Hatunen

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 17:09:00 -0400, Bronson Lee
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Hello world,
    >Just came back from a long exhausting but exhilarating train tour of
    >Europe. Had the misfortune to stop at Brussels on my last stop. I got
    >robbed by some despicable thieves near the Brussels-MIDI train
    >station. I was resting, looking after the luggage and leaving a bag on
    >my left and sitting on a cement ledge. The others had gone
    >sightseeing. An Arabic-looking guy came to me on my extreme right,
    >asking some thing in French. I said I did not speak French. But he
    >kept going on and on. Then I noticed his eyes nodded something and he
    >left. I looked to my left and my bag was gone. I noticed an Arabic
    >couple pushing a baby pram fast down the lane. I gave chase but
    >remembered I had 4 other bags I had left unattended. So I gave up the
    >chase and came back to guard the other bags.
    >There wasnt much in the bag but I did lose a digital camera with
    >valuable memories and prescription drugs. I cannot believe I got
    >robbed within 20 minutes of getting down at Brusesels-MIDI. We had
    >walked on to the north side of the station.
    >My warning to fellow train travellers - be extremely careful in
    >Brussels-MIDI. I was told this is an unsafe destination. I should
    >have skipped Brussels completely. Now I will regret this decision to
    >stop in Brussels - for the rest of my life. There are so many creeps
    >and low lifes hanging around the station.

Are you under the impression that all other train stations in
Europe are free of thieves?

************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Bronson Lee

Hello world,

Just came back from a long exhausting but exhilarating train tour of
Europe. Had the misfortune to stop at Brussels on my last stop. I got
robbed by some despicable thieves near the Brussels-MIDI train
station. I was resting, looking after the luggage and leaving a bag on
my left and sitting on a cement ledge. The others had gone
sightseeing. An Arabic-looking guy came to me on my extreme right,
asking some thing in French. I said I did not speak French. But he
kept going on and on. Then I noticed his eyes nodded something and he
left. I looked to my left and my bag was gone. I noticed an Arabic
couple pushing a baby pram fast down the lane. I gave chase but
remembered I had 4 other bags I had left unattended. So I gave up the
chase and came back to guard the other bags.

There wasnt much in the bag but I did lose a digital camera with
valuable memories and prescription drugs. I cannot believe I got
robbed within 20 minutes of getting down at Brusesels-MIDI. We had
walked on to the north side of the station.

My warning to fellow train travellers - be extremely careful in
Brussels-MIDI. I was told this is an unsafe destination. I should
have skipped Brussels completely. Now I will regret this decision to
stop in Brussels - for the rest of my life. There are so many creeps
and low lifes hanging around the station.

Padraig Breathnach

Bronson Lee <[email protected]> wrote:

...
    >My warning to fellow train travellers - be extremely careful in
    >Brussels-MIDI. I was told this is an unsafe destination. I should
    >have skipped Brussels completely. Now I will regret this decision to
    >stop in Brussels - for the rest of my life. There are so many creeps
    >and low lifes hanging around the station.
Sorry that you had such bad luck.

But it's pure chance that it happened in Brussels rather than anywhere
else. I formed the impression that you were off your guard: you should
never be off your guard on unfamiliar territory.

--
PB
The return address has been MUNGED

Leland Windreich

I had the identical experience you describe when I was relieved of my
luggage in Toronto, Ontario a few years ago. So don't knock Brussels. It
could happen anywhere!
"Hatunen" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 17:09:00 -0400, Bronson Lee
    > <[email protected]> wrote:
    > >Hello world,
    > >
    > >Just came back from a long exhausting but exhilarating train tour of
    > >Europe. Had the misfortune to stop at Brussels on my last stop. I got
    > >robbed by some despicable thieves near the Brussels-MIDI train
    > >station. I was resting, looking after the luggage and leaving a bag on
    > >my left and sitting on a cement ledge. The others had gone
    > >sightseeing. An Arabic-looking guy came to me on my extreme right,
    > >asking some thing in French. I said I did not speak French. But he
    > >kept going on and on. Then I noticed his eyes nodded something and he
    > >left. I looked to my left and my bag was gone. I noticed an Arabic
    > >couple pushing a baby pram fast down the lane. I gave chase but
    > >remembered I had 4 other bags I had left unattended. So I gave up the
    > >chase and came back to guard the other bags.
    > >
    > >There wasnt much in the bag but I did lose a digital camera with
    > >valuable memories and prescription drugs. I cannot believe I got
    > >robbed within 20 minutes of getting down at Brusesels-MIDI. We had
    > >walked on to the north side of the station.
    > >
    > >My warning to fellow train travellers - be extremely careful in
    > >Brussels-MIDI. I was told this is an unsafe destination. I should
    > >have skipped Brussels completely. Now I will regret this decision to
    > >stop in Brussels - for the rest of my life. There are so many creeps
    > >and low lifes hanging around the station.
    > Are you under the impression that all other train stations in
    > Europe are free of thieves?
    > ************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
    > * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
    > * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

Iceman

    >Just came back from a long exhausting but exhilarating train tour of
    >Europe. Had the misfortune to stop at Brussels on my last stop. I got
    >robbed by some despicable thieves near the Brussels-MIDI train
    >station. I was resting, looking after the luggage and leaving a bag on
    >my left and sitting on a cement ledge. The others had gone
    >sightseeing. An Arabic-looking guy came to me on my extreme right,
    >asking some thing in French. I said I did not speak French. But he
    >kept going on and on. Then I noticed his eyes nodded something and he
    >left. I looked to my left and my bag was gone. I noticed an Arabic
    >couple pushing a baby pram fast down the lane. I gave chase but
    >remembered I had 4 other bags I had left unattended. So I gave up the
    >chase and came back to guard the other bags.
    >There wasnt much in the bag but I did lose a digital camera with
    >valuable memories and prescription drugs. I cannot believe I got
    >robbed within 20 minutes of getting down at Brusesels-MIDI. We had
    >walked on to the north side of the station.
    >My warning to fellow train travellers - be extremely careful in
    >Brussels-MIDI. I was told this is an unsafe destination. I should
    >have skipped Brussels completely. Now I will regret this decision to
    >stop in Brussels - for the rest of my life. There are so many creeps
    >and low lifes hanging around the station.

Brussels is a great city, and one incident, in a train station, in the
worst part of the city, shouldn't deter you or anyone else from going
there.

You should watch your bags in train stations almost anywhere in the
world. Train stations are a likely place for thefts, since thieves
know that you're likely to be (1) tired after a long journey, (2)
disoriented since you've just arrived in a new place, and (3) that you
probably are weighed down with other bags that would prevent you from
pursuing.

Many trains stop at all three of Brussels' main train stations, and
for anyone potentially arriving in Brussels-Midi late at night, I'd
recommend getting out at Brussels-Nord or Brussels-Centraal instead
and taking a taxi to where you need to go.

EvelynVogtGamble

Hatunen wrote:

    > Are you under the impression that all other train stations in
    > Europe are free of thieves?

Or that train stations, airport terminals, etc. are any "safer" in the
U.S.? There's a REASON why there are repeated announcements over public
address systems to "please watch your baggage while in the terminal"!
(And it has little to do with fear of "terrorists" planting bombs.)

EvelynVogtGamble

Padraig Breathnach wrote:

    > Bronson Lee <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    > ...
    >
    >>My warning to fellow train travellers - be extremely careful in
    >>Brussels-MIDI. I was told this is an unsafe destination. I should
    >>have skipped Brussels completely. Now I will regret this decision to
    >>stop in Brussels - for the rest of my life. There are so many creeps
    >>and low lifes hanging around the station.
    >
    > Sorry that you had such bad luck.
    >
    > But it's pure chance that it happened in Brussels rather than anywhere
    > else. I formed the impression that you were off your guard: you should
    > never be off your guard on unfamiliar territory.

And ESPECIALLY in places like train stations!

    >

Joan McGalliard

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Hatunen wrote:
    >
    > > Are you under the impression that all other train stations in
    > > Europe are free of thieves?
    >
    > Or that train stations, airport terminals, etc. are any "safer" in the
    > U.S.? There's a REASON why there are repeated announcements over public
    > address systems to "please watch your baggage while in the terminal"!
    > (And it has little to do with fear of "terrorists" planting bombs.)

While I agree with most of what you say, at least in Europe, the "don't
leave luggage unattended" is only about terrorism. They don't throw a
security cordon around abandoned luggage to protect it from theft.

joan
--
Joan McGalliard, UK http://www.mcgalliard.org

Daniel

"Bronson Lee" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Hello world,
    > Just came back from a long exhausting but exhilarating train tour of
    > Europe. Had the misfortune to stop at Brussels on my last stop. I got
    > robbed by some despicable thieves near the Brussels-MIDI train
    > station. I was resting, looking after the luggage and leaving a bag on
    > my left and sitting on a cement ledge. The others had gone
    > sightseeing. An Arabic-looking guy came to me on my extreme right,
    > asking some thing in French. I said I did not speak French. But he
    > kept going on and on. Then I noticed his eyes nodded something and he
    > left. I looked to my left and my bag was gone. I noticed an Arabic
    > couple pushing a baby pram fast down the lane. I gave chase but
    > remembered I had 4 other bags I had left unattended. So I gave up the
    > chase and came back to guard the other bags.
    > There wasnt much in the bag but I did lose a digital camera with
    > valuable memories and prescription drugs. I cannot believe I got
    > robbed within 20 minutes of getting down at Brusesels-MIDI. We had
    > walked on to the north side of the station.
    > My warning to fellow train travellers - be extremely careful in
    > Brussels-MIDI. I was told this is an unsafe destination. I should
    > have skipped Brussels completely. Now I will regret this decision to
    > stop in Brussels - for the rest of my life. There are so many creeps
    > and low lifes hanging around the station.


So now you judge the whole of Brussels / Belgium / Europe by the action of
one (Arabic-looking) foreigner at the station? Geez.

I bet this would never have happened if you stayed home. Better not leave
your home town again, least of all for that Europe place - just in case you
get robbed again. You will regret the decision to go travelling for the
rest of your life.

I give up.

Iain Bowen

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
    > >Just came back from a long exhausting but exhilarating train tour of
    > Many trains stop at all three of Brussels' main train stations, and
    > for anyone potentially arriving in Brussels-Midi late at night, I'd
    > recommend getting out at Brussels-Nord or Brussels-Centraal instead
    > and taking a taxi to where you need to go.

I would second this. Late at night, I would avoid Bruxelles-
Midi/Brussel-Zuid. In the daytime or early evening, no problems with it.

Iain

David Horne

Bronson Lee <[email protected]> wrote:

[]
    > My warning to fellow train travellers - be extremely careful in
    > Brussels-MIDI. I was told this is an unsafe destination.

It's not really any better or worse than most urban train stations in
Europe- and certainly not a reflection on the rest of the city.

David

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

Alan \

In the message news:[email protected]...
"Bronson Lee" <[email protected]> wrote

    > Hello world,
<SNIP>
    > My warning to fellow train travellers - be extremely careful in
    > Brussels-MIDI. I was told this is an unsafe destination. I should
    > have skipped Brussels completely. Now I will regret this decision to
    > stop in Brussels - for the rest of my life. There are so many creeps
    > and low lifes hanging around the station.

I'm sorry that you have just learned the hard way that all over the world
travellers are the preferred targets for sneak thieves and scam artists. And
that the latter hang out at transport interchanges all the better to find
the former. I don't suppose it'll be much comfort to tell you that I've
frequently passed through Brussels Midi/Zuid over the past thirtyfive years
without even losing my way ;-) Or that there's currently a thread on
soc.culture.belgium about the theft of numerous cast-iron man-hole covers in
the Charleroi area...

Regards,

- Alan (in Brussels - mind the spamtrap).

Gregory Morrow

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:

    > Hatunen wrote:
    > > Are you under the impression that all other train stations in
    > > Europe are free of thieves?
    > Or that train stations, airport terminals, etc. are any "safer" in the
    > U.S.? There's a REASON why there are repeated announcements over public
    > address systems to "please watch your baggage while in the terminal"!
    > (And it has little to do with fear of "terrorists" planting bombs.)


Most US train stations and other tourist/traveller haunts don't have gangs
of organized thieves working the premises like a number of places in Europe
seem to...you may find individuals working the joint, but rarely gangs that
prey on disoriented tourists. You won't be suddenly swarmed by a bunch of
criminal gypsies like you will in Prague, St. Petersburg, and other
places....

The last big organized traveller rip - off of note I remember here in the
States was gangs of Africans who would infest airports and steal people's
telephone numbers while the people dialed from pay phones. This was over
ten or so years ago, and of course is not a problem now that so many folks
have cell phones (and also calls abroad have gotten much cheaper in general,
it's not a real lucrative criminal enterprise anymore)....

From a criminal point of view, organized retail shoplifting or credit
card/identity theft is much more lucrative here in the States than stealing
from tourists (foreign or otherwise). Organized shoplifting especially is a
bigger problem than you'd think. The stores are loathe to publicise these
incidents so you rarely hear about them....

Last year a friend was relieved of his luggage and all his valuables in the
lobby of a Holiday Inn in central Brussels (they had just arrived by train
from Amsterdam) whilst checking in. Simply anecdotal, but....

The police took a report but basically just shrugged - it was obviously no
big deal to them. My friend is a well - seasoned traveller who is
*constantly* aware of activity around him at all times. Not this time, I
guess :-(

Europe's problem is that many tourist places are infested.with organized
gangs of thieves (not just money, credit cards, and fenceable goods are
stolen, but First World passports are a valuable commodity on the criminal
market). They are usually dirty criminal Gypsies, Arabs, Africans, etc.
Another result of Europe's "humane" immigration policies :-|

--
Best
Greg

Lennart Petersen

"Joan McGalliard" <jem*NO-SPAM*@netspace.net.au> skrev i meddelandet
news:1gj40qa.2o0j6ojm1t50N%jem*NO-SPAM*@netspace.net.au...
    > EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) <[email protected]> wrote:
    > > Hatunen wrote:
    > >
    > > > Are you under the impression that all other train stations in
    > > > Europe are free of thieves?
    > >
    > > Or that train stations, airport terminals, etc. are any "safer" in the
    > > U.S.? There's a REASON why there are repeated announcements over public
    > > address systems to "please watch your baggage while in the terminal"!
    > > (And it has little to do with fear of "terrorists" planting bombs.)
    > While I agree with most of what you say, at least in Europe, the "don't
    > leave luggage unattended" is only about terrorism. They don't throw a
    > security cordon around abandoned luggage to protect it from theft.
    > joan
Sorry but that's not the reality in Europe. Bag snatching do occurs now and
then in big European rail stations and big airports and the warnings are
just about that.
Maybe in UK the bomb threat is the big issue but in many other countries
theft is the most likely result should a bag be left unattended.
L.P

David Horne

Lennart Petersen <[email protected]> wrote:

[]
    > Maybe in UK the bomb threat is the big issue but in many other countries
    > theft is the most likely result should a bag be left unattended.

So, what happens in a Stockholm train station if an unattended package
is found?

David

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk