Be very, very careful in Lisbon pickpockets are so, so very good!

[DocJohnB]

Now, I have no one but myself to blame, but my wallet was lifted in Lisbon and I am suffering the throes of replacing its content.

My story:  I am 81 years old, have 50+ cruises under my belt plus about 4 years "cruising" with the U.S. Navy and never in all that time have I suffered the loss of anything due to a pickpocket.  Never that is until our stop in Lisbon while on the Sky Princess.  The ship warned its passengers of the danger of these cretins, especially in crowds.  Normally, I only take one credit card, some local currency and U.S. currency, and a driver's license in my wallet which I always store in a front pocket of my trousers.  The rest is left in the locked safe in the stateroom.

Well, not this day when I went out with a fully loaded wallet and some cash.  Fortunately my passport and some U.S. currency were left behind.  A small group of us went off the ship and had some good Portugese food.  The ladies in the group wanted to "buy" some souveniers so we went into a nearby shop.  The other gentleman in our small group said, "I'm not sure if I have enough Euro's to cover what she bought.  I told him not to worry, I still had some Euro's and pulled the Euro's out of my wallet and placed them in my front pocket - but this is where I think I got careless and through force of habit (I think) I placed the wallet in my back pocket.  We almost immediately headed back to the ship, but within 5 minutes, I realized my wallet was gone.  After searching the shop and where we ate with no luck, we immediately headed back to the ship and I went straight to the internet cafe and "froze my credit and debit cards".

Without going through a lot of posts where I am sure this subject has been beat to death, I posted this to show no matter how experienced a traveller one is, one has to be aware of their surroundings AT ALL TIMES.

 

I have now shut down all 3 accounts and have received a new debit card.  The credit cards will take a bit longer.  I still have to go through the process of getting a new military retiree card, a new VA medical eligibility card, etc.  I think of all the feelings I have expressed 2 stand out.  The first is how PO'd I am at my own carelessness and stupidity.  2.  The utter contempt I have for the cretins who earn their livings through theft.



 

[PurpleTraveller]

I am so sorry that you have had this happen to you! Unfortunately these thieves are experts and can catch out the best of us despite our precautions. I am sure you are beating yourself up but consider how fortunate you are that you were not injured physically as can sometimes happen.

 

Thank you for your words of caution so that we can all take precautions and be aware. I hope you were able to enjoy the remainder of your cruise. 😊

 

[DocJohnB]

Purple Traveller - I did indeed "beat myself up", until I (with the input from fellow cruisers) realized that it could have been so much worse and the only thing hurt was my pride.

I did enjoy the cruise both before and after the 'incident'.

[sleepingcat]

Hi Doc, I am so sorry you had this bad experience in Lisbon.  It's one of our favourite port calls (from/ to the UK its often on itineraries) and we ve always had a lovely time and felt pretty safe doing our own thing around the city or using local transport. (as no doubt you did until things went wrong)

 

Your warning is timely though, and a reminder that no matter how experienced any of us are as travellers, we can always get caught out, so thank you for sharing. 

[Milhouse]

Thank you for sharing your experience.  We'll be in Lisbon in the summer.  Always a good reminder to exercise caution and try to always be aware.

[FLCruiser97]

Thank you for these words of wisdom and experience. We travel to Lisbon in May and after reading this, we will be on high alert when walking around town.

[Hlitner]

Good warning that applies to most of the popular tourist destinations around the world.

 

Hank

[Travelling2Some]

On 3/31/2024 at 10:11 PM, Hlitner said:

Good warning that applies to most of the popular tourist destinations around the world.

 

Hank

Very true.  Florence, Rome, Barcelona, Paris . . .  Just wanted to add that Magellan's makes a great theft-proof women's pocketbook and Clothingarts.com has men's pickpocket-proof pants that my husband has used for years.  We also pare down our wallets before leaving home, taking only those cards/credentials we will use abroad.