Commentary: Pick-pocket holiday

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Laura Balch
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  For our first trip outside the U.K. since being stationed at RAF Mildenhall, my husband and I decided to travel someplace warm. It was January and the Mildenhall forecast included snow, so we set our sights on sunny Majorca, Spain. Little did we know that our weekend getaway would be clouded by the actions of local pick-pocket.

Majorca is the largest of the Balearic Islands off the east coast of Spain and is a popular tourist destination. We chose to stay in C'an Pastilla, a beach town not far from the capital city, Palma.

After arriving at the Palma airport, we took a bus to C'an Pastilla. This is where we learned that, in Majorca, the bus drivers do not announce bus stops. The names of the stops roll across a screen at the front of the bus. When a passenger's stop appears, he or she presses a button indicating he or she would like to get off.

My husband and I didn't realize this until a few stops after ours had passed, so we ended up having a slightly longer bus journey than we intended.

Once we arrived at our hotel, we began to explore the area. The water of the Balearic Sea was a fantastic shade of blue. We could tell this was primarily a summertime destination. A number of shops and restaurants were closed and, aside from the few paddle boarders out on the water, it seemed like we were the only people around.

For our second day in Majorca, we decided to travel into Palma to check out the enormous gothic cathedral there. We got back on the bus, and this is where our trip took a turn for the worse.

The bus was crowded, so my husband and I stood in the aisle, close to the front of the bus. My husband was behind me and there was a man in front of me. I felt like this man was squishing in closer to me than necessary, but I didn't say anything.

I should have.

While on the bus, my husband and I were busy looking at our map and the constantly-changing bus stop names on the screen. During this time, and unbeknownst to me, the guy in front of me reached into my purse, unzipped the inside pocket and took out my passport and small wallet. He then immediately got off the bus. It wasn't until the doors had closed and we had begun moving again that I looked down at my purse and noticed something was wrong.

I instantly started to panic as I dug through my purse. I tried not to make a scene as I let my husband know that my passport and wallet were gone. I saw a paper, which had been with my passport, lying on the floor of the bus and I knew that my belongings had been stolen.

My husband and I returned to our hotel immediately and I called the police. The frustration and anger I felt over the next few hours was overwhelming. I filed the police report over the phone, spoke with the U.S. Embassy representative in Madrid (who told me that I would have to travel to Madrid or Barcelona to get a replacement passport), and then travelled to the police station at the airport to sign and collect my police report.

After gathering all of my paperwork together, I went to an airline representative at the customer service desk. Thankfully, she got me the approval I needed to travel back to England without my passport.

Needless to say, the rest of the trip was a little soured by this whole experience. My husband and I did eventually get to Palma and we saw the Cathedral of Santa Maria, but I maintained a paranoid death-grip on my belongings the entire time.

Upon returning to England, I scheduled an appointment with the U.S. Embassy in London. A week later I travelled there to report my stolen passport and to apply for a replacement.

All in all, this pick-pocket experience cost me about two hundred dollars (when you include the money that was stolen, the cost of the replacement passport, and the cost of travelling to and from London), but the lessons I learned on this trip will hopefully prove invaluable to me and any other travelers who wish to explore Europe while stationed here in England.

Lesson one: Ask for help when you're not sure how something works. If I had done this when my husband and I first got on the bus, we wouldn't have wasted time and money taking two bus rides to get to our hotel.

Lesson two: Listen to your gut and act accordingly. I knew, from the research I did before our trip, that pick-pocketing in Majorca was a common crime. I should have done a better job paying attention to my environment and protecting my belongings.

Lesson three: Don't do things that make you stand out as a tourist. If my husband and I had looked at our map prior to getting on the bus, we wouldn't have been distracted and I wouldn't have been an easy target.

Lesson four: Know how to speak (at least a little of) the local language. I knew a little Spanish and was able to communicate enough for us to get by. Even though the locals in most tourist areas in Europe will speak some English, they appreciate it when you make an effort to speak their language.

Lesson five: Bring with you the contact information for the local police and embassy/consulate. Trust me; you don't want to have to search for this information when you're already flustered.

Lesson six: Bring a copy of the following documents with you whenever you travel: NATO orders, PCS orders, passport, ID and any other relevant paperwork. The only reason I was able to fly back to the U.K. without my passport was because I had all those documents and the signed copy of my police report.