Trips and traps

Even experienced travelers are susceptible to street scams. Some are pretty harmless. In Rome, we were scammed by a street vendor selling cardboard Disney characters that appeared to be dancing. “It is done by low voltage electricity from the radio music,” explained the young con artist. We bought a couple of packs for our grandkids. Later we found out it was a hoax – Mickey and Minnie were attached to an invisible string that strung us along perfectly. We laughed as we passed the exact same scam in Paris.

Then there are the white collar scams. We bought 3-day tickets for an open air bus to tour Paris. It seemed like a good idea. After all it was only 4 more Euros than the 2-day tickets. However the bus route was mostly within the space of a few city blocks that we could easily have done on foot or with the Metro transportation which was easy, efficient and much cheaper.

The most unnerving scam is one who preys on single individuals. I was alone when an ‘Artful Dodger’ pretended to pick up a large gold ring. “Look, I just found it right here. Someone must have lost it!” he exclaimed, a little too exuberantly. Suddenly he was keeping pace with my walking, still talking about the ring. I only got rid of him when I told him emphatically I wasn’t interested.

The mime is another popular tourist theme. We’ve seen them in New York (Statute of Liberty), in Venice (marble bust), and here, the ancient Egyptian.

Our only unsolicited advice for travel is to have fun and be street wise.