Quote:
Originally Posted by Phanuthier
How does Cambodia, China, Serbia, Bosnia and Russia sound to you?
I went to all of those in the past year or so and never used a money belt. (No I wasn't on a tour and have a bodyguard or anything)
I think this stuff about getting mugged is overblown. I can understand why some people use them, but I don't think its really necessary. Just don't have a camera around your neck while holding a map and you'll probably be fine. Keep your eyes open, lay low and bled in and you'll be fine.
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For the most part you are completely right, but that's not to say it never happens. When I was living in Europe my buddy and I were in Krakow, Poland and wanted to get to Budapest. We'd read in the Lonely Planet that they didn't recommend taking the night train from Krakow to Budapest but we figured we would be fine and take all the precautions necessary.
The train compartment we were sleeping in had a pretty elementary lock so we wrapped a belt around the door to make sure nobody could get in. Well, after having to take off that belt 6 different times throughout the night thanks to border crossings in Slovakia, it kind of got old so we just took the belt off at 5am or so. Next thing we know, there is a banging on the wall beside us, we look up and a guy with a knife is trying to pry open the door to our train.
After a couple of minutes I went to the room next to us and it was two girls....they'd woken up in the middle of the night and their bags were gone, they went to the bathroom and all their belongings had been taken including passports, cameras, etc. Once we got off the train, we talked to another guy who had his camera stolen as well....I guess we got pretty lucky.
I guess for a first time traveller this likely isn't the best story to be telling, but at the same time this was the worst thing that happened to me in over 1 year of straight travelling. I used a money belt mainly because I liked having my passport against me at all times...I had a buddy who left his on a bus in France and it was a pretty big hassle trying to get a new one. For money and stuff, a wallet is fine but I would recommend keeping your passport close by.
As long as you keep your wits about you and not do anything you wouldn't normally do in any big city around the world, you'll be fine. Respect their culture even if some things seem really odd or different.