The Women’s Travel Group has experienced very little crime during our 23 years of tours. But it can happen in rare instances. Here are a few examples and how we handled them happily:
A lady was pick pocketed in a major European city. She was called at the hotel from someone purporting to have her wallet. We went with her to a public place to meet this person. Yes, he had found it minus the cash, but with all credit cards in place. He tracked her down via the info and through her husband in the US. We always accompany anyone who has an issue like that. Make sure your tour company has manpower and ability before you entrust yourself to them.
With no one witnessing it, a backpack was snatched from the lobby of a fancy hotel in Central America while our guest checked in. A reconstruction of her passport, ticket, and other papers required staying with her in the capital city while the wheels of administration ground. The hotel comp’d her and our tour escort, as an apology and drove them back and forth to the Embassy! Again ask your tour company if they have people on the ground to help, even just for hand holding.
Someone was sitting in my reserved seat on a plane from S. America home after our Colombia tour. She even showed me the boarding pass with my seat number on it. I insisted on help from the busy flight attendants. Guess what? She had kept a boarding pass from an old flight and was using it to get a premium seat. Clever trick so beware and don’t give in. If you are in the seat, possession is 9/10 of the law.
The beauty of The Women’s Travel Group organization is there is someone to help and others to serve ‘automatically’ as sentries! If you lose something, our women will be offering to give you, not lend you, anything you need. Insurance will cover losses; you must report a loss to the police station if it is a street crime and keep the report. Use a money belt. Leave most cash in the hotel safe. Divide cash into zip locks with small amounts for water etc. and larger amounts better hid for cash purchases. Carry only one card. Bring a photo of your passport picture page in your phone or in hard copy- leave the passport at home. Leave home all store credit cards and others not usable overseas. Ask a fellow traveler to stand with you when you pay a street vendor.
Cristina, going to Turkey with us, recommended this beautiful travel neck pouch in silk jacquard fabric. $13.00 from Amazon. The photo above is the Kipling one I use for travel money.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007VT39K6/ref=twister_B003T0J5Y0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Travel tips from The Women’s Travel Group with space left on Paris for the Holidays in December and Mexico City in February. Many trips we organize are on our site: www.thewomenstravelgroup.com
Very limited space on most trips due to our small size group! Book early.
