When in Morocco and in Funchal Madeira in he early '70s the first native
words I learned was 'dirty American tourist' and the second was 'dirty
German Tourist'.
Using the accent I first entered school with (My great grandmother and
grandfather took care of me as a kid so the folks could both work) was
Strathycldian Scots. That and treating people as I wanted to be treated kept
folks from learning I was an American and I was treated as well if not
better than I treated them, always willing to learn their customs rather
than trying to enforce mine.
-----Original Message-----
From: olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:olympus-owner@xxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Bill Pearce
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 7:33 PM
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] Re: Personal Robbery Survey, was Re: Bags
> The worst theft potential I've heard of is the popular tourist areas of
> Italy. The sovereign state with the highest per-capita crime rate is the
> Vatican. Only a few hundred residents and millions of visitors can make
> that
> happen. An acquaintance of mine had his pocket picked there. The funny
> part
> of that is the fact that he has some ties to organized crime. Justice
> takes
> unusual forms sometimes.
Especially in Italy.
I've never had any photo stuff stolen that I can remember, but that may be
as much a measure of alcohol consumption as crime rates.
At home, I keep my stuff locked in one of the key-lock gun safes. If someone
is smart enough to get into it, then there is probably little I can do to
stop it, and if they are that smart, they're shopping elsewhere anyway.
We've been to Italy many times, and plan to return many more. I travel
light, usually one body and a few lenses. I use smaller bags. We generally
use standard practice, which is to say we try to not look American. Once in
Florence, my wife was asked something in italian by a local, and in Buenos
Aires, I was asked in spanish worse than mine for directions, so I suppose
we are successful.
Bill Pearce
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