Scams and Bombs

Hello again!  This is Stephanie doing another guest blog.  This one isn't strictly about our itinerary in Europe.  It is about being a tourist and having loads of people try to scam you out of your money, or simply try to take it out of your pockets/purse.  And there was a "bomb," but I'll get to that in a minute.

First we'll discuss scams.  My first time in Spain, I witnessed the scam where women will try to aggressively give/sell you flowers (or in that case, tree branches) while another one pickpockets you.  I knew it was about to happen because they were discussing logistics quite loudly in Spanish not aware that the group that was walking by was actually a group of Spanish speaking Americans.  I actually have not seen this scam (yet) unless those men by the Eiffel Tower selling keychains "3 for a Euro!" have the same plan.

During our trip planning we read about a scam that involves a few individuals asking if "[you] speak English" or posing to be lost tourists trying to get information.  We had at least 2 groups of ladies with a clip board ask us this in Paris.  I always wonder why they're asking if I speak English when it is clearly not their native language.  Shouldn't they be asking if I speak that??

We also read about yet another scam that involves a person stopping to pick something up right in front of you.  It turns out to be a gold ring you supposedly dropped.  It isn't yours, but they will point out the marking on it that proves it is pure gold and will either try to sell it to you or simply give it to you out of the goodness of their heart and then ask for money in repayment.  We have seen this scam attempted on us at least 4 times.  The first time I firmly said, "No, gracias" ...in Paris.  Eventually I managed to squeak out a, "No merci!" to which the guy started repeating and laughing.  A few of them laughed at our assertiveness with them to get away.  And one was a woman that really threw us off guard.

All of these happened in Paris.  We have yet to experience any scams in Barcelona.  Probably because half of our time here has been spent trying to dry out from all the rain.

Essentially, we are now paranoid of anyone and everyone who drops something, tries to talk to us, or looks at us directly.  Everyone is a scammer.  Including small children, pup-pups and birds.

In London we had an interesting experience with this little box on the subway

Here is a close up

The box was sitting all by itself when we boarded the train. It was very likely just a sound equipment box that someone left on the tube accidentally (as that is how it was labeled).  However, EVERYONE around us asked about it and indicated that it might be a bomb and asking what we should do about it. Two Asian men walked onto our train, stopped short, said a few words I didn't understand, followed by "bomb" and some hand gestures.  The feelings we all had were pretty universal and language barriers were no problem.  A few stops later another traveller bravely grabbed it on his way out of the train and gave it to security.  And our lives were saved.

I have to go now since this post has gotten too long and it's time for breakfast followed by our last day in Europe.