Recently, tourists traveling to Italy and Spain in particular complain about the increase in thefts. In the reviews written on the states on this subject, it is said that thefts also occur in hotels, and even safes are not reliable. In such a place, the saying “take care of your property, don’t catch your neighbor as a thief” loses its validity…
Recently, in one of the tour groups, “My bag was stolen in Italy, it contained my passport and other things, what will I do without a passport if they don’t find it?”
We present an article from the newspaper “Kaspi” on this topic.
As soon as I put the bag down, it was gone.
The hotel I stayed in in Florence was right next to the train station. One afternoon, on my way back to the hotel, I visited the shoe shops lined up next to each other. When I left my bag on the floor while I was putting on my shoes in one of the shops, it disappeared. The people working in the shop didn’t see it either. Since there is a lot of theft in the country, most shops don’t use cameras to avoid headaches. In any case, this is how they justify things that don’t benefit them. In my bag I had my passport, phone and wallet with bank cards. I was practically free and undocumented in a foreign country. There is no one I know nearby… To contact someone, to tell what happened, to give advice or help, the phone is also there…
“Is there any hope of finding him?”
The shop advised me to contact the nearest Carabinieri (police). There were quite a few people in the police who had the same experience as me. When my turn came, I wrote a request, noted the contents of the bag, the hotel I was staying at and my personal details. “Is there any hope of finding him?” To my question, the young policeman replied “maybe…”. I returned to the hotel in a state of shock.
I don’t remember how I slept that night. Early in the morning I was looking for the Internet and a phone to contact our embassy in Rome. On the other hand, a day later I had to check out of the hotel and return to Rome. But the electronic version of my train ticket remained in the memory of my lost phone…
“Don’t leave the hotel, the person who finds your bag will bring it to you”
In the morning I asked the hotel employee to allow me to write a letter to the embassy. He called the police station again and asked about the fate of my bag. For me, the news of “found” was equivalent to the shock I experienced when I lost my bag. “Don’t leave the hotel, whoever finds your bag will bring it to you,” they said from the police station. A little later, a young man arrived with a bag in his hand, with all my lost things inside. My phone, my passport, my wallet… He had only spent the money from my two bank cards that were not in the block. “My brother saw this bag on the side of the road at night. Seeing that you are a Muslim on your passport and that you come from Azerbaijan, I called the police and called the police. I am also a Muslim, I am from Bangladesh,” the young man said. He gave his phone number and said, “Please contact me if you need anything while you are here.”
I have not forgotten to learn from what happened to me
When reporting to the police, “they usually find bags and documents, they throw them in the corridors, near the garbage bins. It is not worth waiting for the money. However, they do not take anyone’s belongings and present them themselves,” said the young policeman, not hiding his surprise.
I don’t know, maybe I was lucky. The next morning I went on a trip to the surrounding villages as if nothing had happened. I was very happy.
After that incident, I traveled several times. But I have not forgotten to learn a lesson from what happened to me: every time I travel, I make several copies of all my documents, and I keep some in the hotel and others with me. I do not carry all my bank cards or cash. I never carry my small shoulder bag with my documents…
