As the saying goes “Barcelona is a bachelor’s heaven”, I am very
much excited on this 5-day trip with many suggestions from friends who already
visited this place. On the first day of my trip, I walked through the beautiful neighborhoods of Barcelona and also visited Barceloneta beach. A serene walk
through the beautiful palm trees beside the sea is worth an experience.
An old man in his
fifties came up to me with a visiting card and inquired for an address. I had a
good laugh in my heart as this is my first day in Barcelona and someone chose
me to guide him. Even though my hands are full with a back sack and a bag, I
showed him the way with google maps in my mobile. I expected him to show
gratitude in his eyes but he showed all his 32 teeth with a big smile. He asked
me whether I am interested in salsa dance at that pub for which he inquired the
address. In this process, he lifted his legs and rubbed some dirt on my
trousers. Witnessing his spurious behavior, I denied his request and moved
towards Barceloneta beach. I walked alone in the beach and enjoyed the sound of
waves in the middle of bustling city. After an hour, I was shell-shocked to
sense my empty pockets. After checking my back sack thoroughly, I confirmed
that I lost my beautiful ‘Hi-Design’ wallet. My wallet contains my EU residence
permit, health insurance, driving license, debit and credit cards from Germany
and India, and some cash. While I bent to clean my trousers, that old man stole
my wallet. Huh! He chose me to cheat and not to guide him. My first reaction
was that I looked at the sky and closed my eyes tightly with a big laugh.
For the first time in
my life, I was stranded in the streets of an unknown city in a foreign land with
no money in hand. Only one question ran through my mind repeatedly. “What are
my strengths that can get me out of this situation?” At once, I briskly walked
for four kilometers to reach ‘St Christopher Inn’ hostel. I looked for a German
in the hostel who can speak to customer care officials to block my cards. The
hostel management reacted quickly and identified two beautiful German girls who
were playing ‘Blind Date’ in the hostel. I greeted them in German language and
explained my situation to them in English. After knowing my situation, they
walked out of that game and extended their help unconditionally. Those German
girls spoke to ‘Deutsche Bank’ customer care officials and ensured that my cards are
blocked and also requested to issue new cards. Simultaneously, I got an
internet connection and blocked my debit and credit cards from Indian banks. Later,
I asked the German girls to lend me some money and I immediately returned the
money through my 'Deutsche Bank' online account. In just an hour, I got the
situation under control because of the helping nature of those German girls. I
also realized that my strengths are to keep my head cool under pressure and focus
on tasks at hand. This experience pushed me to react confidently to unexpected critical situations.
The next day, I
gave a police complaint and filed an FIR to get a new EU residence permit. I was
surprised by the long queue of people who came to file FIR as they lost their
belongings. When I explained the whole incident to my friends after this trip,
they started saying “Oh! This is the first tip that we should have given.
Beware of wallet snatchers in Barcelona!”
2 comments:
Nice blog, Jayanth! Your experience sounds like the classic "pigeon poop pickpocket," except that it was done all in one step. This devious, typical ploy is described here: http://bobarno.com/thiefhunters/pigeon-poop-pickpocket-ploy/. Smart as you sound, I think that after this experience you can probably consider yourself pickpocket-proof, because you'll stow your stuff safely from now on. I hope you enjoyed the rest of your visit to otherwise-wonderful Barcelona.
Thank you very much for going through my post. I have gone through your post and liked the experience. I wish I could read it before though :-)
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