The Best Insurance

If you've ever read up on visiting Barcelona or experienced it for yourself, then you know that one of the biggest drawbacks are petty thieves.  Luckily they aren't violent.  Instead they just want to pickpocket you or snatch your bag.

In preparation for my two month excursion I did a lot of research towards ways to keep my passport and cash safe.  After seeing pages of neck pouches and travel wallets I finally found one.  It clips around my waist and is make of 100% silk so it's super soft.  I actually had it altered to be smaller since I wear more form fitting clothing than guys.  In addition, I bought this great PacSafe handbad and a cut-proof camera cord.  All the items have been fantastic for me so far giving a sense of safety, especially the waist pouch.

Now the biggest way to protect yourself is staying aware of your surroundings.  I've found many thefts occur when people aren't paying attention or leave things unattended.  Needless to say Ryan quickly showed me how to watch out and the common scams to avoid.

Yet the other night I learned the best insurance of all.

This was evening we were traveling up north for Ryan to play soccer.  We were headed for the metro and we trying to get through the gates.  Normally we each have a metro pass, but mine had just run out.  He had a T-10 which allows you 10 trips and will let you run it more than once.  Hence we planned to both just use the card for this trip.   Being the gentlemen that he is, Ryan always lets me go first and then he takes the card and follows. 

But he couldn't follow.  The doors wouldn't open for some reason.  It had taken his card, but it wouldn't open.  In the shuffle the guy behind Ryan started pushing him forward towards the unopened doors.   Confused Ryan continued forward jiggling the doors which finally opened, but when Ryan went to take the card it was gone. 

The next second a guy with a hat who had been behind Ryan came over and handed him his cell phone saying it was on the ground.  Strange how did he know it was Ryan's?  Well because he had taken it, took one look at it, and promptly returned it.  Ryan's phone has the best insurance: so old even the thieves don't want it!

I will say that whole situation was a lot of work just for a couple rides on the metro, but hey it reminded us to stay viligent and to always carry old, crappy things.