Query: Danger Traveling On Own in Spain??

I have booked a flight to Madrid in 10 days and planned to take the train to
Granada and then pick up a rental car and drive around to see the historic
sights all over Spain and perhaps some Portugal. However, my wife has been
reading the Lonely Planet Guidebook and has become fearful of stories of gangs
of muggers, picketpockets, leaving the car on the street, etc. and now wants to
take a tour group for safety. I dislike taking tours. Is it possible that it
is actually unsafe to travel alone in Spain?? Please reply ASAP to:
Muchas gracias.

Tony

le Sun, 12 Oct 2003 11:27:05 GMT, dans l'article , tc a dit ...

I have booked a flight to Madrid in 10 days and planned to take the train to
Granada and then pick up a rental car and drive around to see the historic
sights all over Spain and perhaps some Portugal. However, my wife has been
reading the Lonely Planet Guidebook and has become fearful of stories of gangs
of muggers, picketpockets, leaving the car on the street, etc. and now wants to
take a tour group for safety. I dislike taking tours. Is it possible that it
is actually unsafe to travel alone in Spain?? Please reply ASAP to:
Muchas gracias.

I always find it amusing when Americans, coming from a country where some
major cities have higher homicide rates than entire European countries, ask
'is it safe to travel in [country] ?'

Go to Spain alone with your wife, and fear not. You're in less danger of
losing your life anywhere in Europe, than in your own backyard in the
United States.

--
Desmond Coughlan |desmond [at] zeouane [dot] org
http://www.zeouane.org/

On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 13:36:11 +0200, Desmond Coughlan
wrote:

le Sun, 12 Oct 2003 11:27:05 GMT, dans l'article , tc a dit ...

I have booked a flight to Madrid in 10 days and planned to take the train to
Granada and then pick up a rental car and drive around to see the historic
sights all over Spain and perhaps some Portugal. However, my wife has been
reading the Lonely Planet Guidebook and has become fearful of stories of gangs
of muggers, picketpockets, leaving the car on the street, etc. and now wants to
take a tour group for safety. I dislike taking tours. Is it possible that it
is actually unsafe to travel alone in Spain?? Please reply ASAP to:
Muchas gracias.

I always find it amusing when Americans, coming from a country where some
major cities have higher homicide rates than entire European countries, ask
'is it safe to travel in [country] ?'

Go to Spain alone with your wife, and fear not. You're in less danger of
losing your life anywhere in Europe, than in your own backyard in the
United States.

Thanks much for your reassurance. The guidebook did sound like tour company
propaganda. I have driven all over Italy from Trento to Palermo without any
problem whatsoever.

BTW, crime in the USA is greatly exaggerated, and pickpockets are almost unknown
in the USA.

le Sun, 12 Oct 2003 12:11:00 GMT, dans l'article , tc a dit ...

{ snip }

BTW, crime in the USA is greatly exaggerated, and pickpockets are almost
unknown in the USA.

So they say, but the fact is that there are, what, over 18,000 criminal
homicides per year ? Even allowing for the large population of the United
States, that's still one of the world's highest per capita rates.

I'd much rather have my wallet nicked, than find myself on the mortuary
slab with a .357 round in my chest, thank you very much.

Bon voyage. :-)

--
Desmond Coughlan |desmond [at] zeouane [dot] org
http://www.zeouane.org/

On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 14:14:11 +0200, Desmond Coughlan
wrote:

le Sun, 12 Oct 2003 12:11:00 GMT, dans l'article , tc a dit ...

{ snip }

BTW, crime in the USA is greatly exaggerated, and pickpockets are almost
unknown in the USA.

So they say, but the fact is that there are, what, over 18,000 criminal
homicides per year ? Even allowing for the large population of the United
States, that's still one of the world's highest per capita rates.

I'd much rather have my wallet nicked, than find myself on the mortuary
slab with a .357 round in my chest, thank you very much.

Bon voyage. :-)

I should have been more specific. Most of the deadly crime in the US is
confined to inner cities where tourists never go. Average Americans have very
little to fear from violent crime.

le Sun, 12 Oct 2003 12:49:20 GMT, dans l'article , tc a dit ...

{ snip }

I'd much rather have my wallet nicked, than find myself on the mortuary
slab with a .357 round in my chest, thank you very much.

Bon voyage. :-)

I should have been more specific. Most of the deadly crime in the US is
confined to inner cities where tourists never go. Average Americans have very
little to fear from violent crime.

Facts, facts, facts. Don't bore me with facts. ;-)

--
Desmond Coughlan |desmond [at] zeouane [dot] org
http://www.zeouane.org/

BTW, crime in the USA is greatly exaggerated, and pick
pockets are almost unknown in the USA.

Pickpockets are not unknown in the USA, you just obviously
live in the suburbs. The reason warnings are given against
pickpockets in Europe is that they have almost no other crime
to warn against. And crime is not exaggerated in the USA, as
drive-by shootings are rare almost anywhere else. The USA
has more vicious crime than almost any civilized country, witness
the crimes like the people being forced to drink drain-cleaner
at gunpoint in Salt Lake City a few years ago.


Casey

"Casey" wrote in message
nk.net...
BTW, crime in the USA is greatly exaggerated, and pick
pockets are almost unknown in the USA.

Pickpockets are not unknown in the USA, you just obviously
live in the suburbs. The reason warnings are given against
pickpockets in Europe is that they have almost no other crime
to warn against. And crime is not exaggerated in the USA, as


Come on, come on. For instance in Finland homicides are far more common than
in Western Europe in general. In Estonia and Russia in turn the frequency of
homicides is many times greater than in Finland.... It is true that the USA
is special so that homicides are so often committed by firearms (from the
victims point of view it is supposedly about the same by which weapon the
life is taken). Finnish MP Tony Halme was attacked by half a dozen Moroccan
rascals. He beat the **** out from them even if he had been stabbed a couple
of times by knives. Lots of broken bones. Well, the chap weighs some 140
kilos and I guess the combined weight of the members of the gang was only
somewhat greater..

On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 13:52:33 GMT, "Casey" wrote:

BTW, crime in the USA is greatly exaggerated, and pick
pockets are almost unknown in the USA.

Pickpockets are not unknown in the USA, you just obviously
live in the suburbs. The reason warnings are given against
pickpockets in Europe is that they have almost no other crime
to warn against.

That's complete nonsense.

And crime is not exaggerated in the USA, as
drive-by shootings are rare almost anywhere else.

Crime is very exaggerated as regards tourists. Most violent crimes
occur between family members or friends.

The USA
has more vicious crime than almost any civilized country, witness
the crimes like the people being forced to drink drain-cleaner
at gunpoint in Salt Lake City a few years ago.

Well, more to the point -- since other than an opportunity for an
anti-US rant, your post is meaningless -- Spain does have a higher
indicende of armed robbers than the US.

In neither place are you like to get mugged unless you do something
stupid, although there has been a really noticeable increase in crime
in Madrid and Barcelona tourist centers (such as Atocha Station and
the Paseo del Prado near the museum.)
Mason Barge

"If this is coffee, please bring me some tea. If this is tea, please bring me some coffee."
-- Abraham Lincoln

le Sun, 12 Oct 2003 17:15:03 +0300, dans l'article bmbnl0$sim$1@phys-new=
s1.kolumbus.fi, "Markku Gr=F6nroos" a dit ...=20

{ snip }

Come on, come on. For instance in Finland homicides are far more common=
than
in Western Europe in general. In Estonia and Russia in turn the frequen=
cy of
homicides is many times greater than in Finland.... It is true that the=
USA
is special so that homicides are so often committed by firearms (from t=
he
victims point of view it is supposedly about the same by which weapon t=
he
life is taken).

Well I feel sure that if the assailant hadn't had access to a firearm at
the time of the murder, more than a few of the victims would still be
alive.

{ snip }

--=20
Desmond Coughlan |desmond [at] zeouane [dot] org
http://www.zeouane.org/=20