Ni,
I have not been robbed yet.
But you never know.

Main reason is that I camp and like nature.

I use camping facilities. Put up my tent next to the tent.
So I have everything supervised, ass good as it gets when you sleep.
In the areas there are mainly campers in huge vans.
Very different from big cities.

When touring France i travelled Loire Vally.
I visited castles and small family owned wine yards.

That is not the main area for theifs.

I do not use expencive stuff, that creats attraction.

But OK, I had something stolen one time. I had my bag with food for dinner outside the tent. And a dog stole my bread.

Okay, yeah, I had something stolen too.

Ravens pecked open my food bag while I was out for a walk.

.................shu

Ah yeah, I found a wombat chewing my bread under my tent-flap when in OZ


The worst case happened in South Africa. Even though the campsite was fenced in and boasted a nightwatchman a thief carefully opened the zipper of my tent and grabbed everything within reach while I was snoring happily. Wallet, credit card, passport, money, binoculars, cellphone gone.... Fortunately he didn't just cut the tent open.


Probably he had watched me drawing cash at the ATM. Since then I ALWAYS stop at an ATM en route - never ever near the place I`m staying overnight.

__________________
Only when we pause to wonder
do we go beyond the limits of our little lives.
(Rod McKuen)

There are a lot of ways of being "robbed" while traveling, and many are not covered by the poll. For example, I've never had anything stolen from my panniers, hard or soft, but I've had shoes stolen twice--once from atop my bike while I napped a few feet away. That was somewhere in Argentina. I had someone run a credit card twice in India and didn't discover the theft until I arrived home many months later; the money was substantial, in the thousands of dollars, but I got it back. I've encountered lots of pickpockets, none successful. I've been short-changed in a variety of ways, although never for significant amounts. Etc.

All of this rather pales in comparison to the sorts of things that have happened at home in America; knives pulled on city streets, cash stolen from my home, an incident of threats from a couple of hitchhikers I'd picked up (they backed down when I, somewhat foolishly, came right back in their faces), even a semi-famous boss who used to vanish on paydays and routinely skip out on bills.

I'm normally pretty cautious with my possessions, but often a little bit reckless with my personal safety. This has worked out just fine, for the most part. Limiting opportunities for opportunistic theft is probably the best protection; a philosophical attitude toward ephemeral possessions helps, too.

The only 'thefts' we suffered were stickers/decals off the panniers and handlebar screen, which we began losing them in eastern Turkey, then similar in Egypt and on into India. Our response was to get a couple of friends back in the UK to each post us a bagful to Madras, whereafter we could stick a few new ones on each day, always being careful to leave one edge un-stuck so that they didn't tear when the kids peeled them off; we handed a few out too, but the kids seemed to enjoy stealing them more.

__________________
BobnLes

Funny, was just reading on facebook today somebody in Cairo was looking for a Rotopax fuel container as his was nicked off the bike along with the mounting bracket. Somebody must have really wanted that, they're pretty solidly bolted on!

A skunk came into the annexe of my tent looking for food while I was on a USA tour in 1995.
He smelled really bad, but nothing like as bad as if I had spooked him, so I just let him get on with it.

__________________
Hear the challenge, learn the lesson, pay the cost.

I’ve been robbed so many times! The “government” calls it tax but it’s robbery....

But in person, no

Hi,
7 years ago in Iran I got robbed a couples of times in different cities.
With a trick which is well known in the country and iranians start it every region with a different approach:
First they invite you to their home or to a restaurant near by and you get feeded with really delicious food till you get tired. Than they bring you to the best places in their area. They pay all entrance fees and often they want to buy you a souvenir. After that you have to meet their best friends who will start the trick again. You need a while till you recognize that a big amount of your precious travel time was stolen! But I advise you to stay relaxed and politely because you will always feel very well and you will definitely miss nothing material after this theft which in iran is very well known as "The Amazing Hospitality Trick"!

(Was a much trickier rip off than the one with 3 guys in Buenos Aires who pointed a revolver to my face to grap my 25$ swatch and 12$ cash in 1996. Luckily they ignored my cheap shoes which I had bought in a local supermarket. So I was able to catch a taxi with hidden rest of cash)

We’ve had our hotel room robbed by staff in Nairobi. Guards on the front door and key card entry didn’t stop staff with a pass key. The cops told us this.
Again in Nairobmi my wife had a necklace snatched from her neck. She never ever took it off and so forgot it when we left valuables behind before the trip.

The wife and I ride two up so when we go through borders she’ll mind the bike while I do the paperwork.
We have travelled pretty extensively in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. When in poor countries we generally go for hotels with private parking although we also camp and use hostels too. Booking.com is good for finding what you want.
When we get off the bike to wander around, we put the satnav in a shoulder bad, then cable lock the jackets and helmets to the bike. We then wander off and forget about it. We rarely worry about robbery or theft because it’s never happened outside Nairobi.
In dodgy countries I carry valuables in a back pack with both arms through as a black lady security guard in Zimbabwe warned me that the one-arm carry I was using at the time made me a target for thieves.

When starting a trip we change valuable kit such as watches for battered road kit, never flash the cash, wear worn clothes and smile and treat people nicely.
As someone else said, cities are more dangerous so take higher precautions there.
Be watchful but relax and enjoy yourself.

I had my mobile phone stolen from the dashboard of my truck as I opened the door to buy a ticket at the Bara ferry crossing into the Gambia.

The truck was surrounded by kids/teenagers trying the door handles and lockers, later heard from a fellow traveler some of their group had the ropes securing items to their roof rack cut and cases dragged off.

I Ended up staying the night at the port, where the locals tried to sell my sim card back to me.
A couple of days later in a market in Banjul I saw my phone on a popup phone & sim stand, I bought it back for a couple of quid and used it for the rest of the trip.

Call it an "involuntary safe keeping fee".

Next time, maybe get one of these? A dye detonator that can also detonate by GPS and also fire off a flare that burns for four minutes:

__________________
Blog: www.bamakobyvespa.no
My Youtube Channel

Never had a problem while on the road - the Americas, Asia, Europe, Africa, Oceania.

Had an attempted mugging in Rio once - should have known better than to be downtown on the weekend - they failed and came back later and apologised (!)

Had a phone stolen in the Claro office in Bogotá - I was replacing my phone with a new one, the new one disappeared while going through the process!

All the rest of the incidents were having items stolen from checked baggage at MIA - I never check bags through MIA now - this has happened a few times. It’s the only airport in the world where this has happened to me. Having said that, TSA has routinely damaged checked bags to open them - they have never been locked - just vandalism!

In terms of precautions - in some places (Brazilian cities for example) I use a cheap plastic watch and carry a second "giveaway" wallet with a little cash (never had to give it away so far). The obvious practices - no jewellery, no expensive cameras, no obvious laptop bag) in these areas. Secure parking in countries where secure car parks are everywhere - they're there for good reason. When in Africa it's common for kids to "guard your car" (or bike) for a small fee - I always do this - it's not really necessary but it's an accepted way to get some cash flow into the community.

Scammed for $20 was the worst I ever got it.