodations and a round-trip cruise!" Some telemarketing-fraud scripts start right out with a phone call proposing a trip at a wonderful price, but only if the consumer gives a credit card number right away; another approach might be the offer of a discount because of a drop in tourism, say, to Florida, or the like. According to Cleo Manuel, a spokeswoman for the National Fraud Information Center, a division of the National Consumers League, one out of seven complaints concerns sales of travel. Penalties Up to $10,000.

The new law permits state attorneys general to go to Federal court to prosecute fraud artists and to get judgments, including injunctions, that might be applied nationally. It is rare to grant the states "equal enforcement authority" in this way, according to David Torok, a lawyer in the division of marketing of the F.T.C. He added that Federal courts would not grant damages to people in all states on the basis of prosecution by one state, but it was possible that a nationwide injunction might be granted. Convictions can bring civil penalties as high as $10,000. Frequently in the past, such fraud artists, when prosecuted by one state, shut down, changed their company names and moved operations to another state, or shifted their telephone target area to another state. An important resource for these operators is a "sucker list" of names, addresses and phone numbers of people likely to succumb to sales pitches by phone: the old, the lonely and people who seldom get outside constitute an
important segment, although I hear amazing tales from otherwise sophisticated people who have fallen for some hoary ruse. The Federal regulations, as now drafted, require that a consumer be informed of certain facts before any charge card payment is put through. "It is a deceptive telemarketing act or practice and a violation of this rule," the text says, for the seller to fail to disclose in advance in "a clear and conspicuous manner" the total cost, or any limits or conditions on the use of the goods or services; any conditions affecting a refund, cancellation, exchange or repurchase. The prospective buyer must also be told that no purchase is necessary if a prize is offered as part of a sales pitch.

The proposed rules also forbid misrepresentations about these facts and others, including whether the seller is affiliated with or endorsed by a Government organization. One familiar opening is a statement that the caller wants to help insure that the victim's Social Security payments are correct. Which Calls Are Covered The burden of the law falls on telephone sales calls initiated by marketing companies, but it also covers calls made in response to direct mail of the travel certificate type. Calls to order merchandise from catalogues are exempt, as are calls from nonprofit groups. The rules would allow telephone sales calls to consumers only between 8 A.M. and 9 P.M. and would bar return calls to people who have said they do not wish to be called.

The Amer Soc of Tvl Agts, the major trade org in this field, with 18,000 members, has long favored rules to eliminate scam artists, particularly those who use the cert come-on. It urged the Govt to be specific about what info consumers should get. For exam, in a response to the first proposed rules, it noted that one "free trip" cert did not mention where a cruise ship would call, the date of the cruise, whether prepayment was required, whether cabins were avail or a description of the ship.

Ray Greenly, vice pres of ASTA for consumer affairs, said that tvl agts wanted rules that would help consumers differentiate between a legitimate offer and a deceptive one. How to File a Complaint The National Fraud Information Center, according to Ms. Manuel, gets 300 to 400 calls a day on its toll-free line, (800) 876-7060. The information given to the organization's operators is entered into a computer and referred to the appropriate agency through the national data base maintained by the F.T.C. and National Association of Attorneys General. If an agency decides action is required, it contacts consumers who entered the complaint. The organization also publishes "Be Smart," tips on avoiding fraud, noting one obvious trap: "Never send cash by private carrier" and "Required overnight delivery of checks or money orders is an indication of fraud." And, of course: "Anytime you are told you have won a prize and have to pay money, refuse the prize." To order, contact National Consumers
League, 1701 K Street, N.W., Suite 1200, Washington, D.C. 20006. The period for comment on the F.T.C. regulations ends June 30. A copy of the proposed regulations may be ordered from the Public Reference Branch, F.T.C., Room 130, Sixth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580. Comments should be addressed to the F.T.C. Office of the Secretary at the same address.

PRACTICAL TRAVELER/ By BETSY WADE

The info in this section is courtesy of the U.S. Dept of Transportation. We at Armchair feel it's better to be safe than sorry so read on....

Unlike most products, travel services usually have to be paid for before they are delivered. This creates opportunities for disreputable individuals and companies. Some travel packages turn out to be very different from what was presented or what the consumer expected. Some don't materialize at all!

If you receive an offer by phone or mail for a free or extremely low-priced vacation trip to a popular destination (often Hawaii or Florida), there are a few things you should look for: Does the price seem too good to be true? If so, it probably is. Are you pressured to make an immediate decision? Are you asked to give your credit card number over the phone? Is the carrier simply identified as "a major airline," or does the representative offer a collection of airlines without being able to say which one you will be on?

Is the representative unable or unwilling to give you a street address for the company?

Are you told you can't leave for at least two months? (The deadline for disputing a credit card charge is 60 days, and most scam artists know this.) If you encounter any of these symptoms, proceed cautiously. Ask for written information to be sent to you; any legitimate travel company will be happy to oblige.

If they don't have a brochure, ask for a day or two to think it over; most bona fide deals that are good today will still be good two days from now. If they say no to both requests, this probably isn't the trip for you. Some other advice: If you are told that you've won a free vacation, ask if you have to buy something else in order to get it. Some packages have promoted free air fare, as long as you buy expensive hotel arrangements. Others include a free hotel stay, but no air fare. If you are seriously considering the vacation offer and are confident you have established the full price you will pay, compare the offer to what you might obtain elsewhere. Frequently, the appeal of free air fare or free accomodations disguises the fact that the total price is still higher than that of a regular package tour. Get a confirmed departure date, in writing, before you pay anything. Eye skeptically any promises that an acceptable date will be arranged later. If the package involves standby or
waitlist travel, or a reservation that can only be provided much later, ask if your payment is refundable if you want to cancel, and don't pay any money you can't afford to lose. If the destination is a beach resort, ask the seller how far the hotel is from the beach. Then ask the hotel. Determine the complete cost of the trip in dollars, including all service charges, taxes, processing fees, etc. If you decide to buy the trip after checking it out, paying by credit card gives you certain legal rights to pursue a chargeback (credit) if promised services aren't delivered.

U.S. Department of Transportation. ISBN 0-16-045193-0. September 1994, p.40-41.Note: As of July, 1997 this was the latest non-internet-published U.S. State Department document pertaining to this topic .

Bus Station - Chicago "This is a domestic scam. At the main bus station in downtown Chicago people are warned to be on the alert for overly helpful strangers. The prevailing scam of choice used to be this:

A guy would see tired and bewildered passengers getting off their busses. He'd rush up to them and say, "Can I take your bags?" Well, a mistaken, but common presumption by many a passenger was the intended connection you might make between seeing a line of taxis at the curb, and this helpful guy trying to assist you with your baggage. Well, as you might have figured, when he asks if he can take your bags, you've given this crook permission to "take your bags". By the time you've realized what's happening, he's long gone into a big city you are very likely unfamiliar with.

Coupon Books For a promotion, one company purchased travel coupons for $200 which were supposed to save its customers $800 in travel costs for a trip. However, it turned out the travel agency didn't even exist.

Calling Cards All someone needs to make unauthorized calls using your calling card is the numbers, not the actual card. Number thieves hang around airports, hotels and other locations where long distance travelers, especially business people, congregate. They will use binoculars or less obvious zoom lens cameras as well as close proximity to observe while you input your codes manually or verbally. Try to shield the numbers dialed or speak softly if reciting numbers to the operator so as to hamper their efforts.

- fone scams Fit To Kill Afterwards Hot on the heels of the latest high-school shootings you get a fax from the "National Gun Control Poll" which asks: "Would you like to see more effective gun control laws?" You can "vote" by faxing your reply to one of two 900 numbers. The total time to fax a reply is not disclosed, nor is the $2.95 a minute billing charge. "We are faxing out over 3 million voting forms throughout the country," the fax states, with claims that results will be reported to U.S. officials. However the "poll" is not from an independent research group or government agency, but from a for-profit business called 21st Century Fax Ltd. in London, England. The company's Web site shows that they also sell information on exercise and weight loss tips like the "Yummy Yum Yum Diet."

We'll Buy Whatever You Have Your business gets a request for detailed information on your products, services and prices but the return address is only a fax number. You transmit enough material to warrant the expressed, immediate and profitable interest.

The number turns out to be an international long distance call or pay-per-call number resulting in expensive charges. The scammer, who never had any intention of doing business with your firm, shares a portion of your charges with the foreign phone company. If you notice this charge when you check your billings, your phone company may reverse it on a one time basis.

PBX Systems - Just Testing Your switchboard secretary receives a phone call from an individual claiming to be a phone company service technician. The technician says he is testing phone lines and that she needs to press 90, then the pound (#) key and hang up to complete the test.

She obliges and later you find that by pressing 90#, you may give the caller full access to your commercial PBX telephone line, including having long distance calls billed to your number, if your PBX system is vulnerable. AT&T says this scam has apparently been traced to many local prisons. Check with your service people about deterrents and have a policy in place for usage of this feature.

Safety Tips Pick a secure Hotel Avoid such bad ideas as picking up a car rented in a strange city in the middle of the night. Evaluate your zone of vulnerability. Potential targets are selected by observing who is the most vulnerable. Consult travel agents about your travel safety concerns. Note areas of safety that could be used during a crisis. Select your restaurants and night clubs as carefully as you select your lodging and transportation.

Money Changing Scam - China "I'll relate one I've seen frequently in China and also in other countries. Basically, there are several variants of folding off a portion of a large wad of bills while changing money. Once I knew this trick, I would "play" with money changers to watch their technique. The very best ones would do it in the following manner. First, the money changer counts out the large wad of bills. Then he hands it over for you to count. You count the endless stream of bills and discover that it is a few bills short. The money changer takes the bills and counts them very slowly in front of you. He "discovers" the wad is short and apologizes profusely.

He then may dig around in his pockets searching for the money to make up the difference or perhaps go "borrow" it from another money changer who is nearby. He folds off a portion of the bills, shows you the money he is adding and hands you a wad that is even shorter than the first time you counted it, but not noticeably so. The idea is that you've just watched three countings of these bills, so most people will not count them again. "I used to love to watch their faces when, much to their chagrin, I would start into another count. I did this partly for fun but also because I wanted to see what their profit margin was.

They would never let me finish the recount though, pretending to see police at this point, grabbing the bills and running off. One time I refused to let a changer grab the bills and he pulled a knife on me. "Fortunately, this trick is less common than it used to be due to the decreasing number of black market money changers. The best advice is to avoid "unofficial" money changers and to always do your own counting with the money in your hands. "I suspect it is mostly dead in China now with the demise of the FEC, but the other stories on your money changing scam page (India) reveal that variations of this technique are alive and well in other places.

Drugged in the Philippines This article was originally posted to rec.travel.Asia. "Here's a scam for that I fell for last year. On 17/3/95, on my first night in the Philippines I was sitting in Remedios Circle, Ermita in Manila. I was approached by a man and a girl both between 25 and 28 years old who claimed to be brother and sister and to be students from Baguio. We got to talking and they seemed honest and friendly, and we ended up having a meal together in Remidios Circle where there was a food fair going on. They asked me where I was going and they recommended that I visit Baguio.

They offered me a lift back to Baguio in their aunties jeepney with them the next day. I accepted, and the next day they picked me up around 7:30 am in a taxi. They told me we were going to their aunties' house. They told me they had been up all night protesting at the Singaporean embassy about the Philippina maid who was due to be hanged that morning. On arrival, at the house they offered me a breakfast of pineapple juice, mangoes and beer which I thought a bit strange.

"I remember taking one sip of the beer and then I must have blacked out, because the next thing I knew was I was on a bus and it was dark, so it must have been about 12 hours later. I was sick and dizzy and I checked my money belt to find my cash and most of travelers cheques missing. Fortunately, they didn't take any of my other belongings, and my bags were on the bus. The bus arrived in Baguio, which is about 7 hours from Manila.

I went to the police and they said I'd have to go back to Manila to report the crime, which I did the next day. It took another day and a half to get the police report and the travelers cheques back, and I was able to continue my holiday. Apparently, the drug they used was called Ativan. "Also, Manila International airport (NAIA) is pretty bad. There's no public transport to it, and so you're forced to use taxis. My taxi's meter was rigged so the fare to Ermita was 400 Pesos and not around 100 pesos it should have been.

When leaving on an early morning flight, there were no shops, cafes, or duty free open at the airport and even the toilets were locked. When I eventually found an open toilet, all the water was turned off, and so they didn't flush and I had to wash my hands with my own drinking water. They also charge you 500 pesos departure tax (around US 20$). "I don't want to put anyone off traveling to the Philippines; the rice terraces at Banaue and Lake Taal were both worth seeing. I've traveled on my own for 7 trips of over a month and the drugging was my first really bad experience. Just be careful, that's all.

- CONSUMER ADVISORY Ten Tips to Avoid Travel Scams Summer Scams: Be a cool consumer so you don't get burned!

DO be particularly careful if the company has solicited you by phone, or if you have received a postcard or a certificate in the mail.

DON'T pay the travel company before you know all the travel details. If the company offers you a great deal but won't give you the details in writing until you have paid, it could be a scam operation.

DO make sure that your company is registered with the California Attorney General's Office if it sells, or arranges for, air or sea travel (either separately or in conjunction with other services). Ask to see the company's current registration certificate. The certificate has the company's registration number, which MUST be included in all advertising.

DO get the complete details in writing.

DO use a travel agent who is a member of a recognized travel organization, such as the American Society of Travel Agents or the U.S. Tour Operators Association.

DO be sure you understand all of the charges and know the risk of the transaction if you call a 900 number in response to a solicitation.

DO hang up or walk away from high pressure sales presentations that don't allow you time to fully evaluate the offer.

DO carefully check all of your travel documents. For example, make sure that the dates on your itinerary fall within the "not valid before" and "not valid after" dates on your airline tickets.

DO make your check payable to the seller's trust account (most travel sellers are required to have a trust account or a bond). Some experts recommend paying only by credit card, so that you will have some protection if the company defaults.

Avoid hucksters who get on you near the a/p baggage area and offer a cut-rate cab ride to your hotel. At best, you'll pay an inflated price for a roundabout journey. Instead, head for the official taxi stand outside.

When you check in at a hotel and the front-desk clerk announced your room number within earshot of others, demand a different room. Otherwise you may find yourself prey to a thief or worse.

Watch out for "shoulder surfers," who hang around public telephones. They'll steal your calling-card number when you punch it into the keypad. Block their view, and cup your hand around the keypad. Be equally cautious about speaking the numbers out loud to an operator.

While walking, stay alert to diversionary tactics used by a pickpocket or thief. One popular routine involves a stranger's throwing garbage at you or squirting you with mustard. While a second person rushes to help you, a thief unnoticed, may relieve you of your belongings.

Beware of accidents used to collect insurance money. One or more cars may cut you off or stop suddenly in front of you and cause the accident. They other driver will blame you for injuring him and his car. Later his insurance will claim more injury or more serious vehicle damage than you observed. Keep detailed notes. Avoiding Scams When Planning Your Trip

When planning a trip, here are some additional tips: Beware of unsolicited travel opportunities.

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. If a travel opportunity sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't. Either they will take your money and run, or there are hidden charges. For example, many so-called "free vacations" or "vacation giveaways" require you to stay at a specific hotel-at exorbitant rates.

Beware of extremely low-priced offers, unsolicited offers involving Florida or Hawaii, and opportunities that try to pressure you into buying on the spot.

If you're elderly, be especially careful. Scam artists will try to confuse and manipulate you.

Ask detailed questions (eg, what is covered by the price and what isn't, whether there are any additional charges, the names of the hotels, airlines, airports, and rests, exact dates and times, cancell, and refund policies), and get it all in writing before you buy anything.

Never give personal info, as credit card numbers, SS#, bank a/c#, or similar info to an unsolicited caller if you must, ask for a tele nbr and call them back the next day, after you've had time to check them out. Call the BBB and use the tele nbr to verify if they're a legit business, and if so, whether there have been any com-plaints. You can also checkout the company with the state atty genl's office and the local consumer protect agcy.

Pay for purchases with a credit card, never with a check or money order. When you pay for purchases with a credit card, you're protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act against fraudulent charges.

Never give out your frequent flyer number over the phone, unless you initiated the call.

Don't assume that just because a company places ads in a newspaper or has a toll-free 800 number, it must be safe. It takes time for a company to generate enough complaints for the Federal Trade Commission to start an investiga-tion. Moreover, not all 800 numbers are toll-free these days, and it's possible for an individual to get their own toll-free number.

Do not give your tickets to anyone other than an agent of the airline at the ticketing/check-in counter, the gate, or the airline's offices. A common scam is for someone wearing a uniform similar to that of the airline to provide some excuse for taking your tickets (eg, claiming there is a problem with the tickets). If you're not sure that someone is an airline employee, check their ID with the airline.

If you've run into a problem, or are suspicious of an offer, call the National Fraud Info Ctr, a hotline run by the National Consumers League. The number is 800-876-7060 and can be reached from 9am to 5pm EDT during the week. You can also call the local BBB, the state Bureau of Consumer Protection, and the Atty Gen's office.

HOW TO AVOID SCAMS - Don't give your credit card number to any person or business unless you expect to be charged for a product or service.

Be wary of ads that have few details and promise a lot for little money. Be cautious of firms that ask you to pay before confirming reservations. Most reputable travel agents will confirm before payment. Deal with an esta-blished firm. If a firm is unfamiliar to you, check with relatives, friends or the BBB.

If you are unfamiliar with the firm, request written info on total cost of the vacation and all items included. Any transportation, lodging, meals or other items not speci-fically mentioned may not be included. Ask about your right to cancel. If you get ill or change plans you could end up paying for a trip you never take. Also inquire about the availability of cancellation insurance.

Be wary of vacation offers that are "good today only." Remember, the better a vacation package sounds the more thoroughly you need to verify the package's details.


\13 CRIME

Even though the vast majority of travelers will not become targets of crime, it's a good idea to be prepared if the unlikely does happen. If you are unfamiliar with the area you will be visiting, or find yourself in a situation in which you feel unsafe, you might want to consider some of the following advice. 

Many countries have a government office (such as the U.S. Department of State) that supplies information for citizens who are traveling. Check for advisories on political or civil unrest, criminal activity against tourists and other travel concerns. 

Know the phone number and location of your government's closest embassy or consulate, and carry this information with you. In most cases a duty officer is on call at all times in case of crime or other emergency. 

Know how local law enforcement agencies operate and where to go for help. 

Prepare your tour routes before setting out. Ask hotel reps (or any local people you know) if there are areas that are considered dangerous. Stay away from these areas, especially at night or if you are alone. If you do find yourself in an area that seems disagreeable, don't stand in the street studying a map, you will be broadcasting the fact that you don't know where you are, making you an easy mark for pickpockets and other criminals. 

Unless local law requires you to carry your PP, keep it locked in a safe location and carry a photocopy. If your passport is stolen, you will need ID to get a new one. Bring several PP-size photos; it can be difficult to find photo shops in some countries. 

Don't wear expensive clothing or jewelry. Store all valuables and lock your room before setting out. Why bring them? Never carry large amounts of cash. Use traveler's checks or credit cards for most purchases, but first make sure they are accepted in the areas you will be visiting. 

Do not carry handbags, money belts or pouches that can be cut or torn off. Wear them under a jacket or shirt so they are less accessible to thieves. Carry your wallet in a front pocket, and wrap rubber bands around it so it can't be removed easily. 

Familiarize yourself with local exchange rates before you make any purchases, and pay close attention to all monetary transactions. Exchanging money, in particular, is sometimes seen as an easy way to deceive tourists. Avoid black market exchanges. 

Beware of pickpockets, especially around RR stations and other centrally located, crowded areas. Unfortunately, you need to be careful even around little bastards, who sometimes act as distractions so you can be robbed. 

When driving, keep your doors locked at all times, keep suitcases out of sight and don't leave valuables in the car. Rental cars, in particular, can attract unwanted attention. 


\14 Top Ten Ways to not become a Victim of Violence Abroad

10. Don't be an Obvious American (or Westerner) - In some places, like in Kigali Rwanda, you'll stand out no matter what. There is really no need to outwardly advertise your citizenship. We know who you are.

9. Don't Openly Display Jewelry - Robert Young Pelton of Fielding's Dangerous Places accurately describes tourists in the Third World this way ... 'as obvious as a naked man with one hundred dollar bills taped to his body.' You're obvious enough. Don't telegraph your presence through expensive jewelry, in most Latin American countries you'll live to regret it. Neck snatches, Wrist grabs and just plain brute force are used throughout the world to get your goods. Wear local, inexpensive jewelry if you must look beautiful.

8. Keep Copies of your Passport and Hide the Original - Carry three copies of your passport and all of its relevant information in two separate areas of your baggage and one on your body. Passports are the hottest commodity in the world and yours is up for a clever pickpocket or Gypsy gamin.

7. Listen to your "Bad Vibrations" - Never ignore your sixth sense. When you get alarmed or spooked maybe your sub-conscious is telling you something ... like, "Get Out Now!" Listen to it, but first only after thinking through the situation clearly for a few seconds, observe the situation around you and ask yourself "Is there a source of rescue close by?" If the bad vibes are still there then take your feelings for action.

6. Learn Where Your Embassy is located - As soon as you arrive, look at a map and orient yourself to the your Embassy or Consulate. You may need the services it offers in an emergency or illness. Think of them as your security blanket. Ask to speak to the Regional Security Officer and get a crime fact sheet. They are there to help! Trust them.

5. Read Local English Language Newspapers - The locals and expatriates who write these papers are well in tune with the regional information. Learn from them and see why the market is going to be burned down just when you want to visit.

4. Avoid Unexpectedly Amorous Men and Women - Although you are probably attractive enough, be wary of people who approach you and try to woo you the moment you arrive. If its romance, you'll know soon enough. Most of the time it is someone who may want a green card, your wallet, to take you to a gift shop or just attracted to any foreigner. Remember, you are the Cash Cow and they want a little milk. Listen to what your mother told you when you were 15, it is still applicable.

3. Learn Awareness of the Threats - Before you ever set foot out of your home, learn if the country and people are amenable to your visit. There could be threats you won't see before arrival. Research the internet and find the facts. For example, although Iran is not a politically correct destination, it is a wonderfully hospitable place for Americans, however any slight turn of political events could make you a long term visitor. Weigh the risks.

2. Avoid Known Hotspots - Bogota, Colombia; Sanaa, Yemen; Beirut, Lebanon and Algiers, Algeria are not cities which should just pop up on your travel radar. If they do, shoot them down. Check the Travel Warning list to see if you are planning on going someplace the press will not even go.

1. Don't Panic! - Things happen in the world. Some good. Some bad. Panicking never helps. You are not at home and your mother is not going to comfort you on the road. Panicking may lead to violence and possibly your demise. Relax and watch cautiously everything around you. Take decisive action (like running) when threats come. You'll enjoy the world more this way.

Top Ten things to do to Survive Trekking in a questionable region

1. Establish High PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) – You are going to live! Believe it!

2. Establish HIGH Security Awareness - Prepare for trouble before you travel by researching the issues and region for conflict or trouble.

3. Consult With Your Regional Embassy - leave a list of details & photo of yourself with the RSO include one statement only you could know to authenticate yourself in an emergency.

4. Navigate Your Route Mentally - Also carry a detailed topographic map and compass –know how to use them

5. Establish an EPA (Emergency Plan of Action) – Whenever you stop assess your surroundings and plan no less than 3 escape routes

6. Camp near the edge of groups - give yourself an option to depart rapidly. if you have a dual entry tent with a easy access rainfly orient the back towards some form of cover and concealment (woods, declining hillside, boulders, etc)

7. Keep a daypack with food, water and a dark green waterproof jacket near the door

8. Set the alarm when you see armed men who are not soldiers – Don’t assume they are friendly. Send guides to talk to them and start to walk from the encampment (uphill or into woods if possible)

9. Dress in darker colors when trekking

10. Always carry a survival kit on your body – In a vest, waistpack or backpack. Make sure it has identification, money, a knife, compass, fire starting materials, a plastic bag for a shelter and some high energy food.

Top Ten Mis-perceptions About Terrorism

10. I Would Never Support A Terrorist - Many People in the US and around the world don't realize they are passively supporting terrorists by traveling to nations which actively support and sponsor terrorism, such as Lebanon and Iran. Although big on the adventure travel beat, these nations pay hundreds of millions of dollars to terrorist groups. Others support directly by donating money to groups such as the IRA.

9. Terrorists Are Expert Killers Who Can't Be Beaten - Movies and the shadowy way of attacking give terrorists a mystique that is more myth than fact. Terrorists are routinely beaten through solid law enforcement methodology.

8. If There Is a Terrorist Act I Should Stay Home - Never compromise your travel plans for single acts of terrorism. Unless going to a country with an active civil war, remember, once an act has occurred it usually takes a month or so to carry out a another major incident.

7. Terrorism Only happens Overseas - Terrorism happens everywhere that people are dissatisfied. The German Baader-Meinhof Gang (a.k.a. Red Army Faction) were well-off university students.

6. If I am Sympathetic to Their Cause I Will Not Become a Victim - Anyone can become a victim. Because your philosophy is close to that of the terrorists it only makes you more vulnerable to terror acts.

5. Terrorists Attack Only Diplomats and High Level Executives - Due to the disproportionate balance of resources and money in the world the largest number of victims is now the individual traveler, not diplomats or executives. Simple acts like kidnapping or assassination are usually taken out on the first foreigner seen.

4. Terrorism Doesn't Affect My Life - Precautions such as checking in two hours early, showing photo ID and detailed baggage searches are a direct result of terrorism.

3. Some Terrorism is Justified - Terrorism is the deliberate murder of innocent civilians and people to make a symbolic statement. Terrorism is a criminal act and never justified.

2. One Mans Terrorist Is Another Man's Freedom Fighter - True, this is a popular phrase but once the "freedom fighter" has carried out an act of terrorism as partially defined above they are both criminals and "terrorists."

1. "If A Terrorist really Wants You He Will Get You" - This common belief is the core of all that is wrong with terrorism. The terrorist wants you to believe that he is invulnerable and that you are completely at his will. With proper awareness and simple prevention training you can travel the world without fear of terrorism.


\15 What To Do If You Are Robbed or Attacked

If a crime is committed against you, you can choose to go to the police or not. The consular officers at your embassy will probably do little more than tell you to report it to the police, although they may keep a statistical account of the complaints they receive. I must tell you that I have no personal experience with reporting crimes to the police in the Third World and I can only offer you the perspectives of others I have met and heard of.

If you lose credit cards, you will need to make an international telephone call to the banking company and report it immediately. You must certainly have a record of the card number, and if you don't have the telephone numbers, it could be quicker to pay for a call to "directory information" at home than to try to go through a local "affiliate" bank, but they may at least be able to give you the numbers to call.

If your travelers checks, passport, or insured goods are stolen, you will definitely need an official police report in order to get them replaced. Sometimes this must be from the local police station where the crime occurred; another station may refuse to make a report. Other than that, going to the police may not get you much satisfaction, depending on the country and your confidence in the police system.

There are several attitudes that travelers (and locals) may take about reporting crimes to the police. The first is your natural indignation and instincts that crime must be stopped, and criminals apprehended. Second is the belief that going to the police won't help; they could be in collusion with the criminal activities anyway. Third, going to the police could be dangerous and just get you into more trouble. And lastly, there is the hope that you might get some of your goods returned to you.

In countries with reasonably "civilized", and passably honest systems of government and policing, reporting crimes can be the best thing to do. While you may not get any personal satisfaction, an increase in the reported crimes against tourists could eventually mobilize the authorities to take more effective actions to prevent them, if only in the interest of continued tourism.

As at home, the chances of recovering your valuable goods will be small, and indeed the police in some countries and rural areas do sometimes work hand in glove with thieves or dishonest businesses, taking bribes to protect them and look the other way. I have heard stories (and I tell you these were just stories) of travelers who were harassed by police when they reported thefts from their hotel. They were accused of making false accusations and threatened with arrest unless they left town immediately.

On the other hand, if the police really are corrupt, there may be the small chance to use it to your advan-tage. If the police already know who the culprits are, they may be able to "recover" your important documents or the less valuable contents of your rucksack, if you tell them that is all you want back; offering a "reward" may even encourage them. In any case, accusing them of corruption or ineptness will certainly get you nowhere.

In a few countries, going to a police station is like going to visit a prison -- you can't be certain that you will walk out soon, even if you are reporting a crime. If you have any contact with a respectable local business-man, you may ask him (yes, males are preferable) to accompany you. In particular, women are cautioned to take along a male friend (any traveler, expat, or respectable local you can find) who will stay with you and prevent you from being harassed or molested by the police. Unfortunately, reporting a sexual attack to the police is not to be recommended in some countries.

Your passport or travelers checks can be replaced even if you just "lose" them, although you will usually be required to get a police report anyway. If you feel afraid to accuse a particular hotel, business, or individual, even if you strongly suspect that they are culpable, you can just report to the police that you "lost" them. You can say that they were stolen by an unknown thief when you left them unattended on the beach, or in your bag at the station, or you were pick-pocketed on a particular bus journey -- a particular public situation, but an unseen thief. Or, you just dropped them off of a boat. You might also have to lie when reporting a theft that did not occur in the town where you are reporting it; if the local police refuse to give you a police report, go to the city and report that it happened there. Lying to the police is not to be taken lightly, so be certain you have your story straight. The object in this case is to get out of the police station as quickly as possible
with a stolen goods report, even if it shows that you were negligent; although insurance companies may quibble if they feel the theft was completely your own fault.

I have not really told you exactly what to do, because it depends tremendously on the local situation. Who can you ask? As I said, embassy staff will normally give you the official reply that you should go to the police, but you may get some personal advice from someone there. If the crime occurred in your hotel, the hotel manager will certainly not be anxious to have the police called in.

One avenue to explore might be expatriate foreigners living in the country, but this is just my guess. If you are in a city, look for a reasonably reliable expat who runs a local business such as a tour or trading company; they have probably had to deal with the local police on various occasions. (Foreign businessmen may or may not have useful perspectives on your situation.) Ask their advice on what you should do; they may even know a "contact" who can do you some good. Or they might just advise you to forget about it and enjoy the rest of your trip.

I have a personal impression that thievery is treated very severely in strongly Islamic countries, where it is considered a sin as well as a crime. You may be cheated every time you turn around, but outright stealing is considered immoral and disgraceful. In some of these places, theft from tourists may be tolerated, but even the police might be genuinely shamed when anyone is robbed in their country. This does not guarantee that you will get action, or even that the police are honest, but I would be more likely to report crimes in such countries. At a bus ticket office in Syria, I left with the manager to inquire about buses. On the way out, I instinctively looked back to my bag on the floor. The manager smiled and said, "Do you think anyone would steal from you in Syria? It is worse than a crime for a Muslim to steal; don't worry here." Based on my personal experiences in that particular country, I believe him, but I wouldn't be quite as trustful in, say, Turkey or Indonesia.
Similarly, in the very old days of dictatorship in Venezuela, petty crime was rare and ordinary citizens were quite safe. The government may have been corrupt, but where petty theft was punished with death, honesty was definitely the best policy.

Photography Yes, photography can be dangerous, too. In some countries there are strict prohibitions about what you can photograph. The main excuse is to prevent spies from providing reconnaissance information. The taboos always include military installations, equipment, or even soldiers. It may extend to bridges, public and government buildings (the president's mansion), airports, dams, power stations and just about anything that could be imagined to be a target of future attack. Some countries also take a dim view of you making any unflattering photographs of poor people or slum areas.

If there are strict rules, they will usually be posted at borders and airports when you enter, and only occasionally around the specific places that are prohibited. In many countries there is very little to worry about. In general, though, avoid taking photos of anything that is very official, and especially military. If a place is guarded, you should probably ask a guard if photography is permitted. Sometimes they only get offended because you didn't ask. In a few places, the rules are occasionally misused as an excuse for some overzealous soldiers to harass tourists. They may want to confiscate your film; if you refuse, they may just smash your camera! If you do get caught, be friendly and apologize, saying you were unaware of the dangers of photographing a beautiful railway station. If they get serious, give them the film without making a scene; things could just get worse.

Anti-Imperialism Many Americans are afraid of encountering dangerous anti-American sentiments abroad. Other nationalities can have similar fears, also derived from publicized incidents of terrorism. I have heard many of the stories and some first-hand accounts of close calls, but frankly, it has never been a problem for me. Maybe this is just a difference in perception. Sure, I have had dozens, maybe hundreds of people say negative things to me about my country and about Americans. Some of them were western travelers. But this is not a big deal, and I don't take it personally. Often I can appreciate their complaints and the fact that they are often the result of national priorities or biased information. In fact, it is normal; I have plenty of negative things to say about my country, too. In short, I hardly notice it. I don't get into arguments, nor do I vehemently agree with criticisms; I avoid discussions on the topic.

I am an American; it's my home. But on the Road, I feel no particular need to defend its government or people. I had one taxi driver in Pakistan berate me loudly during most of a short trip. "America! What's wrong with you Americans?" The real problem was, "Why won't the American Embassy give me a visa?" My only reply was "I don't know." Smile, shrug your shoulders, be nice, and you can avoid most belligerent situations.

But this is quite different from feeling that your personal safety is in jeopardy because of your nationality. It does happen, and I have heard a few personal accounts of altercations. I have witnessed a couple of anti-imperialist demonstrations, felt nervous, and kept my distance. Maybe I'm incredibly lucky, but I have never yet felt physically threatened or intimidated by it. People are always asking me, "Didn't you have any trouble being an American in Syria, Nicaragua, China, Laos, South America, etc.?" I'm sorry, but the answer is "no".

Sometimes it is surprising. In Nicaragua, during the Contra conflicts, I fully expected to hide behind some other identity. But in my first days, I was brave. A local man on a bus turned and asked me if I were Cuban; there were many Cuban advisers and teachers in Nicaragua. No, I said, I was a Norte Americano (American). "Ahh," he said, "We do not like your government at all! But the Americans are good people. Welcome to Free Nicaragua!" I was flabbergasted! Not only was I not in for big trouble, but this simple Third World man had shown a cultural sensitivity that most Americans are lacking -- the ability to separate the actions of a distant country's government from the nature of its individual citizens. The bus did not descend on me en mass. The word got around and some people smiled and greeted me. Perhaps a few others spat and muttered -- I don't know, but I was in no danger.

The British are another favorite target of bad feelings, and encounter more visa restrictions than Americans do. But Israelis are perhaps the most officially discriminated against; there are precious few countries where they are even allowed to enter, and often with restrictions.

If you are seriously frightened by the prospect of anti-Americanism, anti-Colonialism, or anti-YourCountry sentiment causing a serious problem for you, just go out and get yourself a Canadian flag or lapel pin, (just ask any Canadian traveler, they have dozens!) and pretend to be someone else. Be aware, but don't worry about it unnecessarily. In my opinion, you attract more risks by the way you act, dress, and the gear you carry, than by your nationality.

Drugs I have already told you about enough confidence tricks and clever thieves that by now you should realize that things are not always as they seem. So when someone tells you about a sweet get-rich-quick scheme, you should know that there is always a catch. If the scheme involves dealing in, or transporting drugs, the main catch is that you are liable to spend some of the best years of your life in a prison far worse than anything you could imagine at home. Of course they will tell you that the risks are almost non-existent. Sometimes the scheme is even planned so that you do get caught and must pay plenty of money to avoid prison. If you think that the promise of a few thousand dollars is worth these kinds of risks, you are too stupid or desperate to be out traveling around.

If you go to your local embassy, you can usually get the names and locations of a few of your countrymen and women who are doing time in local prisons. Sometimes you can go and visit them; they will be extremely grateful for your company and any amenities that you can bring them. It is a very sobering experience. In many countries that you visit, you will find hash and marijuana being offered to you and used regularly, although there are almost no countries any more where it is legal. Even though "everyone is doing it", the local police may single out foreigners as a source of revenue. In many places, the penalties for possession of drugs are almost as severe as for dealing. In any case, if you are caught, you will have to deal with the local police in situations that will be far from pleasant, and will at the very least involve the payment of sizable bribes to get you out.

If you choose to take this chance, at least be very careful about the people you deal with. It is not at all unusual for the dealers to be in collusion with the local police; the drugs may be returned to them after the police have extracted a suitable "fine" from you. In general, the fewer people who know about your possession of drugs, the better. The easiest course (short of abstinence) is to avoid possession, and just share whatever is going around among your companions, as long as you can feel safe with them. If you do buy some, get it from people who you can trust (other travelers?) or whom you will never see again. Change hotels, or towns, immediately after making a deal. Like most bad travel habits, if you follow this one long enough, you will eventually get in trouble for it.

As a general rule, check your hotel room for any drugs that may have been left behind or 'planted' before you arrived. Look under the mattress, behind drawers, and in any other likely hiding places. I have never found any yet, but if you do, get rid of them immediately (down the toilet) and look for a new hotel. Good luck, and Happy Trails!


\16 theft

The last thing travelers need is to get ripped off at an airport. But it happens. Airport thieves are a skilled lot, targeting unsuspecting men and women, and relieving them of luggage, laptops, purses and other valuables. If you're not careful, these airport thieves, who tend to look like ordinary travelers, can make off with your billfold, your phone card, your credit card, all in a wink.

When travelers leave home for the airport, or when they return from a trip, the last thing on their minds is becoming a victim. Although chances of becoming victimized are slim, there's always the possibility that any of us can become a target if we let our guard down.

"When you travel you want to be aware of how these criminals operate at airports and take the necessary precautions," said Kevin Coffey, a travel security consultant and 16-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department who has appeared on "20/20" and "Oprah." "There's a very small percentage of crooks that target travelers, but they are specialized thieves."

These airport crooks distract passengers in a variety of ways. They drop keys or money on the floor near the target, ask the traveler for assistance, even squirt mustard on the traveler's shoulder and then distract the victim as one accomplice cleans him/her off and the other picks his/her pocket or makes off with a briefcase.

Travelers can give themselves peace of mind by acting before they walk out the front door of their homes, said Coffey, who started the LAPD's airport crimes investigation detail at Los Angeles International Airport and is president of Corporate Travel Safety, based in Canoga Park, Calif. Coffey has an 80-minute audiotape called "Lies, Cons & Stolen Briefcases: How to Outfox Crooks and Protect Your Property While on the Road," available from Magellan's (800-962-4943). He offered the following advice during a telephone interview:

- Insurance. Coffey suggested that travelers know what kind of personal property insurance coverage they have from their own companies as well as the coverage supplied by credit card companies. If your personal property is stolen, insurance companies will ask for doc, Coffey said. "I tell people that when they buy clothes, they should put their receipts in a file. . . ."

- Personal identification. "Have identification inside your luggage, checked or carry-on," Coffey advised. "If you have a camcorder, camera or laptop computer, tape a business card or some kind of identification on the bottom. Any time you travel with any kind of electronic item or something of value, make sure you have the serial numbers. It's very important when we recover stolen property."

- Luggage tags. Coffey recommends privacy tags with a flap over the identification information. He advises against using business cards or home addresses in tags because they advertise where you work or live and can make you a target. He prefers something simple like "If found, please contact this number . . ." You always want to have the number of somebody the caller can talk to.

- Curbside check-in. "Check your luggage as if you'll never see it again. I never put anything of value (cameras, money, medical devices, art, electronics) inside my luggage," Coffey noted. "When I check a bag with a skycap, I make sure I see my bag go onto the luggage belt system. I don't want it sitting on a cart where somebody else can pick it up."

- Ticket counter. "You always want to make sure that when you're going through the lines waiting for the next available ticket agent, you keep your property in front of you, never behind you," Coffey said. "At the ticket counter, keep your eye on your luggage. Always have you purse or laptop in front of you."

- Security checkpoint. "Be careful at peak travel times in the morning and late afternoon," Coffey warned. "If two people traveling together reach the screening station (X-ray machine and magnetometer) at the same time, one person goes through and keeps an eye on the other person's property. If you are traveling by yourself, you need to make sure that you're the next person to go through the magnetometer (after you've put your stuff on the conveyor belt). You don't want anyone to delay you. You want to keep an eye on your things.

"Every once in a while, somebody unexpectedly sneaks in front of you at the last second. This guy has $20 in nickels in his pocket and a huge belt buckle that sets off the magnetometer. Even with that, you can keep your eye on your property when it comes out on the other side. I stand in front of the conveyor, looking for the next person to go through the magnetometer. That's when I put my stuff on the belt." Coffey added: "I tell people that, before they reach the screening station, they should've taken everything out of their pockets and put it in their carry-on (so they don't set off the magnetometer) and distract themselves."


\17 Pickpocketing is a fact of life in Spain as it is in much of Europe. As a tourist it is best to look at it as part of the adventure of visiting a different place. Pick- pockets - Many if not most pickpockets work in groups, all use miss-direction.

Forewarning: Beware of the man that steps on your leg and then wants to brush of the dirt. While your watching him his partner is going through your pockets. my experience Beware getting on a full Metro car, particularly when carrying something. After some confusing jostling you might find your wallet missing.

Beware the colorful characters that comes up to you to sell a scarf, flower, tell your fortune or give you a herb, etc. If you take out your wallet, to buy or give money, you will be amazed to be told "no, not necessary" as her hand zips or shuts your wallet for you. Later, of course, you will find your money is gone and again be amazed by this colorful characters slight of hand. Beware if coins or other objects are accidently dropped in front of you. (As you assist in picking them up another person is assisting in the removal of your wallet).

Beware of groups of individuals (usually woman or kids), gypsies, suddenly surround you, sometimes holding a paper in front of your view. Beware if an individuals tries to polish your shoes without your permission.

Burglary - Simple theft occurs when you leave a valuable object unattended or barely attended. This can be as simple as having your purse setting next to you on the table as you eat or having it slung off the side of the shoulder, making it easy to snatch. Camera bags and purses need sturdy straps of significant length to go across your body. Also hang the bag in your line of sight, not on your back.

Car break-ins also happen a lot, don't leave anything in your car. Items will be safer in your hotel than in the car, even if kept out of sight. A August 2000 report to the Spain travel mailing list indicated thefts are breaking into cars even when nothing is visible, just to check for hidden valuables.

Many people will say I'm way too paranoid when it comes to pickpockets. But, I have learned pickpockets identify me as a target, most likely because of my arthritis which makes me walk like an old man. I have also realize a number of people come very close to being pickpocketed but don't ever realize it.

Foresight - Keep your passport, most of your money and back up credit card in a money belt under your clothing. Use a second "bag style" money belt to hold your daily use credit card and money (they are easier to use but not as secure). And, if you really want to be secure, keep a little money in an old wallet in your pocket to mis- direct the pickpocket. Being able to give up something of little value may keep you from losing anything important.

If you carry a camera in your front pocket try to wear pants that have pockets opening to the front (a hori- zontal cut as opposed to a vertical cut where you can't see the opening easily). Never place anything of value in your back pants pockets.

If you have luggage never get on a full metro train just take a cab. If someone appears too friendly or does something odd just put your hands in your pockets and keep on walking.

Scams I have heard of: Man posing as officials (police), wearing a badge, stops your car and reports the road is blocked . The officer escort you around the blockage. He then tries to extort money for his help. This scam was reported to be active in Grenada near the Alhambra during May and Jun of 2000.

My suggestion take steps to limit your risk, accept the worst can happen (make certain you have the phone numbers for replacing the credit cards, make copies of your plane tickets and passport) and just enjoy your time in Spain. Chances are you will come back from Spain thinking "that Traveling In Spain guy got me excited over nothing, I never felt safer in my life"


\18 Security for Women Travelers

The problem is sexual harassment of women by local men. In some countries the barrage of comments, hissing, whistling, chirping, leering stares, lecherous grins, and blatant sexual advances can just about destroy your enjoyment of the country. When it gets to physical touching and groping, it can become quite frightening. In other places, the constant harassment on the street is pleasantly missing. But you still need to be cautious of men making sexual advances to you when an opportunity arises, such as sitting or standing next to you on a bus, or catching you in a situation away from other people. The more conservative the local social and religious standards, the more your very presence provokes this outrageous behavior in the local men. The local women may also be scandalized by your presence, not to mention your dress and behavior.

This is a completely different environment from what you are used to. Since you cannot change the cultural mores of entire populations, you must learn to deal with the situation as it exists. You may need to wear clothing that you don't care for, stay off the streets at night, or avoid contacts with local men. It won't always be fun or easy, but there are a number of things you can do which can significantly reduce the problems and allow you to continue enjoying the country as best you can. If it becomes too much for you, move on to another country where things are not so difficult.

You have probably heard most of the explanations and rationalizations for this sexist behavior in Third World men. All Western women are seriously believed to be sexually promiscuous, and so on. Still, it is hard to believe that you could cause such reactions just by being there.

The simple fact that you are a "modern" foreign woman makes you just as provocative in some conservative countries as if you had walked into your workplace in your underwear! Add to that the fact that you are out traveling the world, perhaps even (incredibly) on your own. On top of that, you do things that no local woman would ever do; you travel around without your husband and children, eat in restaurants, and stay away from the "house", even after dark! Not only do you fail to fit the pattern of proper local women, but you seem to fall into the category of the wanton western women they have perhaps seen in films. You are already a provocation to Third World men just by being there! Now if your dress and behavior are less than the demure standards for local women and girls, that only strikes the match that sets off their male egos and libidos. Yes, these poor guys! You can really get to hate, and even fear them. Now, how do you deal with them? Here are three reminders to minimize (but
not eliminate) harassment on the street in countries where it is bothersome: Go around with other travelers, dress conservatively, and don't be too friendly to strangers.

Be Aware Be aware of the local standards of dress and behavior. The simplest way is just to observe how the local women and girls dress and behave. Preferably, you should get some information about the local customs before you arrive, from other women travelers who have already been there. If you do a little reading before you leave home, you should at least be able to determine the types of clothing you may want to bring.

Have Company Make friends of travelers and take them with you wherever you go. This is your best protection. The more friends, the better; take two or three along -- safety in numbers. A woman traveling alone is much more of a target for harassment than two women together. You can really do a lot to help, protect, and support each other in areas where it is a problem. Being "sisters" is generally safer than revealing that you hardly know each other; create some imaginative relationships. Learn something from how the local women protect themselves. In most Third World countries, women commonly walk arm in arm, or holding hands; couples may not, since public displays of affection are improper in many places. Watch how the local girls avoid the attentions of men. They walk arm in arm, with their heads together, constantly laughing and deep in conversation with each other. This is not just their adolescent personalities, it is their protection from the intrusions of men. If a strange man
says something to them, they ignore him; if he approaches, they only look down in disgust and move on. When young women and girls in Latin America go to "promenade" in the park on Sundays, it is a different story. They walk near their girlfriends but they don't talk very much; this allows young men to approach them for a stroll around the park, if they are agreeable. It is a social institution. Sure, walk arm in arm with your female companions; get really close and show that you don't want any intrusions. Do the same with your male companions, but don't offend local public decency with overt shows of affection. Having a male companion will not make you immune to harassment, but it can be a stronger deterrent than a female companion, especially if it seems clear that you "belong" to him (even if you do not). Grab a guy you can trust, or already love, and stick to him. Or travel with a couple and be his "sister"; you can all walk arm in arm. These relationships appear stronger than 'just
hanging out' with a few men, which can occasionally give entirely the wrong impression, especially if no particular man appears to be watching out for you. Still, it should be comforting to have a few male travelers around to keep the flies off of you. A couple hitching in Mexico was picked up by a carload of men. The man was asked if the woman was his wife. "No", he said, truthfully. "Is she your sister?" "No." Whereupon the man sitting next to her began groping all over her body! Marriage and family still get some respect, while "living in sin" does not.

Dress Appropriately If you dress and behave just as the local women do, it will greatly reduce the amount of attention and harassment you receive. Of course in a few places this would require you to conceal yourself in a berka and stay off the streets! But the more you conform, the fewer problems you will have. Try to go at least half way. Dressing conservatively is the easiest precaution to take. Many women, and men too, just wear whatever they feel comfortable wearing at home, and the hell with the local standards; "it's their problem, not mine!" The choice is yours, but why invite more harassment on yourself than you already have? Your dress can make a significant difference in the way you are treated, especially for women. In many countries you can easily see the difference from one day to the next, if you wear different styles of clothing. You can buy relatively light, typical women's clothing quite cheaply wherever you go. If you wear this and cover your head with a local scarf,
you may be unrecognizable as a foreigner when walking down the street! As much as you can stand it, wear clothing that covers you almost as much as the local women do. In some countries, grown women do not wear their hair loose in public -- not respectable women, anyway. Just covering your long hair with a scarf could make a dramatic difference in the amount of attention you get. In many places, you only need to cover your legs and shoulders to be conservatively dressed. It doesn't matter if it's just jeans and a T-shirt, although a blouse could be more appropriate. In more conservative countries, both men and women may be improperly dressed if their arms are bare. You should carry a light long-sleeve blouse, which is good in any case to protect your arms from sun and mosquitoes. Only in conservative Moslem countries will you have trouble for wearing trousers, but a long skirt will be considered more respectable in many places and it's also cooler.

A petite woman with dark hair attracts less attention and has fewer hassles than a woman with long blonde hair and a full figure. You may have little control over these factors, but that's the way it is. In all countries, avoid tight or low-cut garments, or anything else that tends to show off or draw attention to your figure. At home they may be considered more "attractive", meaning to attract attention -- this will not be your concern when traveling! Camouflage your figure in loose garments. Clothing two sizes too large may not yet be fashionable in your country, but it can avoid unwanted attention, as well as being cool and comfortable. Eye makeup is used in some countries, but lots of makeup just makes you look more like those western women in the films. Blonde hair can act like a banner in many places; cover or tie it up for a day or two and see if it makes any difference. These dress guidelines need not be horribly uncomfortable or unreasonable. No one is asking you to strictly
observe purdah (the Muslim law of properly secluding women). But if you dress more like the locals, you will be more accepted, avoid hassles, and get closer to their way of life. You will be more accepted by the local women, as well, and find it easier to approach and befriend them. In conservative countries I always wear long trousers and often light, long-sleeve shirts. I don't have to worry much about harassment, but I feel more comfortable and certainly more accepted when I dress to the local standards. Many travelers do not.

Behave Appropriately I think you can figure out for yourself that acting wild and crazy, drinking, or even smoking in public, may give men the impression that you are a libertine for whom, perhaps, anything goes. The behavior I'm talking about is what you do when men approach you. Basically, I will advise you not to be too friendly. Western women can have the engaging habit of walking around with their heads up, smiling, being cheerful, friendly, and open. I love it. So do the Third World men. This kind of behavior is the antithesis of how Third World women act in order to discourage approaches by men.

The men are so used to being rebuked, rebuffed, ignored, and snubbed (the poor guys, it only makes them try harder!) that when you look them in the eye and smile, they are sure you are in love with them! Or at least lust. Even when you shout insults at them, they are encouraged. There is no stopping them! So the best policy is to ignore them. Nothing infuriates a man so much (and you will really look forward to infuriating them) as being completely ignored. Wearing those anti-social mirrored sunglasses can make your interactions much more impersonal.

In general, women should be more cautious about giving any response to men who speak to them on the street. In many countries, local women spoken to by strangers, even by shopkeepers or vendors, will completely ignore them unless they are interested in buying something. Unfortunately, this is a behavior traveling women should cultivate in more conservative countries. Many men will speak to a woman just to elicit any response whatsoever. Even a shake of your head, eye contact, or a smiling "no thank you" is at least a triumph for them, if not proof of their irresistibility. If they are rude enough to make you visibly angry, it is a victory; if you yell and scream at them, it is a conquest! If you must say something, try to learn some commonly used defensive replies ("leave me alone", "get lost") in the local language.

Third World women avoid eye contact with strange men by keeping their heads, or at least their eyes cast down to the ground. Of course, this will not be very convenient for sightseeing. They can also look pretty grim most of the time. Frankly, it's not very inviting. Get the picture? When things get tough, tuck your chin in, wipe that smile off your face, and don't make eye contact. At least try it for a day and see if it makes any difference. Speaking of local women, whenever you can find them, use them as sources of info instead of having to ask men for directions. They probably won't approach you, but if you make the first move, they can be quite receptive.

When you do have a casual conversation with a man on a bus, in a shop, or on the street, resist smiling or making eye contact too much. I'm sorry, but some of these men haven't seen a smile for months! It can literally drive them crazy. If you speak in a matter of fact voice, look down, and manage only a few small smiles, you will have more ordinary conversations that do not end in sexual advances. You will only be acting a bit more like local women are expected to act. Pretend it's your father.

Other Techniques In places where I am constantly being approached by street touts, I make it a practice to always keep moving. As long as I am in motion I can usually just ignore anyone who comes by or walks beside me. But as soon as I stop to read my map, look in a window, or sit on a park bench, someone takes the opportunity to come up and hustle me. Women travelers can adopt the same strategy; it doesn't stop the comments, but you feel less threatened when you are already walking away.

Wearing a wedding ring can occasionally put men off, or at least give you a good story to tell about your husband, who will be meeting you soon. You may choose to reinforce this with a few photos of your husband and children. If you are traveling with a male friend, pretending to be married makes you much more respectable. In some parts of Asia, the ring is worn on the right hand; just look around and see. A simple gold (or gold-plated) band can be bought relatively cheaply in many places.

I met a woman traveler on a bus in Mexico who had bought a ticket only part way to her destination. She explained that if she were having trouble with men on the bus, she would just get off and wait for the next bus. She also confided that she carried a good-sized hat pin which she had used liberally on several hands that she had found on her leg. One time she borrowed a man's cigarette only to crush it out on his errant hand! I was only slightly flattered when she stayed on and bought a new ticket. I kept my hands to myself!

The good news is that there are many countries where overt harassment of women is minimal, where dress standards are reasonably open, and you can relax and be yourself. But even these countries will have some lecherous men to plague your path. Although you won't need to follow all of the onerous guidelines I've mentioned for more conservative countries, learning them will help you to deal with these situations if they do arise.

Meeting Local Men In some countries, unfortunately, you may end up avoiding men altogether. But you will meet local men in other countries with whom you will enjoy talking, laughing, and joking. What's the fun if you can't enjoy the company of local people? Just be very much aware that it is quite easy for these men to believe that you are "leading them on". You may have to deal with the consequences later. Just because you are traveling with your husband or boyfriend does not mean that local men will keep their distance; they think they know all about how promiscuous western women are. Don't talk with just any man who approached you on the street. The men or boys who work in your hotel, cafe, or local shops may (or may not) be the safest, especially if their wives are there. Talk to men in controlled situations, with other friends of yours around; make it a group conversation. Cut off the conversation when it becomes too personal, or degenerates to him continually asking you to do
something with him. Men will ask you (and me, too) questions so personal that they would never, ever ask them of any person from their own country; it would be incredibly rude! Don't tolerate it if you don't like it! They will push your limits to see what you will accept. Similarly, avoid casual touching. It really angers me to see local Lotharios casually laying their hands on the shoulders of friendly female travelers. They would never be so rude as to do this with local women! If they did, they would certainly get their faces slapped! When you let them touch you, you only invite more advances. _____________________________________ Flirting with Disaster Ron and I were on a beach in Mexico where there were several travelers and local Mexicans. One night, at a real campfire, we met two teen-age American women who were just a week or two away from home. One was very attractive, very blonde, and was being very friendly with the young Mexican guys. I would have called it teen-age
flirting at home; here in Mexico it was flirting with disaster. She let one of the men come to their hut with them for more talk, and ended up sending him away when he tried to kiss her. Later, in the middle of the night, the two women ran screaming into our hut. The same young man had burst into their hut in a screaming rage, drawn his machete, and chopped down their hammocks. Fortunately, he was not murderously violent, just extremely frustrated and angry. The women were petrified with fear. "How could this have happened?" If they knew anything at all about Third World men, they could have predicted (or hopefully avoided) his behavior, "led on" by their flirtations. _____________________________________ Meeting Local Women No, this is not dangerous, but I insert it here for some pleasant relief. One of the few advantages that women travelers have is their accessibility to local women. In exactly the same countries where you have more hassles because of the strict treatment of women,
you may also have the exclusive opportunity to visit these women in the privacy of their homes. As a male traveler, I am sometimes proscribed from even looking at local women, let alone talking to them. And I will never get beyond the front door, where the home is the sanctum of the women of the family. But behind that door, the women of these traditional countries literally let their hair down, remove their veils, and sometimes behave in very modern and open ways. The public bath, (hammam in Moslem countries), is one public but exclusively female place to meet local women. Even in less conservative countries, you are still more welcome into the homes, activities, and conversations of local women than are male travelers. Male Travelers If you are reasonably lucky, you will meet friendly male travelers in your hotel or elsewhere, who will be happy to spend some time sightseeing and sharing meals with you, allowing you to avoid some of the hassles that await lone women in some countries.
Just ask them, and make sure they know exactly what your motives are. In general, most male travelers who have any experience at all will be sensitive to the problems of women travelers, and will avoid adding to the burden by making their own blatant sexual advances. For you male travelers who are reading this, take note and wise up! Be aware that women travelers can be very sensitive to sexual advances because they are sick and tired of dealing with them out on the street. They need friends more than suitors. Make friends with people you like, and enjoy their company. If someone has a special interest in you, she will let you know in her own way. If you just can't resist, let her know in a non-confrontational way and preferably not alone in her room. Learn to take "No" for an answer, the first time. Traveling women suffer through more humiliating bullshit from men than you or I could ever imagine. Give them the respect they deserve. Rape While it does happen, rape of tourists is not a
major threat and you need not be paranoid about it. But you should be aware that the possibility of attack can exist in many situations, and avoid those where the opportunity is greatest. The few rapes that have occurred usually take place in isolated rural areas, or in the woman's hotel room. The best way to avoid even the small possibility of being raped is to avoid walking off into isolated areas, especially by yourself. You are much less likely to be attacked anywhere if you stay with a group of people, especially if some of them are men. Making friends makes good sense. The next major precaution is to always make sure you have a secure hotel room and keep it locked at all times, including the windows, all night. An open window can seem like an open invitation to lecherous locals. Don't put too much trust in hotel staff, and don't open your door at night to any man, including those from your hotel. You can feel very vulnerable, even locked in your room, if a man is trying to get in.
You might consider carrying a small can of mace (tear gas); you probably won't have to use it, but it can make you feel less vulnerable, and it does stop attacks if sprayed in the face. A very loud alarm is another alternative. Clearly, a woman staying alone is more of a target than one staying with a man, or with other women. I think you already know the general precautions against going off with strange men, or letting them into your room. Don't be too trusting; the rules can be quite different out there. In many cultures, being alone together, touching, and kissing are only allowed by women who want to have sex! In such cultures, a woman would never be alone with a man without expecting to be attacked. And conversely, no self-respecting man would pass up such an opportunity to attack her.

Resources At this writing, there are not many books specifically for women travelers available, but not because they have not been written. "Women Travel", edited by Natania Jansz and Miranda Davies is one you can still find in bookstores. It is a collection of women's living and travel experiences from individual countries around the globe. Among other sources you may (or may not) find in the library are: "Seven League" Boots, Wendy Meyers' story of hitch-hiking around the world; "Ms Adventures -- Worldwide Travelguide for Independent Women", by Gail Rubin Bereny, interesting for upscale travelers; and "The Traveling Woman", by Dena Kaye.