I just had my back pack stolen

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I just got off the train from Brussels to Paris and I left the train with an interesting story that I thought I would share. I got on the train at 11 this morning, put my big bag on a luggage shelf and I put my coat and back pack in the overhead bin. I cranked up the ipod and settled in for an uneventful journey.

An hour later, I decided to stretch my legs. I got up and looked around. My back pack was gone. Coat (with cell phone and wallet) was still there. I went to check on my big bag. No problem, still there, so off I went to find the conductor. I didn’t find him, but in the next carriage, there was my bag. Zippers undone, someone had obviously stolen it, opened it and tried to get to the valuables inside.

Now, I’ve been travelling for about three weeks and to be honest, doing laundry hasn’t been high on my list of priorities and I need a place to keep smelly socks and sweaty tee shirts. The back pack seemed a logical choice. Apparently, even the most desperate train robber doesn’t feel the need to steal used underwear.

Interestingly, there were a dozen policemen waiting in Paris, stopping anyone remotely swarthy. I guess I wasn’t the only victim of the underwear bandit :smiley:

2

OMG. I’m taking that train in two weeks!!! Thanks for the heads up… I’ll have to keep an eye on my pack!

3

This might be a good time to invest in locks for all of your luggage.

4

Was Henry Kissinger on your train?

An old joke:

In the early '70s, Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, Henry Kissinger, an
old priest, and a hippie were on an airplane. Suddenly, the pilot
burst into the passenger cabin, yelled that the plane was going down, grabbed a parachute, and leaped out.

Alas, there were only four parachutes remaining.

The five passengers discussed what they should do:

Richard Nixon said: “I am the President of the United States. The
nation and the world needs me. I must take a parachute and jump.”
And out of the plane he jumped, and he floated safely to earth.

Spiro Agnew said: “I am the Vice-President of the United States. If
anything were to happen to President Nixon, I would have to take over
his tremendous job. I must take a parachute and jump.” And Agnew
floated safely to earth, too.

Henry Kissinger said in his thick German accent: “I am the smartest
man in the world. The world cannot live without me.” And he grabbed
a rig and jumped.

The old priest and the hippie were left. The priest said to the
young man, “Son, God has been good to me all these years, and I am
old. Please, take the last parachute rig and live well.”

To which the hippie replied, “Don’t worry, Father, we can both go. The smartest man
in the world just stole my backpack.”

5

All that does is let a thief know it contains something valuable. Most locks that small are easy enough to overcome anyway, and with something you can just pick up, run off with and deal with the locks or cut open the material of the bag when you’re somewhere out of sight, it doesn’t offer that much protection.

Vigilance is a better way of keeping possession of your, erm, possessions.

6

After traveling in Europe a few times, I’ve learned to keep my eyes or hands on my possessions at all times. One time I was at an Internet cafe in Madrid. I placed my backpack under my chair and started typing and browsing the web. I noticed that my backpack was slowly moving under my chair. I instinctively grabbed it and someone dashed out the door at the same time. So never let your guard down!

7

Were any items actually stolen from your backpack? An alternative scenario is that someone picked up what looked like their bag, got to the next car, opened it and realized that it was the wrong bag, and then just left it there rather than come back and say “oops.”

8

Ah, no. Something tells me that if he was traveling in Europe your scenario is actually exceedingly unlikely.

ETA: And by “something” I mean my experience getting bags and purses almost stolen in Europe.

9

Those damn Swarths. They should go back to Swarthania, I say.

10

That’s right, because nothing innocent ever happens in Europe. Just like no crime is ever committed in America. :rolleyes:

11

One of my co-workers was in Brussels this weekend and got the train back to Paris. Wallets were stolen out of a diaper bag on the train…

12

On a train like that, it’s much more likely the bag was taken for less than innocent reasons.

It pays to be paranoid about your stuff, especially in touristy areas. All it takes is one second of letting your guard down and your stuff is gone.

13

I had my bag stolen a couple of weeks ago, too. But mine was literally taken off me, so that was kind of scary. The police were awesome though (and by awesome I mean failed to file my report and are making me repeatedly call and come in if I want a copy of the report).

14

It was the fact that specifically “if he was travelling in Europe” then it couldn’t possibly have an innocent explanation.

15

There was nothing innocent about it at all. Some fucker stole my pack pack and rifled through my dirty underwear.

16

So, was there anything stolen at all? Or did you get to (at least) have the satisfaction that the culprit was feeling let down for stealing a bag of dirty underpants?

17

I got away with being stupid. All my underwear belongs to me. I’m guessing it was a cash or nothing bandit. All the other stuff in the back pack was easily identifiable (sunglasses, er that’s about it).

18

These guys have got you covered…

http://www.pacsafe.com/www/index.php?_room=3&_action=detail&id=48

19

Same thing happened to us a few years ago on a train from Geneva. The backpack was right over hubby’s head and we never noticed someone take it. To their credit, Swiss Rail actually found it…minus the DVD player and movies

20

:smiley: