In Japan for the 9.0 earthquake
4-1/2 hours before Japan’s earthquake: it might have been my sister’s fault. Had she kept the slip of paper her bad fortune was printed…
Hotel Oddity #15
The Wellington in Madrid is a lovely, old hotel full of charm, the official temporary residence of visiting bullfighters. Our room was large and…
Revelations of a Rolex Thief
“You remember that famous movie, the one shot in Naples?” shouted Officer DC. “In this restaurant they filmed that movie. The whole world knows…
Street crime in Madrid
One day in Spain and we are bombarded with sad stories, particularly of crime in Madrid. Crime in Madrid 1. Madrid Metro: A couple…
Hotel Front Desk Safe Theft
Hotel front desk safe Natalie is a tour sales manager for one of the major cruise lines. She’s an experienced world traveler and accustomed…
Watch-stealing
Wristwatches are a classic subject of seizure. The problem is not widespread, but concentrated largely in specific locales. Naples, Italy, is only one of…
Hotel oddity #14
Okay, this is priced in Canadian dollars, but still. $6.49 for a bottle of water? No matter how elegant it looks on the nightstand,…
Privacy: WAY out of our hands
My nephew, planning an extended jaunt through Vietnam, applied for a visa. What he received horrified him. A bilingual letter authorized his entry and…
Airlines: disclosure and liability
On February 11, I flew Delta 110 from Buenos Aires to Atlanta. Before the plane pulled away from the gate and after several minutes’…
Creative shelving
My brother-in-law, the self-proclaimed Swedish Okie and country bumpkin, is a book collector. This is only one of his meticulously organized bookcases. Though his…
Hotel oddity #13
Hotel hypocrisy. This is certainly not unique to the Delta hotel in Newfoundland, but that is where I was struck by the pretense and…
Where does your pickpocketed stuff go?
Jewelry, watches, pens, wallets… Ever wonder where all that pickpocketed stuff goes? Think Mrs. Pickpocket is decked out in your stolen pearls and Swatch,…
Bedbugs’ growing defenses against pesticides
Very bad news on the travel front. Seems bedbugs are here to stay. The Wall Street Journal reports on a comprehensive genetic study of…
Russian gas-guzzler scam #3
Unlike the Russian gas scams in my previous two posts, this one is recent, perpetrated by Russians in America. They’d steal a car—say, a…
Russian gas scam #2
Around the same time as Russian Gas Scam #1, a resident in one of those gigantic apartment buildings—I’ll call him Boris—found a way to…
Russian gas scam #1
In 50s Russia, men used to go through the enormous apartment buildings, knocking on thousands of apartment doors. They claimed to be from the…
Bangkok scam
Barely five minutes after hitting the streets of Bangkok, a jolly, friendly fellow approached. Conservative and 50ish, the short man put himself head-on into…
Airport teargas box
Arlanda airport, Stockholm—When I first saw this box from a distance, I took it to be some sort of dispenser. As in, get your…
How pickpockets take advantage of natural distractions
LONDON—Anthony Powell hovered on the fringes of Princess Diana’s funeral, lifting wallets from the handbags and pockets of devastated mourners. Princess Diana’s funeral! He…
Japanese Breakfast
“Burning condition salmon” on the breakfast buffet in our Tokyo hotel. I guess we might call it “blackened.” Good for an early morning smile.
A thief at the theater
On a trip to London, Diane Breitman went to see the hit musical Mamma Mia at Prince Edward’s Theatre in Soho. She had seat…
Hotel Oddity #12
Pasted onto our Reykjavik hotel bathroom tiles: Yes, we came out of the shower quite rancid-smelling—and the fragrance lasts. I imagine the locals: “You…
Hotel room security lapses
When you check into a hotel and are handed a key to a room that turns out to be already occupied, you have to…
Masked man “swapped boarding pass”?
No reports expand on the claim that this ballsy Asian impostor “swapped boarding passes with a U.S. citizen and passenger who was born in…
“Needed the money—sorry”
I’m happy to report a bag theft that ended with a smile. Jay and Lyn Smith, of Tallahassee, took their 18-year-old son on his…
On touring
Bob and I are presently touring. It’s just three weeks across Canada—nothing long or exotic. We’re not roughing it, either. Well…15 cities in 21…
Publicly accusing hotels of theft
Before a lengthy stay in a certain hotel in Italy this summer, I searched for reviews of it online. Among the raves on TripAdvisor,…
Spilled secrets
I guess I spoke too soon and too much about our documentary project. I held back information, but not enough. Our producer has asked…
Raising antennas
Coming down. Feels strange trying to write ordinary blog stuff after all the excitement covered in my previous 22 posts. As Bob and I…
Bob Arno and Bambi in a den of thieves—20
Bob gets cold feet. Overnight, reality began to percolate and bubble over the exhilaration of yesterday’s thieves’ challenge. By morning it was clear to…