Airline Advice? Flying US to France

[azstonie]

The high-end shopping areas and around the Louvre are the worst for pick pockets. The child pick pockets are quite good.

 

[misskittycat]

The high-end shopping areas and around the Louvre are the worst for pick pockets. The child pick pockets are quite good.

Agreed. Anywhere that there are large groups of people, pickpockets tend to be the worst. Carefully consider your choice of handbag - if you have one that zips tightly and securely shut, I would go with that. You just have to be less of a target!

 

[vc10um]

The high-end shopping areas and around the Louvre are the worst for pick pockets. The child pick pockets are quite good.

Agreed. Anywhere that there are large groups of people, pickpockets tend to be the worst. Carefully consider your choice of handbag - if you have one that zips tightly and securely shut, I would go with that. You just have to be less of a target!

That bolded part is my mantra when traveling, no matter where I am. If you read any travel book on Paris (I highly recommend Rick Steves), you will find that there are several popular "schemes" to get at unsuspecting tourists, and I got hit with two of them when we were there.

1) The "gold ring" scheme: someone will approach you from behind and say "excuse me, I think you dropped this"...*this* is what looks like a gold ring..."I will give it back to you for 5/10/20 Euro." Many unsuspecting people will jump at the chance to own a gold ring for so cheap, right? Except it's (obviously) plastic and they have 1,000 of them, just waiting for the next unsuspecting traveler. I got hit with this one while walking with my husband over the Pont Neuf.

2) The "friendship bracelet" scheme: watch out for these guys, they're sneaky. They hang out around major tourist attractions (I got hit with this one while taking photographs at Sacre Coeur) and quickly approach you trying to sell you a friendship bracelet. If you allow them to get too close, they will move quickly to start tying the bracelet around your wrist and then make you pay for it because they can't take it off.

As a matter of habit I also do my best to try and map out my route for a day before I leave the house/apartment/hotel, both on streets and subways. I will write them out in a plain black journal (I prefer hardcover moleskine) into which I tuck my map. That way, when I pull it out on a platform or street corner, I don't look like a lost tourist: just someone reading and/or taking time to write down a few thoughts. Paris also happens to be one of the cities for which moleskine actually makes a specialized journal that has the maps and such built in: http://www.amazon.com/Moleskine-Cit...id=1431517298&sr=8-1&keywords=paris+moleskine. I didn't use this particular one because I already owned maps and whatnot so it was a bit redundant, but it might be helpful for you!

Hopefully you find this helpful! I truly hope you enjoy Paris...it's a wonderful, beautiful city!