Train Travel

We have been here for 3 months now and Barcelona seems pretty much like home, but I guess we still look like foreigners and easy pickings for the local pick-pockets. We have always been careful with possessions and money, and no less on this day – but they had us, or rather Jeff, targeted.

We were on the metro and just standing towards one end of a carriage. A group of 4 or 5 young men all bustled their way towards the end of the carriage where we were standing. There wasn’t any real need to crowd, which was a warning sign that we might have picked up on. When the train slowed on approaching the station we were heading to Jeff was standing with his back against the door on the non-platform side. He realised that he would have to move around the bunch in the middle just as the train lurched a little and a couple of the men apparently lost balance and leant back and pinned him against the door. When he found he couldn’t easily move over to the exit door, something clicked and Jeff realised that one of them had his hand in his pocket and was pulling out his wallet. Jeff grabbed his arm and yelled and pushed the guy away and then as he got angrier, pushed him out onto the platform where the pick-pocketer proceeded to look all surprised and innocent. There was quite a group gathered around and watching by then. The guys slunk away and just walked out of the station. Jeff still had his wallet but was pretty angry, but suddenly the next thing to do wasn’t really clear. Where were all those station security guards and police dogs when you need them?

Some young American tourists in another carriage on the same train were less lucky however and when they saw our scene, they checked their pockets only to find that their wallet was missing! It seems the pick-pockets were just working their way through the train and had got them just before their attempt on us. You can report the theft but it is almost impossible to catch them I have heard.

So what have we leaned? Don’t keep valuables in pockets of pants, don’t stay in a crowd if there is room to move to, take a seat if there is one, keep backpacks on your lap or in front of you, make a scene if you think they are targeting you – point, yell - in English is OK as the last thing they want is to be noticed and identified, if there are security or officials there, tell them.

We had heard about the organised pick-pockets and been told that you never see them or hear the results of their activities as they are really professional and people usually only discover after the event that their valuables are missing. We were very lucky to have had first hand experience of how they operate and not to have lost any money or cards in the process.

Given Spain’s recent history, I am pleased to see security measures in place and police, and security guards with dogs often visible at train and metro stations.

On our first long distance train trip last week there were security checks to go through just like at the airport and bag screening too. No one is allowed on the platform until the train has pulled in. I am happy for them to take as many precautions as they want to make sure the train I am on gets to its destination.

The trains were quite nice too – just a bit fancier than in Australia. We had a TV and personal headphones handed out. The 2 movies offered were not bad but dubbed in Spanish of course (and with Spanish sub-titles as well!) All the announcements were in 3 languages – the last one apparently English but we couldn’t understand anything. The seats partially reclined and our seats had a fixed table and desk lamp which made it seem very swish.

The dining car was modern and I must say I am very happy with the coffee in Spain– even train coffee is above average. The worst coffee so far has been at fast food outlets – not a surprise, but even just little, ordinary cafes serve very nice, strong, real coffee and cheap too – about 1.20 euro is standard.